was a Japanese daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 of the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

, who ruled the Kaga domain

Kaga Domain

The was a powerful feudal domain in Kaga, Noto and Etchū Provinces of Japan during the Edo period. The domain was founded by Maeda Toshiie and headed by the Maeda clan. Its income rating, over 1,000,000 koku, was the highest in the nation after the Tokugawa shogunate itself...

.

Shigemichi was the 7th son of Maeda Yoshinori

Maeda Yoshinori

was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Kaga Domain. Engaged in tax reforms designed to improve the Kaga domain's financial situation....

, the 5th lord of Kaga. After his half-brother Shigenobu

Maeda Shigenobu

' was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Kaga domain....

's death, Shigemichi was chosen as heir, and was being prepared to send to Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 to receive permission from the shogunate to become the next lord of Kaga. A case of the measles

Measles

Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

 delayed his departure, however, he was finally able to go to Edo and meet with the shogun Ieshige

Tokugawa Ieshige

Tokugawa Ieshige; 徳川 家重 was the ninth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.The first son of Tokugawa Yoshimune, his mother was the daughter of Okubo Tadanao, known as Osuma no kata. His childhood name was Nagatomi-maru. He underwent the genpuku coming-of-age ceremony in 1725...

, formally receiving the title of daimyo. Soon after his investiture, he continued the political purges connected to the Kaga uprising

O-Ie Sodo

O-Ie Sōdō were noble family disputes within the samurai and aristocratic classes of Japan, particularly during the early Edo period...

. He was also involved in popularizing Noh

Noh

, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...

 drama. Shigemichi yielded headship to his half-brother Harunaga

Maeda Harunaga

' was a Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, who ruled the Kaga domain.He was the restorer of Kenroku-en and the founder of the Kaga domain's school, Meirin-dō....

in 1771, and died in 1786 at age 46.