Asano Nagakoto

Infobox_Officeholder | name= Asano Nagakoto
nationality=Japanese
order=Lord of Hiroshima
term_start=1869
term_end=1871
predecessor= Asano Nagamichi
successor= none
birth_date= 1842
birth_place=
death_date= 1937
death_place=
spouse=

nihongo|Asano Nagakoto|浅野長勲| (August 28, 1842-February 1, 1937) was a "daimyō" of Hiroshima Domain following the Meiji Restoration, was a Japanese politician and diplomat of the Meiji period, and was one of the last surviving Japanese "daimyō" (Hayashi Tadataka and Wakebe Mitsunori outlived him).

Adopted by Asano Nagamichi, he served as assistant to his adoptive father through the 1860s, and attended many of the meetings and events surrounding the restoration of Imperial rule, and as such was one of many who advised the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return power to the Emperor of Japan. Unlike many from domains such as Satsuma and Chōshū, however, Asano was opposed to taking military action against the shogunate.

Nagakoto became the twelfth "daimyō" of Hiroshima in 1869 upon Nagamichi's retirement. The domains ("han") were abolished in 1871, but Asano was granted the title of Marquis ("kōshaku") under the "Kazoku" system of peerage which was instituted at that time.

He became a member of the Genrōin (Chamber of Elders) in 1880, was appointed ambassador to Italy two years later, and served in the House of Peers for a time as well. Though living and serving in Tokyo, he worked to support industry and other enterprises in his home area, newly dubbed Hiroshima Prefecture.

The Asano Library (now the Hiroshima Central City Library) opened in 1926, and Asano died in 1937 at the age of 96.

References

*"Much of this article is derived from a translation of the corresponding article on the Japanese Wikipedia."
*Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.