daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
'' of the mid-
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
, who ruled the
Matsue Domain
was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Izumo Province in modern-day Shimane Prefecture.Matsudaira Munenobu, who then ruled Matsue.
Headship
Harusato succeeded his father, Munenobu, as lord of the Izumo Matsue fief when his father, the 6th-generation lord of the fief, retired in the 6th year of the Meiwa era (1769). By then, due largely to contributions ordered by the
bakufu
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...
for the repair of
Enryaku-ji
is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period (794–1185) by Saichō
was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism bas ...
temple, the fief had been reduced to a state of poverty. With the support of his chief retainer, Asahi Tamba, Harusato set about reversing the situation quickly by increasing production of the fief's major products and making the rice paddy area of the fief more secure by the promotion of flood control. These efforts met with success, and the Izumo Matsue fief was among the fastest to accomplish reform.
Fumai as Tea Master
In terms of the history of the
Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...
, with the advent of the Tokugawa period in 1615, the fashion of samurai personally practicing chanoyu lost its attraction; chanoyu lost its function as a focal point for political ties among the samurai. From about the middle of the 18th century, however, the old-guard samurai who had scorned chanoyu as the idle game of indolent men of leisure had died. By this time, many of the new generation of ''daimyōs'' were rising as leaders in the development of urban culture. Matsudaira Harusato was outstanding among them.
As he was early into his mission of restoring the finances and government of his fief, Harusato in 1770 wrote a treatise titled ''Mudagoto'' seless words apparently in opposition to his main retainer Asahi Tanba who criticized him for use of fief funds toward chanoyu. In the ''Mudagoto'', Harusato states: "Making chanoyu a luxury, exhausting beauty to make it splendid is a distressful thing ... rather, it can be made an adjutant to governing the country well."
His chanoyu mentor was Isa Kōtaku (1684–1745), a disciple of the Rinzai Zen monk Ikei Sōetsu (253rd abbot of Daitokuji temple, Kyoto, and later, founder of Kōgen'in temple in Edo okyo, who was in turn a disciple of the daimyō and chanoyu master Katagiri Sadamasa Sekishū (1605–73). He was also privy to a copy of the ''Nanpōroku'' () record of the chanoyu teachings of
Sen no Rikyū
, also known simply as Rikyū, is considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on ''chanoyu,'' the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of '' wabi-cha''. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspects ...
, from Arai Itsushō (1726–1804), who was a tea devotee in Edo in the chanoyu tradition of
Hosokawa Tadaoki
was a Japanese samurai warrior of the late Sengoku period and early Edo period. He was the son of Hosokawa Fujitaka with Numata Jakō, and he was the husband of a famous Christian convert (Kirishitan), Hosokawa Gracia. For most of his life, he ...
(a.k.a. Hosokawa Sansai).''Genshoku Chadō Daijiten'', entries for "Matsudaira Fumai", "Isa Kōtaku", "Ikei Sōetsu", and "Katagiri Sekishū".
Death
See also
*
Matsue Domain
was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Izumo Province in modern-day Shimane Prefecture.Meimei-an
*
Schools of Japanese tea ceremony
"Schools of Japanese tea" refers to the various lines or "streams" of Japanese tea ceremony. The word "schools" here is an English rendering of the Japanese term .
There are three historical households () dedicated to developing and teaching the ...
Notes
References
* Pitelka, Morgan (2003). ''Japanese Tea Culture: Art, History, and Practice''. London: Routledge.