Osaka jodai

were officials 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...

 in Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were exclusively fudai

Fudai

was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...

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...

. Conventional interpretations have construed these Japanese titles as "commissioner" or "overseer" or "governor."

This bakufu title identifies an official responsible for holding and defending , and for administration of the city of Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

. This office was considered only slightly less important than the Kyoto shoshidai

Kyoto Shoshidai

The was an important administrative and political office in the early modern government of Japan. However, the significance and effectiveness of the office is credited to the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, who developed these initial creations as bureaucratic elements in a consistent and...

; and this important 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...

 officer was charged with guarding the security of the Kansai

Kansai

The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, and Shiga. Depending on who makes the distinction, Fukui, Tokushima and even Tottori Prefecture are also included...

region. Originally, there were six jodai, but that number was eventually reduced to only one. Conventionally, the man appointed to this essential position would have previously demonstrated his abilities and loyalty by serving as jisha-bugyō or by having succeeded in another similarly important role. From this high position, a career path would have typically included promotion to the office of Kyoto shoshidai and then to a position amongst the 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...

in Edo.

Shogunal city

During this period, Osaka ranked with other urban centers, some of which were designated as a "shogunal city." The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration.

List of Osaka jōdai

• Mizuno Tadakuni
  Mizuno Tadakuni
  was a daimyō during late-Edo period Japan, who later served as chief senior councilor in service to the Tokugawa Shogunate. He is remembered for having instituted the Tenpo Reform.-Biography:...
  
   (1825).
• Matsudaira Noryasu (1845).
• Matsudaira Tadakata (1845–1848).
• Naitō Nobuchika
  Naito Nobuchika
  , also known as Nobukoto , was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Murakami Domain. His title was Kii-no-kami.Before he became the Tokugawa shogunate's chief representative in the capital as Kyoto shoshidai in 1850-1851, he had been Osaka jōdai in 1848-1850.Nobuchika supported...
  
   (1848–1850).
• Matsudaira Nobuatsu (1858–1861).
• Honjō Munehide (1861–1862).