Viscount was an Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 10th '' daimyō'' of Nihonmatsu Domain in the Tōhoku region of Japan. He was the 11th hereditary chieftain of the Niwa 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 ''Saikyō-no-daifu'', and his Court rank was Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade.

Biography

Nagakuni, known in his childhood as Hōzō () was born in Nihonmatsu on May 22, 1834, the 6th son of

Niwa Nagatomi was an Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 9th ''daimyō'' of Nihonmatsu Domain in the Tōhoku region of Japan. He was the 10th hereditary chieftain of the Niwa clan. His courtesy title was ''Saikyō-no-daifu'', and his Court rank was Junio ...

. On November 15, 185811 October by the lunar calendar. he succeeded to the family headship upon his father's retirement. He continued the joint coastal defense mission at Tomitsu (together with

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...

han) begun by his father.歴史の勉強・丹羽氏
/ref> In April 1864, he was ordered by the Tokugawa shogunate to send military forces to increase security duty in Kyoto due to increasing unrest by pro-''

Sonnō jōi was a ''yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement sought ...

'' samurai. In September 1865, he was asked to send troops to Kyoto again. These demands, as well as a fire in the Nihonmatsu '' jōkamachi'', seriously depleted the resources of the domain. These expenses were compounded by the economic difficulties the domain faced following the Tenpō famines, as well as bureaucratic corruption. As a result, Nihonmatsu was utterly economically paralyzed by the end of the Bakumatsu period. In 1868, with the start of 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 ...

, Nihonmatsu joined the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, but was defeated by the forces of the Satchō Alliance in every engagement. Nihonmatsu Castle fell during the

Battle of Nihonmatsu A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and fo ...

on September 15, 1868 and Niwa Nagakuni fled to Yonezawa Domain. He subsequently made peace with the Meiji government and was ordered to relocated to Tokyo, where he was held under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

at the residence of Maebashi Domain. The new government also ordered him to retire from his position, and reduced Nihonmatsu Domain from its ''

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 ...

'' of 100,700 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' to 50,700 ''koku''. His adopted son Niwa Nagahiro (brother of Uesugi Mochinori of Yonezawa Domain) succeeded him. In 1869, he was released from house arrest. He outlived both his son and grandson, Niwa Nagayasu, and in 1902 reassumed the chieftainship of the Niwa clan, and also the '' kazoku'' title of ''shishaku'' ( viscount). He died in 1904 and his grave is at

Aoyama Cemetery is a cemetery in Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The cemetery is also famous for its cherry blossoms, and at the season of hanami, which many people would visit. History The cemetery was origin ...

in Tokyo.

Notes

External links

Genealogical Information
(in Japanese)

(in Japanese) 1834 births 1904 deaths Niwa clan Fudai daimyo People of the Boshin War Kazoku {{daimyo-stub

Biography

Notes

Further reading

External links