Inoue Masanao
Encyclopedia
was a daimyō
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 and official of the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 during Bakumatsu period Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Biography

Inoue Masanao was the fourth son of the daimyō of Tatebayashi Domain
Tatebayashi Domain
The ' was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Kōzuke Province .-List of lords:*Sakakibara clan #Yasumasa#Yasukatsu#Tadatsugu*Matsudaira clan...

, Inoue Masaharu
Inoue Masaharu
was a daimyō and official of the Tokugawa shogunate during late-Edo period Japan. His courtesy title was Kawachi-no-kami.-Biography:Inoue Masaharu was the eldest son of the disgraced former daimyō of Hamamatsu, Inoue Masamoto, who had been demoted to Tanakura Domain in Mutsu Province...

, and was born before his father was transferred to Hamamatsu. He inherited the leadership of the Inoue clan
Inoue clan
The ' was a samurai clan which came to prominence from the late Kamakura through Edo periods in Japanese history. Mention of an Inoue surname is found in Nara period records; however, the Inoue clan which later became prominent in the Edo period traces its antecedents to the Seiwa Genji line...

 and the position of daimyō of Hamamatsu Domain
Hamamatsu Domain
was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Tōtōmi Province. It was centered on what is now Hamamatsu Castle in what is now the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture....

 on his father’s death in 1847. In 1851, he was awarded Lower 5th Court Rank and the courtesy title of Kawachi-no-kami.

During the Bakumatsu period, he entered the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

, first as Sōshaban
Sōshaban
were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Conventional interpretations have construed this Japanese title as "master of ceremonies."...

(Master of Ceremonies) in 1858, as Jisha-bugyō
Jisha-bugyo
was a "commissioner" or an "overseer" of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were always fudai daimyō, the lowest-ranking of the shogunate offices to be so restricted...

in 1861, then as Rōjū
Roju
The ', usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Rōjū...

(Senior Councilor) in 1862 under Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari; 徳川 家斉 was the eleventh and longest serving shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.-First wife:...

. His court rank was correspondingly increased to Lower 4th. In 1863-1864 he participated in the discussions within Edo Castle
Edo Castle
, also known as , is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also...

 on the ending of Japan’s national isolation policy
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

 and the signing of the unequal treaties
Unequal Treaties
“Unequal treaty” is a term used in specific reference to a number of treaties imposed by Western powers, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, on Qing Dynasty China and late Tokugawa Japan...

 with the western powers. Dismissed as Rōjū on July 12, 1864, he was reappointed again on November 26, 1865. In 1866, he participated in the Second Chōshū expedition
Second Chōshū expedition
The Second Chōshū expedition , also called the Summer War, was a punitive expedition led by the Tokugawa Shogunate against the Chōshū Domain. It followed the First Chōshū expedition of 1864....

 by the command of the shogunal deputy in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

, Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
was the 15th and last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful...

. He resigned again on June 17, 1867.

In 1868, despite his background as a fudai daimyo and former Rōjū, he sided with the Imperial forces in the Boshin War
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

 of the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

.
In May 1868, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu was forced to resign his office, and the Tokugawa clan
Tokugawa clan
The was a powerful daimyo family of Japan. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa and were a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Nitta clan. However, the early history of this clan remains a mystery.-History:...

 under the new leadership of Tokugawa Iesada
Tokugawa Iesada
Tokugawa Iesada Tokugawa Iesada Tokugawa Iesada (徳川 家定 (May 6, 1824 – August 14, 1858) was the 13th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office for only 5 years, from 1853 to 1858. He was physically weak and therefore unfit to be shogun in this period of great challenges...

 was given the provinces of Suruga
Suruga Province
was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka prefecture. It was sometimes called . Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and had access to the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay.-History:...

, Tōtōmi
Totomi Province
was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture. Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa, Suruga and Shinano Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was .-History:...

 and a portion of Mikawa Province
Mikawa Province
is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces....

 as compensation. The Inoue clan was reassigned to a new 60,000 koku
Koku
The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

domain in Kazusa Province
Kazusa Province
was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. It lies on in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula , whose name takes its first kanji from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was or .Kazusa is classified as one of the...

 called Tsurumai Domain in September of the same year. In 1869, Inoue Masaharu became domain governor of Tsurumai Domain under the Meiji government. The domain was abolished in 1871 with the abolition of the han system
Abolition of the han system
The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...

. After the establishment of the kazoku
Kazoku
The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...

peerage system, he became a viscount
Viscount
A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...

 (shishaku). He later became a student of C. Carrothers at the Keio Gijuku
Keio University
,abbreviated as Keio or Keidai , is a Japanese university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of higher education in Japan. Founder Fukuzawa Yukichi originally established it as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo . It has eleven campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa...

 in Tokyo.

Inoue Masaharu was married to a daughter of Matsudaira Tadakata, daimyō of Ueda Domain
Ueda Domain
The ' was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Shinano Province .-List of lords:*Sanada clan #Masayuki#Nobuyuki*Sengoku clan #Tadamasa#Masatoshi#Masaakira...

. He was succeeded as head of the Inoue clan by his fourth son Inoue Masanao. His grave is at the Somei Cemetery in Toshima, Tokyo.
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