However, since his father released a chief retainer of the Choshu Domain on his own authority by looking at bad war situation, his father was forced to retire by the bakufu on December 5, so he succeeded to the position of the seventh lord of the Domain.
しかし、幕府軍の戦況不利を見て独断で長州藩の家老を釈放するなどしたことから、幕命により10月29日に強制隠居処分に処せられたため、家督を継いで第7代藩主となる。