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He Fired No One: What Naoe Kanetsugu's Yonezawa Reconstruction Teaches Us

After Sekigahara cut the Uesugi domain from 1.2 million koku to 300,000, Naoe Kanetsugu refused to dismiss a single retainer. His solution: flood control, new industries, and city planning. A 400-year-old leadership story.

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After Sekigahara reduced the Uesugi domain to one quarter its former size, Kanetsugu refused to dismiss a single retainer from the now-tiny 300,000-koku domain. He built stone flood-control embankments along the Mogami River to reclaim farmland, promoted specialty industries, and laid the foundation for the later reforms of the celebrated lord Uesugi Yozan (Harunori).

Portrait of Naoe Kanetsugu — the great administrator who dismissed no retainers after Sekigahara and devoted himself to rebuilding Yonezawa domain

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Portrait of Uesugi Kenshin — the foundational figure of the Uesugi tradition of righteousness that underpinned Kanetsugu's decision to dismiss no one

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Battle of Sekigahara — this defeat reduced the Uesugi from 1.2 million to 300,000 koku. It was in this adversity that Kanetsugu's true worth was revealed.

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

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Key Figures

Naoe Kanetsugu

The Great Administrator of Uesugi Who Bore the "Love" Helmet

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