Viscount was a politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

Biography

Toshisada Maeda was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, as the eldest son of Maeda Toshiaki, the final ''

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 ...

'' of

Nanokaichi Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kōzuke Province (modern-day Gunma Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Nanokaichi ''jin'ya'' in what is now part of the city of Tomioka, Gunma. Parts of the ''j ...

Kōzuke Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered by Echigo, Shinano, Musashi and Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Kōzuke was r ...

, and inherited his father’s ''

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 ...

'' peerage title of ''shishaku'' (

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...

). His brother, Toshinari, was a general in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

Toshisada Maeda was a graduate of

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

. He served briefly in the infantry during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

in 1894, and afterwards assumed his family’s seat in the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan. In 1922, he was appointed Communications Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Katō Tomosaburō Marshal-Admiral Viscount was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy, cabinet minister, and Prime Minister of Japan from 1922 to 1923. Biography Born in Hiroshima, Aki Province (modern Hiroshima Prefecture) to a ''samurai'' family, Ka ...

. He subsequently served in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Kiyoura Keigo Count was a Japanese politician. He was the Prime Minister of Japan in 1924, during the period which historians have called the " Taishō Democracy". Early life Kiyoura was born Ōkubo Fujaku in Kamoto, Higo Province (part of present-day ...

as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. He retired from public life in January 1944, and died in October of the same year. He was posthumously awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasures The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest tw ...

, 1st class. Maeda studied poetry under

Sasaki Nobutsuna was a ''tanka'' poet and scholar of the Nara and Heian periods of Japanese literature. He was active during the Shōwa period of Japan. Early life Sasaki was born in what is now part of Suzuka city, Mie prefecture. He was considered a child p ...

. His daughter married post-war Foreign Minister

Katsuo Okazaki was a Japanese sportsman, diplomat and political figure. He served as the Japanese foreign minister in the 1950s. He was also the final – and only Japanese – chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council. Early life Okazaki was born on 10 Ju ...

Family tree

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maeda, Toshisada 1874 births 1944 deaths University of Tokyo alumni Kazoku Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Maeda clan Government ministers of Japan Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure