was a ''

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 nominall ...

'' during

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 governm ...

Japan, who served as chief senior councilor ('' Rōjū'') in service to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

Biography

Mizuno Tadakiyo was the eldest son of Mizuno Tadakuni, the ''daimyō'' of Hamamatsu Domain and chief senior councilor ('' Rōjū'') in service to the

. After the failure of the Tenpō Reforms, Tadakuni was forced into retirement and exile, and turned the leadership of the

Mizuno clan The was a Japanese kin group which claimed descent from Minamoto no Mitsumasa, son of Minamoto no Tsunemoto of the Seiwa Genji clan. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2 ...

and the position of ''daimyō'' of Hamamatsu Domain to Tadakiyo in 1845. However, the same year, Tadakuni was reassigned to

Yamagata Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Yamagata Castle in what is now the city of Yamagata. Unlike some ''han'' whose control was relatively stable througho ...

(50,000 ''

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 ...

'') in

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

. After the pardon of his father in 1851, Tadakuni’s fortunes improved. Within the shogunal administration, he received the post of '' Jisha-bugyō'' (Commissioner of Shrine and Temples) and ''

wakadoshiyori The ', or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in the Edo period Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867). The position was established around 1633, but appointments were irregular until 1662. The four to six ''wakadoshiyori'' we ...

'' (Junior Councilor). In 1862, he became a ''Rōjū'' in the service 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 Kamaku ...

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. ...

. As ''Rōjū'', he worked with

Oguri Tadamasa Oguri Kozukenosuke (Oguri Tadamasa, 16 July 1827 – 27 May 1868) was a statesman of the Tokugawa government in the last stage of the Edo period, and he is often regarded as a rival of Katsu Kaishu. At the time when the power of the Tokugawa g ...

in the construction of Yokosuka Naval Arsenal as part of the Tokugawa shogunate’s efforts to modernize Japan’s military. He retired from public life in 1866 on the death of ''Shōgun'' Tokugawa Iemochi, and was succeeded at Yamagata by his son Mizuno Tadahiro. Mizuno Tadakiyo was married to a daughter of Inoue Masahari, a fellow ''Rōjū'' and ''daimyō'' of Tanagura Domain.

References

* Papinot, Edmond. (1906) ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon''. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaish
..Click link for digitized 1906 ''Nobiliaire du japon'' (2003)
* ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mizuno, Tadakiyo 1833 births 1884 deaths Rōjū Fudai daimyo Wakadoshiyori Meiji Restoration Mizuno clan