Viscount was an admiral in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

Biography

Morio Matsudaira was the son of

Matsudaira Katamori Matsudaira Katamori after the Meiji restoration was a samurai who lived in Bakumatsu period and the early to mid Meiji period Japan. He was the 9th ''daimyō'' of the Aizu Domain and the Kyoto Shugoshoku (Military Commissioner of Kyoto). He i ...

, the former ''

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 Aizu-Wakamatsu domain in what is now Fukushima prefecture. He was born at the Matsudaira's

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, ...

residence in 1878. Matsudaira graduated from the 28th class of the

Imperial Japanese Naval Academy The was a school established to train line officers for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was originally located in Nagasaki, moved to Yokohama in 1866, and was relocated to Tsukiji, Tokyo in 1869. It moved to Etajima, Hiroshima in 1888. Students st ...

in 1900. He was ranked 86th in a class of 105 cadets. He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in 1905 and assigned to the battleship ''Chin'en'', followed by the cruisers in 1906 and (where he was chief gunnery officer) in 1907. Matsudaira was promoted to

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

in 1910, which was also the same year that he succeeded to the head of the Aizu Matsudaira household. He inherited his brother's title of

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. In 1914, he was appointed chief gunnery officer on the battleship , and served from 1915-1916 as executive officer on the cruiser . Matsudaira was promoted to commander in 1916, and was assigned as aide-de-camp to

Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu was a scion of the Japanese imperial family and was a career naval officer who served as chief of staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1932 to 1941. Early life Prince Hiroyasu was born in Tokyo as Prince Narukata, the eldest son of Prin ...

from December 1916-November 1918. On 10 November 1918, he was reassigned as executive officer on the battleship . Promoted to captain in 1920, he received his first command on 10 November 1922: the battlecruiser . He was also captain of the in 1923. From 1923 onwards, he served in a number of staff positions. On 1 December 1925, he was promoted to rear admiral and entered the reserves two weeks later. Matsudaira Morio's son-in-law was a grandson of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, named Hikaru Tokugawa. He was a

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contex ...

and killed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Morio's niece, Setsuko, married

Prince Chichibu , was the second son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako), a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. As a member of the Imperial House of Japan, he was the patron of severa ...

References

Books

*Miyazaki Tomihachi 宮崎十三八, "Matsudaira Katamori no shutsuji to sono ichizoku" 松平容保の出自とその一族, in ''Matsudaira Katamori no Subete'' 松平容保のすべて, ed. Tsunabuchi Kenjō 綱淵謙錠 (Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha, 1984), p. 74.

External links

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsudaira, Morio 1878 births 1944 deaths Kazoku Imperial Japanese Navy admirals People from Tokyo Japanese military personnel of World War II Aizu-Matsudaira clan