was a Japanese samurai who was an influential figure of the Bakumatsu period.

Biography

The son of Matsudaira Yoshitatsu of Takasu han, his brothers included the famous Matsudaira Katamori

Matsudaira Katamori

was a samurai who lived in the last days of the Edo period and the early to mid Meiji period. He was the 9th daimyo of the Aizu han and the Military Commissioner of Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. During the Boshin War, Katamori and the Aizu han fought against the Meiji Government armies, but...

, Matsudaira Sadaaki

Matsudaira Sadaaki

was a Japanese daimyo of the Bakumatsu period, who was the last ruler of the Kuwana Domain. Sadaaki was the adopted heir of Matsudaira Sadamichi, the descendant of Sadatsuna, the third son of Hisamatsu Sadakutsu , who was Tokugawa Ieyasu's brother. His family was known as the Hisamatsu Matsudaira...

, and Tokugawa Yoshikatsu. Together, the four men were known as the Takasu yon-kyōdai 高須四兄弟, or "Four Brothers of Takasu." First serving as daimyo of his native Takasu Domain

Takasu Domain

The was a Japanese domain located in Mino Province . For most of its history, it was ruled by the Takasu-Matsudaira, a branch of the Tokugawa clan of Owari....

, and then the Owari Domain

Owari Domain

The was a feudal domain of Japan in the Edo period. Located in what is now the western part of Aichi Prefecture, it encompassed parts of Owari, Mino, and Shinano provinces. Its headquarters were at Nagoya Castle. At its peak, it was rated at 619,500 koku, and was the largest holding of the...

, Mochiharu retired before succeeding to the headship of the Hitotsubashi

Gosankyo

The ' were three branches of the Tokugawa clan of Japan. They were descended from the eighth of the fifteen Tokugawa shoguns, Yoshimune . Yoshimune established the Gosankyo to augment the Gosanke, the heads of the powerful han of Owari, Kishū, and Mito...

 branch of the Tokugawa

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:...

 house. An important figure in the Bakumatsu period, he eventually retired the Hitotsubashi headship in favor of his son Satomichi.

Further reading

• Hitotsubashi genealogy
• Bolitho, Harold. The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862-1868. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1980.