The , onetime ruling family of the Jōzai Domain, is a

Japanese clan This is a list of Japanese clans. The old clans ('' Gōzoku'') mentioned in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki lost their political power before the Heian Period, during which new aristocracies and families, ''Kuge'', emerged in their place. After the He ...

which traces its origins to the

Ogasawara clan The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji.Papinot, Jacques. (2003)''Nobiliare du Japon'' – Ogasawara, pp. 44–45 Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon.'' (in Fren ...

, the

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

of Shinano Province, and through the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

, from the

Seiwa Genji The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the fo ...

. The family served the Matsudaira (later Tokugawa) clan from its days in

Mikawa Province was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mi ...

. It became a family of

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.'' Howev ...

under the

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 ...

; in 1825, upon receiving a raise in income to 10,000 koku (thanks to the family head Tadafusa, who was then a

wakadoshiyori The ', or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in the Edo period Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867). The position was established around 1633, but appointments were irregular until 1662. The four to six ''wakadoshiyori'' we ...

), the Hayashi family entered the ranks of the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

s''. The Hayashi family was famous during the Boshin War because of the actions of its head, Hayashi Tadataka, in the fight against the imperial army. The Hayashi became commoners after Tadataka's surrender late in 1868; however, later on in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, Tadataka's adopted son Tadahiro received the title of ''Danshaku'' (Baron) in the new

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...

system of peerage.

References

*Kimura Motoi 木村礎, ed. (1990). ''Hanshi Daijiten'' 藩史大事典, Vol. 2. Tokyo: Yūzankaku. *Sasaki Suguru (2004). ''Boshin Sensō'' 戊辰戦争. Tokyo: Chuokōron-shinsha.

References

Further reading

See also