Viscount was the 9th 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 Hasunoike Domain in

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

Saga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of 809,248 (1 August 2020) and has a geographic area of 2,440 km2 (942 sq mi). Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasa ...

). Before 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 ...

, his courtesy titles were title of '' Kai no Kami'' and junior 5th, lower grade court rank (''ju go i no ge'' 従五位下).

Biography

Naotada was the eldest son of Nabeshima Naotomo, the 8th ''daimyō'' of Hasunoike. His mother was the daughter of

Nijō Harutaka {{Infobox officeholder , name = Nijō Harutaka , image = , caption = , alt = , office = Minister of the Left , term_start = 30 May 1796 , term_end = ...

. He attended the domain academy as a child, and on the retirement of his father on July 28, 1848, he became the 9th ''daimyō'' of Hasunoike Domain. In 1854, he was ordered by 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 ...

to take responsibility of the defenses of the

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

area against possible incursions by foreign ships, and was forced to raise and train troops, and build coastal defense fortifications. This greatly strained the already precarious finances of the domain, which could only be resolved by placing the domain into great debt. In 1864, he was ordered to participate in the

First Chōshū expedition The First Chōshū expedition ( ja, 第一次長州征討) was a punitive military expedition by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Chōshū Domain in September–November 1864. The expedition was in retaliation for Chōshū's role in the attack ...

, and contributed 1000 soldiers to the Tokugawa army. By order of his retired father, he also dispatched troops to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

to assist the Tokugawa forces in keeping public order. During the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, he switched sides to 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 ...

and dispatched Hasunoike’s forces under the command of his younger brother, Ishii Tadami, 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 ...

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 ...

in support of Emperor Meiji In 1869, he was appointed "domain governor" as the title of ''daimyō'' was abolished, and with the abolition of the han system and subsequent merger of Hasunoike into the new

in 1871, he moved to Tokyo. In 1884, he became 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 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. He died at the clan’s

Azabu is an area in Minato,Tokyo, Japan. Built on a marshy area of foothills south of central Tokyo, its coverage roughly corresponds to that of the former Azabu Ward, presently consisting of nine official districts: Azabu-Jūban, Azabudai, Azab ...

residence in 1891, and his grave is at the Azabu Cemetery in Tokyo.

Notes

References

*''The content of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia''.
Naotada on Nekhet's "World Nobility" site
(14 September 2007)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nabeshima, Naotada 1826 births 1891 deaths Kazoku Tozama daimyo Nabeshima clan People of the Boshin War People of Meiji-period Japan