 He was the ninth son of Yanagisawa Yasumitsu of Yamato-Kōriyama Domain, and married the daughter of Yanagisawa Satoyo.He was received in formal audience by Shogun Tokugawa Ienari in 1825, and became "daimyō" on the retirement of his father-in-law in 1826.By the time of his tenure, the domain was very deeply in debt and was forced to borrow 2000 "ryō" at very high rates of interest.