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Ikeda Mochimasa was the ninth ''daimyô'' of [[Okayama han]].

Ikeda Mochimasa was the ninth ''daimyô'' of [[Okayama han]].

The ninth son of [[Tokugawa Nariaki]], lord of [[Mito han]], Mochimasa was a younger brother to the final shogun, [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], and to lord of [[Mito han]] [[Tokugawa Yoshiatsu]]. Adopted by [[Ikeda Yoshimasa]] in [[1863]], he succeeded Yoshimasa as head of the clan and lord of Okayama domain later that same year, and took important steps in appointing positions to lower-ranking samurai, and overseeing the domain's modern/Western-style military preparations. That year, Shogun [[Tokugawa Iemochi]] traveled to Kyoto to meet with [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei]], and Ikeda was granted one character from the shogun's name, changing his name from the childhood name of Kurômaro to "Mochimasa."

The ninth son of [[Tokugawa Nariaki]], lord of [[Mito han]], Mochimasa was a younger brother to the final shogun, [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], and to lord of [[Mito han]] [[Tokugawa Yoshiatsu]]. He was initially adopted in [[1848]] by [[Matsudaira Tadakuni]], lord of [[Oshi han]], to serve as Tadakuni's heir, but Tadakuni severed this relationship in [[1859]].<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 1 (1937), 156.; vol 3, 238.</ref> Tadanori was then adopted by [[Ikeda Yoshimasa]] in [[1863]]; he succeeded Yoshimasa as head of the clan and lord of Okayama domain later that same year, and took important steps in appointing positions to lower-ranking samurai, and overseeing the domain's modern/Western-style military preparations. That year, Shogun [[Tokugawa Iemochi]] traveled to Kyoto to meet with [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei]], and Ikeda was granted one character from the shogun's name, changing his name from Tadanori to "Mochimasa."

Mochimasa sided with the ''[[sonno|sonnô]] [[joi|jôi]]'' movement in the [[Bakumatsu period]], but found himself trapped between competing loyalties. Even as he petitioned the Emperor to postpone taking action to actually "expel the barbarians" (''jôi''), he opposed the [[First Choshu Expedition|shogunate attacks]] on [[Choshu han|Chôshû han]], contributing to the conflict as a loyal shogunal vassal, but only nominally, without sending any actual troops. When the Imperial rebels declared that Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Mochimasa's elder brother, should be hunted down and killed, Mochimasa escaped having to take part in such action by claiming illness and abdicating his position to [[Ikeda Akimasa]], lord of a branch domain.

Mochimasa sided with the ''[[sonno|sonnô]] [[joi|jôi]]'' movement in the [[Bakumatsu period]], but found himself trapped between competing loyalties. Even as he petitioned the Emperor to postpone taking action to actually "expel the barbarians" (''jôi''), he opposed the [[First Choshu Expedition|shogunate attacks]] on [[Choshu han|Chôshû han]], contributing to the conflict as a loyal shogunal vassal, but only nominally, without sending any actual troops. When the Imperial rebels declared that Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Mochimasa's elder brother, should be hunted down and killed, Mochimasa escaped having to take part in such action by claiming illness and abdicating his position to [[Ikeda Akimasa]], lord of a branch domain.