was an early to 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 ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

, and the 4th ''

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 Fukui Domain.Foulk, T. Griffin. "The Forgotten history of Daian-zenji, a Tokugawa-period Zen Monastery," ''The Japan Foundation Newsletter'' (''Kokusai Kōryū Kikin''), Vol. 22–26 (1994), p. 10; excerpt, "The founding patron, Matsudaira Mitsumichi (d.1674), was the great-grandson of the first feudal lord of Echizen,

Yūki Hideyasu was a Japanese samurai who lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods. He was the ''daimyō'' of Fukui Domain in Echizen. Early life Hideyasu was born as in 1574, the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, by Lady Oman (also known as L ...

... Mitsumichi built Daian- zenji as a family memorial temple for the Matsudaira clan, the hereditary lords of Echizen"; retrieved 2013-4-9.

Biography

Mitsumichi was born in Edo in 1636 as the second son of

Matsudaira Tadamasa was an early to mid-Edo period Japanese samurai, and ''daimyō''. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Matsudaira" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 30 retrieved 2013-4-9. ...

. His childhood name was Manchiyomaru. He became ''daimyō'' of Fukui Domain on the death of his father in 1645. His Court rank was Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade and

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

was Chamberlain. His courtesy title was raised to ''Sakonoue-gon-shōshō'' in 1648. The

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

took advantage of his youth to further reduce Fukui Domain in size by assigning 50,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' to his elder half-brother Masakatsu (childhood name Senkiku) to form Echizen-Matsuoka Domain, and 25,000 ''koku'' was given to his younger half-brother, Masachika (childhood name Tatsunosuke) to form Yoshie Domain. He underwent the ''

genpuku is a Japanese coming-of-age ceremony which dates back to Japan's classical Nara Period (710–794 AD). /sup> This ceremony marked the transition from child to adult status and the assumption of adult responsibilities. The age of participat ...

'' ceremony in 1949, taking a ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' from the name of

Shōgun , 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 ...

Tokugawa Iemitsu Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光, August 12, 1604 – June 8, 1651) was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who a ...

to become Matsudaira Mitsumichi. He was not permitted to leave Edo and visit his domain until 1653. During this period, and due to his youth, domainal affairs were overseen by senior retainers such as

Honda Tomimasa is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

, who had served the clan since the days of

. However, as these men were all very elderly, they began dying one by one, and Mitsumichi was soon able to commence a policy of personal oversight in the domain's government. Mitsumichi was famous as a wise lord, and enacted many legal codes which helped improve his domain's foundation and its economy, including rules for retainers on promotion of the

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

and the maintenance of weapons. He also encouraged education, bringing in

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

scholars from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

and establishing academies. He is noted for building the large

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

temple of Daian-ji in Fukui as a mortuary temple for the Echizen-Matsudaira clan in 1658. On the other hand, Fukui was continually beset by natural disasters, creating severe financial problems for the domain which would continue to plague it throughout its history. Mitsumichi, with permission of the shogunate, issued its own ''hansatsu'' in 1661, becoming the first domain to issue a paper currency.Gow, Ian. (2004)
''Military Intervention in Pre-War Japanese Politics,'' p. 16
In 1669, Fukui Castle along with much of the surrounding

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

was destroyed in a fire, and the domain was forced to borrow 50,00 ''

ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the ''yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Japan ...

'' from the shogunate for reconstruction. The

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

of the castle was never rebuilt due to lack of funds. Mitsumichi was married to his cousin, Kunihime (1636-1671), the daughter of

Matsudaira Mitsunaga The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of t ...

, ''daimyō'' of

Takada Domain , was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in Echigo Province, in the Hokuriku region of Honshū. The domain was centered at Takada Castle, located in what is now part of the city of Jōetsu in ...

. Kunihime was a noted ''waka'' poet, and had been sought after in marriage by the ''

kuge The was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th century until the rise of the Kamakur ...

'' nobles of Kyoto; however, there was political opposition by the shogunate, which was leery of possible collusion between the two powerful Matsudaira domains. Her marriage to Mitsumichi was delayed until 1655, when both were already 19 years old - considerably late for the marriage of the legitimate wife of a ''daimyō''. Kunihime had two daughters (both of whom died in infancy), and although relations with Mitsumichi were apparently good, there was tremendous pressure to produce a male heir. Mitsumichi took a concubine, Lady Osan, by whom he had a son (Matsudaira Naokata) and a daughter. This created a rift between Fukui and Takada, as his father-in-law Matsudaira Mitsunaga insisted that any heir should be by the legitimate wife (i.e. his daughter). Unable to bear the pressure and uncertain that she would be able to have more children at the age of 35, Kunihime committed suicide in 1671. The shogunate bowed to Matsudaira Mitsunaga's request, and declared that Matsudaira Naokata would not be allowed to succeed to Fukui Domain and would be exiled to

Ōno ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to: Places Fiji * Ono Island (Fiji) Israel * Kiryat Ono * Ono, Benjamin, ancient site Italy * Ono San Pietro Ivory Coast * Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District Japan * Ōno Castle, Fukuoka * ...

instead. All of these issues caused Mitsumichi to fall into severe depression. In 1674, he turned the domain over to his brother,

Matsudaira Masachika was an early to mid-Edo period Japanese samurai, and both the 5th and 7th ''daimyō'' of Fukui DomainDiCenzo, John. (1978) ''Daimyo, domain and retainer band in the seventeenth century: a study of institutional development in Echizen, Tottori an ...

, and committed suicide. His grave is at the temple of Daian-ji in Fukui which he created, and another grave was made at the clan's Edo temple of Kaian-ji in

Shinagawa is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per km2. The total are ...

in 1877.

Family

* Father:

* Mother: Ichihime * Wife: Kunihime (1636-1671) daughter of

* Concubine: Osan no Kata * Children: ** Matsudaira Naokata (1656-1697) by Osan ** daughter (name unknown), by Osan, married Nabeshima Tsunashige of Saga Domain

References

* Papinot, Edmond. (1948). ''Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan''. New York: Overbeck Co.

External links

Fukui Domain on "Edo 300 HTML"
(3 November 2007) *
越前松平氏 (Echizen Matsudaira) at ReichsArchiv.jp

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsudaira, Mitsumichi 1636 births 1674 deaths People from Fukui (city) Shinpan daimyo Fukui-Matsudaira clan People of Edo-period Japan 17th-century suicides