Kinoshita Rigen - Early Life

Early Life

Kinoshita was born in what is now part of Okayana city, Okayama prefecture, and is a direct lineal descendent of a brother-in-law of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His uncle, Kinoshita Toshiyasu, was the 13th and last daimyo of Ashimori han (25,000 koku). After the Meiji Restoration, he was given the title of viscount (shishaku) under the kazoku peerage system. When he died, his nephew Kinoshita Rigen, only 5 years old, succeeded to the main family as Viscount Kinoshita. Kinoshita would have thus been a daimyo if the Tokugawa shogunate had lasted only a few years longer. In any event, Kinoshita graduated from the Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University. His classmates included Shiga Naoya and Mushanokōji Saneatsu, and he was a student of the noted poet Sasaki Nobutsuna.

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