Tanaka Domain
was the 4th Honda "daimyō" of Tanaka Domain. Masaharu was born in Edo as the eldest son of Honda Masatomo, and became "daimyō" on the death of his father in 1777. Due to his youth, the shogunate appointed his uncle, Kuroda Naokuni, as regent. He was presented in formal audience to the Shōgun in 1782, and received the courtesy title of "Hōki-no-kami". The shogunate ordered Tanaka Domain to take control of Sagara Castle after the dispossession of Tanuma Okitsugu in 1787.In 1798 he changed his name from Masatoku to Masaharu. In 1794, he brought Kishu mikan trees from Kii Province to his domain, establishing the start of the orange industry in Shizuoka. In 1799, the shogunate ordered him to reconstruct Edo's Yushima Seidō. However, due to a peasant's revolt in his domain, he retired from office in 1800. He died in 1831 and his grave is at the temple of Tokuhon-ji in Asakusa, Tokyo. His wife was a daughter of Nagao Naoyoshi of Takatsuka Domain.