Hotta Masayoshi
| Hotta Masayoshi | |
|---|---|
Hotta Masayoshi
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| 5th (Hotta) Lord of Sakura | |
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In office 1825–1859 |
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| Preceded by | Hotta Masachika |
| Succeeded by | Hotta Masamichi |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 30, 1810 Edo, Japan |
| Died | April 26, 1864 (aged 53) Sakura, Chiba, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
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.
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.
In April 1829, he was appointed a Sōshaban and in August 1834 became Jisha-bugyō. In May 1837 he was appointed Osaka jōdai, however only two months later he was recalled to Edo to join the ranks of the rōjū. From 1841, he was regarded as the right arm of Mizuno Tadakuni, the architect of the Tenpō Reforms. However, after Mizuno fell out of favor in 1843 due to failure of the Tenpō Reforms, Hotta also lost his position as rōjū.
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