Nakayama Tadayasu

Marquess Nakayama Tadayasu (Japanese: 中山 忠能, 17 December 1809 – 12 June 1888) was a Japanese nobleman and courtier of the Edo period and then one of the Kazoku of the post-1867 Empire of Japan. He was the father of Nakayama Yoshiko (1836–1907), mother of the Emperor Meiji, who was born and brought up in Nakayama's household. He had the rare honour of being awarded the Order of the Chrysanthemum while he was still alive.

Early life The second son of Nakayama Tadayori, a member of the Kuge, or court nobility, in 1821, at the age of eleven, Nakayama was named as Provisional Major-General of the Imperial Guard of the Left.

Nakayama married Matsura Aiko (1818–1906), a daughter of Matsura Kiyoshi (1760–1841), ninth daimyō (feudal ruler) of Hirado and a famous swordsman. In the case of Mutsuhito, Nakayama was also officially his guardian. Yoshihito was moved to Nakayama's house on 7 December 1879, when barely three months old. He was a sickly infant, and Nakayama spent many days and nights with him.

In 1858, Nakayama was a leader of courtiers protesting against the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States, which opened the ports of Kanagawa, Kobe, Nagasaki, Niigata, and Hakodate to foreign trade and also to settlement by Americans. Nakayama and Iwakura both became influential courtier-politicians in the Meiji period.

Appointed a member of the Order of the Rising Sun, first class, in 1880, Nakayama was created a Marquess in 1884,

Honours Court ranks Fifth rank, junior grade (1810) Fifth rank, senior grade (1812) Senior fifth rank, junior grade (1814) Fourth rank, junior grade (1816) Fourth rank, senior grade (1818) Senior fourth rank, junior grade (1820) Senior fourth rank, senior grade (1834) Third rank (1841) Senior third rank (1843) Second rank (1845) Senior second rank (1848) First rank (1868)

Titles Marquess (7 July 1884)

Decorations Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2 November 1880) Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (14 May 1888)

Ancestry