Viscount was a Japanese samurai of 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 ...

and the 10th (and 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 Aizu Domain.

Biography

Nobunori was the 19th son of

Tokugawa Nariaki Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川斉昭, April 4, 1800 – September 29, 1860) was a prominent Japanese ''daimyō'' who ruled the Mito Domain (now Ibaraki Prefecture) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji Restoration. Biography C ...

Mito Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' from his older brother, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to become "Nobunori". He was adopted by

Matsudaira Katamori Matsudaira Katamori after the Meiji restoration was a samurai who lived in Bakumatsu period and the early to mid Meiji period Japan. He was the 9th ''daimyō'' of the Aizu Domain and the Kyoto Shugoshoku (Military Commissioner of Kyoto). He i ...

in March 1867 as successor to Aizu Domain and received the courtesy title of ''Wakasa-no-kami'' and ''Jijū'', and Court rank was Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade. In February 1868, Katamori officially retired making Nobunori ''daimyō''. Following the defeat of Aizu forces at the Battle of Aizu in the Boshin War, 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 ...

ordered Katamori and Nobunori to

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, ...

, where in January 1869 they were stripped of their titles and offices and were placed under "permanent" house arrest. In November 1869, the chieftainship of the Aizu-Matsudaira clan was transferred to Katamori's infant son, Kataharu Matsudaira. In March 1870, Katamori and Nobunori were ordered to accompany the Aizu samurai to their new home of Tanami Domain in far northern

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...

. They returned in August 1870 to Tokyo. In August 1873, Matsudaira Moriyuki, the 22nd son of Tokugawa Nariaki, former ''daimyō'' of

Moriyama Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in southern Mutsu Province in what is now part of the modern-day city of Kōriyama, Fukushima. It was established by a cadet branch of the Tokugawa clan of Mito. A ...

and imperial governor of Matsukawa, died. Nobuyuki dissolved his adoption tie to Katamori, which allowed him to posthumously be adopted by Moriyuki, becoming the 9th chieftain of the Moriyama-Matsudaira clan. On October 12, 1876 he departed

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 T ...

for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, where he studied until June 1879. On July 8, 1884, he was ennobled with the title of

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 ...

(''shishaku'') under 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 ...

'' peerage system. He died on June 3, 1891 without heir. His title was inherited by Matsudaira Yorihira (1858-1929), the third son of

Matsudaira Yoritaka Viscount was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Edo period who served as daimyō of Shishido han. Retiring early, he was succeeded by his son Matsudaira Yorinori, but Yoritaka returned to headship following Yorinori's death in 1864. Though the ...

, formerly of

Shishido Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Hitachi Province (modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Shishido Jin'ya in what is now part of the city of Kasama, Ibaraki. It was ruled for m ...

. His grave is at the

Yanaka Cemetery is a large cemetery located north of Ueno in Yanaka 7-chome, Taito, Tokyo, Japan. The Yanaka sector of Taito is one of the few Tokyo neighborhoods in which the old Shitamachi atmosphere can still be felt. The cemetery is famous for its beautif ...

in Tokyo.

References

*Satō Masanobu 佐藤正信, "Rekidai hanshu oyobi Matsudaira-ke keifu" 歴代藩主および松平家系譜, in ''Matsudaira Katamori no Subete'' 松平容保のすべて, ed. Tsunabuchi Kenjō 綱淵謙錠 (Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha, 1984), pp. 232–243. 1855 births 1891 deaths Shinpan daimyo People of the Boshin War Aizu-Matsudaira clan Mito-Tokugawa family Moriyama-Matsudaira clan Kazoku {{daimyo-stub