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 ...

was the 8th 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

Shimabara Domain The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture.DF__...,_who_were_''Kirishitan">DF_6-7_of_80/nowiki>">DF__...,_who_were_''Kirishitan_daimyō.html" ;"title="Kirishitan.html" ;"title ...

Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not incl ...

, Kyūshū, Japan (modern-day

Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...

Biography

Tadakazu was the 16th son of the

Mito Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.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 ...

, and was thus the younger brother of

Shōgun , 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 Kamak ...

Tokugawa Yoshinobu. In 1861, when the 7th ''daimyō'' of Shimabara,

Matsudaira Tadachika was a Japanese '' fudai daimyō'' of the Edo period. He was highly influential in the Tokugawa shogunate under Shōgun Ieshige.Screech, Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822'', p. 241 n74. Tadach ...

died without heir, Tadakazu was selected as his replacement, and was posthumously adopted as his son. He assumed the office of ''daimyō'' on December 16, 1861 and was awarded lower 6th court rank the same day. With increasing anti-shogunal activities on part of Satsuma Domain to the south and Chōshū Domain to the east, and with neighboring Saga Domain showing signs of leaning towards the anti-Tokugawa Alliance, the situation in Shimabara domain was increasingly uncertain. To compound the situation, Tadakazu was ordered by Edo to lead his forces against Chōshū in both the First Chōshū Punitive Expedition of 1864, and Second Chōshū Punitive Expedition in 1866. Both expeditions were extremely unpopular among his ''samurai'', many of whom had fallen under the influence of the

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 soug ...

movement. In 1868, with the start of the Boshin War, he pledged Shimabara domain in support of Emperor Meiji, and proved his loyalty by committing his troops to the northern campaign against the

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black i ...

, fighting at

Akita is a Japanese name and may refer to: Places * 8182 Akita, a main-belt asteroid * Akita Castle, a Nara period fortified settlement in Akita, Japan * Akita Domain, also known as Kubota Domain, feudal domain in Edo period Japan * Akita, Kumamoto ...

and

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . G ...

. In June 1869, the title of ''daimyō'' was abolished, and he was appointed domain governor. However, in 1871, Shimabara domain itself was abolished with the abolition of the han system, and became part of the new

. Tadakazu relocated 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, ...

. He later served as chief priest of

Nikkō Tōshō-gū is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Together with Futarasan Shrine and Rinnō-ji, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 42 structures of the shrine included in t ...

in 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 ...

; he was also created

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 ''

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. Matsudaira Tadakazu died in June 1917, and his grave is at the temple of Honko-ji in

Kōta, Aichi is a town located in Nukata District, Aichi Prefecture, in the Tōkai region of Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 42,200 in 16,198 households, and a population density of 744 persons per km². The total area of the town was . Par ...

References

*''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.''
Matsudaira genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsudaira, Tadakazu 1851 births 1917 deaths Kazoku Fudai daimyo Tadakazu Tokugawa clan People of the Boshin War Kannushi