He was awarded territories in Awa Province after Hideyoshi's conquest of Shikoku in 1585; however, due to his advanced age, he turned the clan chieftainship over to his son Hachisuka Iemasa.

Indigo merchants in Tokushima almost monopolized the national market due to the quality and strong backing of the clan, and was a major source of the domain's "unofficial" revenue.

Despite these connections, during the Bakumatsu period, he maintained contacts with the Imperial Court in Kyoto and was a supporter of the kōbu gattai movement, which created frictions within the domain, especially with the hereditary karō, the Inada clan, who ruled Sumoto Castle on Awaji and who favored a more reactionary approach.

He became imperial governor of Tokushima following the abolition of the han system and subsequently served as a cabinet minister and president of the House of Peers in the Meiji government.

In the early Meiji period, the hereditary karō and warden of Sumoto Castle, Inada Kurobei, demanded establishment as a daimyō.