Count was a Japanese daimyo

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...

 of the late 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....

, who became a peer

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

 during the Meiji era. He was the last ruler of the Sendai Domain

Sendai Domain

was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. Most of its holdings were contiguous, covering all of modern-day Miyagi Prefecture, small portions of southern Iwate Prefecture, and a portion of northeastern Fukushima Prefecture. The domain's capital, and the ruling family's castle, were located in what...

.

Born the fourth son of Date Yoshikuni

Date Yoshikuni

was a Japanese daimyo lord of the late Edo period, known primarily for being the commander-in-chief of the Northern Alliance of Confederated Domains during the Boshin War.During his tenure as lord he was also known by his courtesy title, Matsudaira ....

, Munemoto received family headship in 1868, following the defeat of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei

Ouetsu Reppan Domei

-External links:**...

 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....

. Munemoto thus became lord of the Sendai domain, which had lost well over half of its landholdings (reduced from 620,000 to 280,000 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...

). He remained lord of Sendai until 1869, when he was made its imperial governor. In 1870, he yielded this position to his adoptive brother Date Muneatsu, but retained family headship.

In 1884, Munemoto was created count in the new Japanese peerage

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...

system.