12 Facts About Nagai Naoyuki

Nagai Naoyuki, known as Nagai Genba or Nagai Mondonosho, was a Japanese hatamoto under the Tokugawa of Bakumatsu period Japan.

Nagai Naoyuki, or as he was first known, Matsudaira Iwanojo, was born in the Nukada district of the Okutono Domain by a concubine to daimyo Matsudaira Noritada.

Nagai Naoyuki served from 1851 to 1852 as an instructor at the Kitenkan, a branch of the Shogunate's Shoheizaka academy, located in Kofu, Kai Province.

Shortly after the arrival of the Perry Expedition challenging Japan national isolation policy, Nagai Naoyuki was appointed as a metsuke and was placed in charge of casting new cannons for coastal defense.

In 1855, Nagai Naoyuki was transferred to the newly formed Nagasaki Naval Training Center, where he served as its director, overseeing a group of Dutch military advisors and students from various domains around Japan in studies of western warship technologies.

In 1857, with the opening of the Tsukiji Naval Training Center, Nagai Naoyuki returned to Edo on board the Kanko Maru, Japan's first steam warship, together with 103 of his students.

In July 1858, Nagai Naoyuki was appointed one of the first Gaikoku bugyo.

Nagai Naoyuki served again as Gaikoku bugyo from November 1865 through April 1867.

Nagai Naoyuki was promoted to the position of wakadoshiyori-kaku from April 1867 through January 1868 and was in Kyoto on November 9,1867 when Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu formally surrendered his office; thereafter, Nagai Naoyuki served as one of the wakadoshiyori from January to March 1868 when the Meiji Restoration signaled the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

In Hokkaido, Nagai Naoyuki was chosen to be one of the city magistrates of Hakodate by the new Ezo Republic.

However, the Imperial Army soon began its attack on Hokkaido, and Nagai Naoyuki surrendered at the small fortress of Benten Daiba, along with the survivors of the Shinsengumi.

Nagai Naoyuki attempted to commit seppuku, but was stopped by those surrounding him.