Viscount was the final ''

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

Yokosuka Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Tōtōmi Province. It was centered at Yokosuka Castle in what is now the Matsuo district of the city of Kakegawa in Shizuoka Prefecture.Tōtōmi Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tōtōmi''" in . Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa, Suruga and Shinano Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The or ...

in late-

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

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 ...

, and the first (and only) ''daimyō'' of

Hanabusa Domain was a Han (administrative division), Japanese feudal domain of the early Meiji period, located in Nagasa District, Chiba, Nagasa District, Awa Province (Chiba), Awa Province. It was centered at what is now the area of the city of Kamogawa, Chiba, ...

in Awa Province in the early years of 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 ...

, and the 11th hereditary chieftain of the Yokosuka-Nishio clan. Tadaatsu was the son of

Nishio Tadasaka was a daimyō in late-Edo period Japan, who ruled Yokosuka Domain in Tōtōmi Province. Tadasaka was the second son of Sakai Tadazane, daimyō of Himeji Domain, and was adopted by the heirless 6th daimyō of Yokosuka Domain, Nishio Tadakata, t ...

, the 7th ''daimyō'' of Yokosuka Domain. His mother was a daughter of Toki Yorinobu, the ''daimyō'' of

Numata 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 Numata Castle in what is now the city of Numata, Gunma. History Following the Battle of O ...

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 ran ...

. He became ''daimyō'' of Yokosuka and head of the Nishio clan upon his father's death in 1861 and was received in formal audience by

Shogun , 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. ...

the following year. During 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 ...

of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Tadaatsu's retainers were divided as to whether or not the domain should continue to support the shogunate, or join forces with the

Satchō Alliance The , or was a powerful military alliance between the feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. History The name ''Satchō'' () is an ...

in support of the new

imperial government The name imperial government (german: Reichsregiment) denotes two organs, created in 1500 and 1521, in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation to enable a unified political leadership, with input from the Princes. Both were composed of the em ...

. Thanks to the persuasion of Yaso Tomiho and Aoyama Zen'ichirō, the pro-shogunate elements in Yokosuka dropped their objections, and the Yokosuka Domain peacefully submitted to the Imperial army. As a gesture of loyalty, Yokosuka Domain contributed forces to assisted the new government in its suppression of remaining pro-Tokugawa partisans in northern Japan. In 1868, due to

Tokugawa Iesato Prince was the first head of the Tokugawa clan after the overthrow of the Tokugawa bakufu, and a significant figure in Japanese politics and diplomacy during the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan. When Prince Tokugawa travelled to ...

's entry into the Tōkaidō region as ''daimyō'' of the newly created

Sunpu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The domain centered at Sunpu Castle is what is now the Aoi-ku, Shizuoka. From 1869 it was briefly called . History During the Muromachi period, Sunpu was the capital of the ...

, the Nishio clan was transferred to the newly-created Hanabusa Domain, in Awa Province with the same nominal ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 54 ...

''. Tadaatsu ruled Hanabusa as ''daimyō'' until 1869, when he was made ''han chiji'' (imperial governor). He finally left Hanabusa after the abolition of the domains in 1871, and relocated to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. He was created a

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 judicial ...

under the ''

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 in 1884. Tadaatsu was married to a daughter of

Matsudaira Chikayoshi ; (January 10, 1829 – November 11, 1886) was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period who served as daimyō of the Funai Domain (Bungo Province, 21,000 koku). Served in a variety of positions in the Tokugawa Shogunate, including that of wak ...

, ''daimyō'' of

Kitsuki Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Bungo Province in modern-day Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. In the han system, Kitsuki was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys an ...

Chikugo Province is the name of a former province of Japan in the area that is today the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyūshū. It was sometimes called or , with Chikuzen Province. Chikugo was bordered by Hizen, Chikuzen, Bungo, and Higo Provi ...

, and had two daughters, but no male heir. He died in 1910, at age 61. His grave is at the temple of Myogon-ji at

Ageo, Saitama 260px, Ageo Maruyama Park is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 229,517 in 103,709 households and a population density of 5000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ageo ...

. , -

References

Nishio family genealogy
Nishio clan Kazoku 1850 births 1910 deaths Fudai daimyo People of the Boshin War Nobility from Tokyo {{Daimyo-stub