Niwa Nagakuni

Viscount Niwa Nagakuni (丹羽長国); (May 22, 1834 – January 15, 1904) was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period who ruled Nihonmatsu han and was famous for his leadership of the domain during the Boshin War.

Biography
Nagakuni, known in his childhood as Hōzō (保蔵) was born in Nihonmatsu on May 22, 1834, the 6th son of Niwa Nagatomi. On November 15, 1858 he succeeded to the family headship upon his father's retirement. He continued the joint coastal defense mission at Tomitsu (together with Aizu han) begun by his father. In 1860, he sent forces for security duty in Kyoto, and was faced with a fire in his castle town, which seriously drained his resources. These expenses were compounded by the issues of the existing dire economic straits the domain was in following the Tenpo famines, as well as bureaucratic corruption. As a result, Nihonmatsu was utterly economically paralyzed by the end of the Edo period. However, it joined the Northern Confederation of Allied Domains in 1868, and fought against the forces of the Meiji Government. However, Nihonmatsu was defeated, and forced to give up 50,000 koku of its holdings. Also, as per the government's conditions, Nagakuni retired, and his adopted son Niwa Nagahiro (brother of the Yonezawa han daimyo Uesugi Mochinori) succeeded him.

Nagakuni held the title of Sakyō-dayū (左京大夫) and the junior 4th court rank, lower grade (jū shi-i no ge 従四位下).

During the Meiji era, Nagakuni lived to see the Niwa clan recover some of its fortunes in society, and received the title of viscount (子爵 shishaku). He died in 1904.