Matsudo, Chiba
In 1883, his wife Eiko died soon after giving birth to a daughter. Tokugawa Akitake retired and moved to the clan's Tojōtei villa in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, in 1884. Lacking an heir, he adopted Tokugawa Atsuyoshi as his successor to the Mito Tokugawa line. Atsuyoshi died at the age of 44 in 1898. Atsuyoshi's son Tokugawa Kuniyuki was 11 years old at that time, and became the 13th head of the Mito Tokugawa under Akitake's tutelage.