The , onetime ruling family of the Jōzai Domain, is a Japanese clan which traces its origins to the Ogasawara clan

Ogasawara clan

The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji. The Ogasawara acted as shugo of Shinano province in the medieval period The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji. The Ogasawara acted as shugo (governors) of Shinano province in the medieval period The was a...

, the shugo

Shugo

was a title, commonly translated as "Governor," given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan...

 of Shinano Province

Shinano Province

or is an old province of Japan that is now present day Nagano Prefecture.Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces...

. The family served the Matsudaira (later Tokugawa) clan from its days in Mikawa Province

Mikawa Province

is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces....

. It became a family of hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

 under 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 1825, upon receiving a raise in income to 10,000 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...

 (thanks to the family head Tadafusa, who was then a wakadoshiyori

Wakadoshiyori

The ', or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in 17th century Tokugawa Japan. The position was established around 1631, but appointments were irregular until 1662....

), the Hayashi family entered the ranks of the 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...

.

The Hayashi family was famous during 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....

 because of the actions of its head, Hayashi Tadataka

Hayashi Tadataka

was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Jōzai Domain. Later in life, he was also known by his style, . During the Boshin War of 1868, Hayashi led his domain's forces in support of the armies of the former shogun, and then the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei...

, in the fight against the imperial army. The Hayashi became commoners after Tadataka's surrender late in 1868; however, later on in the Meiji era, Tadataka's adopted son Tadahiro received the title of danshaku (baron) in the new kazoku

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 of peerage.

Further reading

• Hayashi Isao 林勲 (1988). Kazusa no Kuni Jōzai Hanshu ichimonji daimyō Hayashi-kōke kankei shiryōshū 上総國請西藩主一文字大名林侯家関係資料集. Kisarazu-shi: Hayashi Eiichi.
• Nakamura Akihiko 中村彰彦 (2000). Dappan daimyō no Boshin Sensō: Kazusa Jōzai hanshu Hayashi Tadataka no shōgai 脫藩大名の戊辰戦争: 上総請西藩主 林忠崇の生涯. Tokyo: Chūō kōron shinsha 中央公論新社.