During the early part of his tenure, Tsugaru Domain was initially prosperous; however, the profligate spending of Nobuhisa combined with one natural disaster after another soon brought the domain into financial crisis. The domain suffered from flooding followed by drought, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions (by Mount Iwaki and other volcanoes in Hokkaidō), tsunami, inclement weather, and repeated crop failures, which led to widespread famine and disease. The Tokugawa shogunate itself was in financial crisis, resulting in the implementation of the Kyōhō Reforms by shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune, and not in a position to extend aid. Nobuaki continuing developing new paddy fields and irrigation works, and encouraged research of rangaku to help resolve the domain's problems and ever-increasing debt. However, almost as a final straw, the castle town of Hirosaki burned down in a great fire on May 11, 1746, and Nobuaki died two weeks later of sickness, at age 26.