was the 7th Naitō ''

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

'' of Takatō Domain in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(modern-day

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

) and 12th hereditary chieftain of the Takatō-Naitō clan. His

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

was ''Ōsumi-no-kami'', later ''Yamato-no-kami'' and subsequently ''Suruga-no-kami'', and his Court rank was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade.

Biography

Naitō Yoriyasu was the third son of Naitō Yorimochi, and was proclaimed heir after his elder brother Yorikata was disinherited for reasons which are unknown to history. He became ''daimyō'' in 1820 on the retirement of his father. In 1826 he became a '' sōshaban'' and was promoted to the post of '' wakadoshiyori'' in 1841. he was noted as a scholar, and for his familiarity with

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

drama and the

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...

. He attempted to reform the domain's finances by encouraging the development of commerce, opening new rice fields and establishing a domain monopoly on

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

production and

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, ''Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively studie ...

. He maintained an active correspondence with other reform-minded ''daimyō'', including Shimazu Nariakira,

Matsudaira Shungaku , also known as Matsudaira Keiei,Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868'', p. 335. or better known as Matsudaira Shungaku (春嶽) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Edo period. He was head of the ...

and the

Toda clan Toda may refer to: *Toda (surname), a Japanese surname *Queen Toda of Navarre (fl. 885–970) *Toda people *Toda language *Toda Embroidery *Toda lattice *Toda field theory *Oscillator Toda *Toda, Saitama, Japan * TODA Racing, who tune and race veh ...

. However, most of his efforts were thwarted by peasant revolts. He also submitted missives to the shogunate warning of Japan's weak military position vis-a-vis the United States, supported the efforts of

Egawa Hidetatsu was a Japanese Bakufu intendant of the 19th century. Jansen, Hall 1989, p. 815. He was Daikan, in charge of the domains of the Tokugawa shogunate in Izu, Sagami and Kai Provinces during the Bakumatsu period. Jansen, Hall 1989, p. 108. He took a ...

to modernize the Japanese military and retrained his own forces along western lines. An avid fisherman, he designed the ponds at his Fukagawa residence in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

to be filled with seawater, which he stocked with fish. It is also recorded that when he invited his fellow ''daimyō'' over for a fishing party, he made sure that the stocked fish were well-fed beforehand, so that his guests would not catch any. He retired from public life in 1859 and died in 1862.His grave is at the temple of Taizō-ji in Shinjuku, Tokyo. His first wife was a daughter of Sakai Tadamichi of

Himeji Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Himeji Castle, which is located in what is now the ...

. After her death, he remarried to an adopted daughter of Sakai Tadamitsu of Himeji.

References

* ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Naitō, Yoriyasu Fudai daimyo Naitō clan 1800 births 1862 deaths Wakadoshiyori