was a Japanese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

''. He was the last lord of the

Ōtaki Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period, located in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Ōtaki Castle (Chiba), Ōtaki Castle in what is now the town of Ōtaki, Chiba. H ...

Biography

Ōkōchi Masatada was born in 1844 as the fifth son of

Manabe Akikatsu was the 7th ''daimyō'' of Sabae Domain in Echizen Province under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan.Meyer, Eva Maria. (1999) ''Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit'', p. 146 His courtesy title was ''Shimōsa-no-kami'', and his Court ran ...

, lord of the Sabae Domain.

Boshin War service

Ōkōchi was the nominal leader of the shogunate army at the

Battle of Toba–Fushimi The occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 (or fourth year of Keiō, first month, 3rd day, according to the lunar calendar), when the forces of the sho ...

in January of 1868, where he was defeated by the revolutionary

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

. On January 29th, he retreated from his headquarters at Yodo Station. During the war, Ōkōchi reportedly ate meat from the faces of slain soldiers as an accompaniment to

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

. Although Ōkōchi and

Takenaka Shigekata was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, later a figure in efforts to colonize Hokkaido. He is also known by his court title, ''Tango no kami'' (丹後守). Takenaka Shigekata was born in 1828 in the town of Iwate, in Mino Province, the so ...

were described by the Imperial authorities as the of Toba-Fushimi, Ōkōchi was able to protect the Ōtaki Domain from retaliation by the new government by quickly surrendering Ōtaki Castle.

After the war

Ōkōchi died in 1901. He was survived by his eldest son Ōkōchi Masatoshi, later associated with the

Japanese nuclear weapons program During World War II, Empire of Japan, Japan had several programs exploring the use of nuclear fission for military technology, including nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Like the German_nuclear_program_during_World_War_II, similar wartime ...

in conjunction with General Yasuda Takeo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okochi, Masatada 1844 births 1901 deaths Samurai People of the Boshin War Meiji Restoration Japanese cannibals People of the Meiji era