Although he became the lord of the domain, he had almost no real power and was put in a position of being a puppet head of the family because in the domain, there were so many Karo (senior retainers) and federal retainers of the domain who were reformists, including the retired Yoshinaga, Hachiro MITSUOKA, Yukie NAKANE and Shonan YOKOI.
藩主となったものの、藩内には隠居した慶永をはじめ三岡八郎、中根雪江、横井小楠などの改革派の家老・藩士が多数いたため、茂昭には実権はほとんど無く、傀儡の当主の立場であった。