Hayashi Tadataka

Who was 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, Ichimu. 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. Unlike the Tokugawa forces which went on to Ezo, Hayashi surrendered willingly when he received word that the Tokugawa family was to be granted a fief in Shizuoka. During the Meiji period he worked in various occupations, before working for the government. In the Meiji era, his family was ennobled as part of the kazoku system. For a time he also served at Tōshō-gū in Nikkō. Hayashi lived well into the 20th century, and was famous as "the last daimyo." He died in early 1941, in an apartment run by his daughter Mitsu.

When asked for a death poem, he is reported to have said, "In the Boshin [War] I had one. I don't have one now."

Hayashi appears as a character in Ikenami Shōtarō's novel Bakumatsu Yūgekitai.