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He married a [[kuge|court lady]] named Yoshiko, born in [[1804]] the twelfth daughter of an imperial prince.
He married a [[kuge|court lady]] named Yoshiko, born in [[1804]] the twelfth daughter of an imperial prince.
In [[1853]], Nariaki was appointed by the shogunate to oversee decisions concerning the naval defense of the realm. He was an avid supporter of [[kaikin|maritime restrictions]], opposing [[Abe Masahiro|Abe Masahiro's]] decision to give in to the demands of [[Commodore Perry]] and [[Hotta Masayoshi|Hotta Masayoshi's]] signing of the [[Harris Treaty]], and expressing his support for [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei's]] opposition to acceding to the terms of that treaty. Nariaki is thus strongly associated with the ''[[sonno|sonnô]] [[joi|jôi]]'' movement, and after a number of members of that movement (openly supporters of Nariaki's positions) were purged from government by [[Tairo|Tairô]] [[Ii Naosuke]] in the [[Ansei Purges]], Nariaki played a role in engineering [[Incident at Sakuradamon|Naosuke's assassination]].
In [[1844]], after falling out of favor with the shogun & with the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'', and after being found to have been stockpiling weapons in excess of limits set by the shogunate, he was forced to relocate himself, his family, and many of their attendants and retainers, from his domain's [[Mito Edo mansion|Koishikawa mansion]] to one at Komagome, another district of Edo.
In [[1853]], Nariaki was appointed by the shogunate to oversee decisions concerning the naval defense of the realm. He was an avid supporter of [[kaikin|maritime restrictions]], opposing [[Abe Masahiro|Abe Masahiro's]] decision to give in to the demands of [[Commodore Perry]] and [[Hotta Masayoshi|Hotta Masayoshi's]] signing of the [[Harris Treaty]], and expressing his support for [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei's]] opposition to acceding to the terms of that treaty. Nariaki is thus strongly associated with the ''[[sonno|sonnô]] [[joi|jôi]]'' movement, though his involvement was chiefly in negotiations and disputes amongst members of the highest levels of samurai and Imperial Court society.
When Shogun [[Tokugawa Iesada]] was on his deathbed in [[1858]], Nariaki attempted to have his seventh son, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, named Iesada's heir. His defeat by the opposing faction in this succession dispute meant that he was once again out of favor with the dominant ruling faction, and so he returned once again to the Komagome mansion. Rumors that he might be ordered to commit [[seppuku|suicide]] led many of his retainers to prepare themselves to defend their lord against messengers from the shogunate carrying such an order; these tensions were defused, however, as the shogunate instead ordered Nariaki to retire to Mito.
In [[1860]], [[Tairo|Tairô]] [[Ii Naosuke]] was [[Sakuradamon Incident|assassinated]] by a group of ''[[ronin|rônin]]'' from Mito and [[Satsuma han|Satsuma domains]]. While Naosuke was certainly among Nariaki's chief political rivals, and represented political stances and policies both Nariaki and these ''sonnô jôi rônin'' were very much opposed to, it remains unclear whether Nariaki was involved in, or even aware of, the assassination plans. He died later that year.
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