Tokugawa Iesada
He served as tutor to the shoguns Tokugawa Iesada and Iemochi but was, according to some theories, dismissed because he wrote a poem critical of the fact that his recommendations had not been adopted. At that time he took up Western studies. During the Keiō period (1866–68) he served in the shogun's cavalry and also briefly as Minister of Foreign Affairs. After the Meiji Restoration, he took up a position with the Higashi Honganji Temple, which sponsored a tour for him and four other men to Europe and the United States in 1872–73.