Prince , was a Japanese nobleman who served the Meiji government as a court official and member of House of Peers

House of Peers (Japan)

The ' was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ....

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Biography

Nijō Motohiro was born in Kyoto as the eighth son of Kujō Hisatada

Kujo Hisatada

, son of Nijō Harutaka, was a kuge or Japanese court noble of the Edo period . He was adopted by his brother Suketsugu as his son. He held a regent position kampaku from 1856 to 1862, and retired in 1863, becoming a priest...

.He was adopted by Nijō Narinobu

Nijo Narinobu

, son of Nijō Harutaka, was a Japanese kugyō of the Edo period . He married a daughter of the seventh head of Mito Domain Tokugawa Harutoshi. The couple had son Nijō Nariyuki, among others.-References:...

, another of the five regent houses

Five regent houses

The Five regent houses is a collective term for those five families of Fujiwara clan, who were regarded entitled to the position of Sekkan in the Imperial Court of Kyoto, Japan, and monopolized the position between 12th and 19th century...

, to carry on the Nijō family

Nijo family

The was one of five regent houses, branches of the Fujiwara clan, a powerful noble family that monopolized regent positions Sesshō and Kampaku in Japan. The family was founded by Kujō Michiie's second son Nijō Yoshizane, while his third son Ichijō Sanetsune founded Ichijō family.-External links:* ...

 name. His wife was a daughter of Maeda Nariyasu

Maeda Nariyasu

' was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period who ruled the Kaga Domain.-Biography:Nariyasu was born in Kanazawa in 1811, the 2nd son of the Kaga lord, Maeda Narinaga. His childhood name was Katsuchiyo...

, twelfth head of Kaga Domain

Kaga Domain

The was a powerful feudal domain in Kaga, Noto and Etchū Provinces of Japan during the Edo period. The domain was founded by Maeda Toshiie and headed by the Maeda clan. Its income rating, over 1,000,000 koku, was the highest in the nation after the Tokugawa shogunate itself...

. Their son was Nijō Atsumoto

Nijo Atsumoto

, son of Nijō Motohiro, was a Japanese politician who served as a member of House of Peers in the Meiji period . He adopted Nijō Masamaro's son Tamemoto.-References:...

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On July 7, 1869 as part of the reformation of the court nobility

Kuge

The was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century at which point it was eclipsed by the daimyo...

 under the new Meiji government, Nijō Motohiro became a prince

Prince

Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...

 (koshaku) under 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...

peerage system. The change was regarded as a demotion by Nijō and many members of the old aristocracy, however, Nijō continued to serve Emperor Meiji

Emperor Meiji

The or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...

 as a court councilor. From September 1890 until January 1920, Nijō served as a member of the House of Peers

House of Peers (Japan)

The ' was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ....

. Together with Konoe Atsumarō

Konoe Atsumaro

Prince was a Japanese politician and journalist of the Meiji era. He served as the 3rd President of the House of Peers and 7th President of the Gakushūin Peer's School in Meiji period Japan...

, Nijō was a leader of the Sanyōkai faction within the upper house, which was critical of Itoh Hirobumi’s pro-Jiyutō politics, plans for increased military expenditures after the First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...

, and plans for tax reform. He later served as high priest of Kasuga Taisha, the Fujiwara clan’s ancestral Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

 shrine in Nara

Nara, Nara

is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...

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Nijō was very interested in the development of Hokkaidō

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

, and headed the Hokkaidō Kyōkai-kai. Another of his interests was photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

, and he was vice-chairman of the Japan Photography Association headed by Tokugawa Atsuyoshi.