was the 7th Abe ''daimyō'' of

Shirakawa Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in southern Mutsu Province. It was centered on Komine Castle in what is now the city of Shirakawa, Fukushima. Its most famous ruler was Matsudaira Sadanobu, the archite ...

, and an important official in the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

Early life as a ''hatamoto''

Masatō was born the younger son of Abe Shōzō, a 3000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

'' retainer of Shirakawa Domain, and inherited this post when his elder brother Abe Masada was selected to become ''daimyō'' of Shirakawa. In 1859, he was selected by the

Tairō ''Tairō'' (, "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the Tokugawa shogunate government of Japan, roughly comparable to the office of prime minister. The ''tairō'' presided over the governing ''rōjū'' council in the event of an e ...

Ii Naosuke was ''daimyō'' of Hikone (1850–1860) and also Tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858, until his death, assassinated in the Sakuradamon Incident on March 24, 1860. He is most famous for signing the Ha ...

as a secret agent to arrange for the wedding between Princess

Kazunomiya (''Kazunomiya'') was the wife of 14th ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Iemochi. She was renamed Lady Seikan'in-no-miya after she took the tonsure as a widow. She was the great-great-great aunt of Emperor Akihito, who reigned from 1989 to 2019. Biography ...

and

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Tokugawa Iemochi (July 17, 1846 – August 29, 1866) was the 14th ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office from 1858 to 1866. During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of the "re-opening" of Japan to western nations. ...

as part of Ii's '' Kōbu gattai'' strategy. In 1861, he became '' Kanagawa bugyō'', where he had to work with the various foreign diplomats and oversee the delicate relations between Japan and the various Western powers, including the diplomatic crisis caused by the 1862

Namamugi incident The , also known as the Kanagawa incident and Richardson affair, was a political crisis that occurred in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the ''Bakumatsu'' on 14 September 1862. Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant, was killed by t ...

. The same year, he was promoted to ''

Gaikoku bugyō were the commissioners or "magistrates of foreign affairs" appointed at the end of the Edo era by the Tokugawa shogunate to oversee trade and diplomatic relations with foreign countries. In essence this was the beginning of the creation of a Mini ...

'', and the following year was advanced to the post of ''Edo Kita Machi-bugyō''.

Later career as a ''daimyō'' and Shogunate official

In 1864, on the sudden death of Abe Masahisa, he was ordered by the shōgunate to become ''daimyō'' of Shirakawa, and a couple of months later was appointed both ''

sōshaban were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Conventional interpretations have construed this Japanese title as "master of ceremonies" Created in 1632, this '' bakufu'' title identified an official selected from the ranks of the ...

'' and ''

Jisha-bugyō was a "commissioner" or an "overseer" of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were always ''fudai daimyōs'', the lowest-ranking of the shogunate offices to be so restricted.Beasley, William G. (1955) ...

'', and only days later was appointed a ''

rōjū The , usually translated as '' Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two ''sh� ...

''. In this role, he played a leading role in the negotiations involving the creation of the port and foreign settlement at

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. He also ordered the modernisation of Shirakawa's military forces along western lines and its rearmament with modern rifles. In early 1865, Abe went to Kyoto at the head of an army of 4000 troops to arrange for the meeting between Shōgun

and

Emperor Kōmei was the 121st Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')孝明天皇 (121)/ref> Kōmei's reign spanned the years from 1846 through 1867, corresponding to the final years of the ...

and to suppress pro-''

sonnō jōi was a ''yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement sought ...

'' ''

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...

'' in the area. He returned again three months later as part of the train of Shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi, and was joined by 1200 troops from Shirakawa, who arrived by sea and were garrisoned in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. Although it was widely expected that he would led these forces in the

Second Chōshū expedition The Second Chōshū expedition (Japanese: 第二次長州征討), also called the Summer War, was a punitive expedition led by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Chōshū Domain. It followed the First Chōshū expedition of 1864. Background The ...

, Abe came under pressure from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

for the opening of a port and foreign settlement at Hyōgo, as per the terms of treaties already signed. The opening of Hyōgō was vehemently opposed by

and the anti-treaty faction within the shogunate, and after Abe gave in to the foreign demands, he was fired from his office by Iemochi under pressure from Emperor Kōmei. Abe returned to Edo and from there to Shirakawa, where he was placed under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

and order to turn the post of ''daimyō'' to his son, Abe Masakiyo. The following year, he was punished further when the Abe clan was ordered to relocate to

Tanagura Domain was a '' fudai'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in southern Mutsu Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Tanagura Castle, located in what is now part of the town of Tanagura in Fukushima ...

. The clan stalled for a year, and even after moving to Tanagura, managed to recover Shirakawa for a month before the start of the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

. Both Shirakawa and Tanagura were members of the ''

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black i ...

'', but both domains were quickly overrun by the troops of the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

. Abe died in Tokyo in 1887 and his grave is at the

Tama Cemetery in Tokyo is the largest municipal cemetery in Japan. It is split between the cities of Fuchu and Koganei within the Tokyo Metropolis. First established in April 1923 as , it was redesignated Tama Cemetery in 1935. It is one of the largest green a ...

Fuchū, Tokyo 260px, Fuchū City Hall is a city located in western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Fuchū serves as a regional commercial center and a commuter town for workers in central Tokyo. The city hosts large scale manufacturing facilities for Toshiba, NEC a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abe, Masato Hatamoto Fudai daimyo Abe clan 1828 births 1887 deaths Rōjū People of the Boshin War People of Edo-period Japan Meiji Restoration