Hotta Masayoshi

Hotta Masayoshi (堀田 正睦, August 30, 1810 – April 26, 1864) was the 5th Hotta daimyo of the Sakura Domain in the Japanese Edo period, who served as chief rōjū in the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa shogunate, where he played an important role in the negotiations of the Ansei Treaties with various foreign powers.

Early life

Hotta Masayoshi was the younger son of the 3rd daimyo of Sakura, Hotta Masatoki, and was born at the domain’s Edo residence. On the death of his father in 1811, he was adopted by his elder brother, the 4th daimyo of Sakura, Hotta Masachika, to secure the family succession. Masachika was of sickly physique and by 1824 there was a movement by the senior line of the Hotta clan to have him removed from office, and replaced by the son of Hotta Masatsu, the daimyo of Katada Domain and a wakadoshiyori in the government. This was strongly opposed by most of the leadership of the Sakura domain, and Hotta Masayoshi was appointed daimyo. Almost immediately, the domain was saddled with the fiscally taxing burden of improving coastal defenses in Edo Bay against incursions of the Black ships. However, Masayoshi proved an able administrator, reforming the domain’s finances, sponsoring studies of rangaku, especially western military science, and establishing the predecessor of Juntendo University.