was a Japanese ''

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 late

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.

Early life

Matsudaira Sadayasu was born in 1835, the seventh son of

Matsudaira Naritaka (February 9, 1788 – February 26, 1838) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Edo period who ruled the Tsuyama Domain of Mimasaka Province. Naritaka was the fourth son of Matsudaira Yasuchika, the fifth generation lord of Tsuyama; however, hi ...

of the

Tsuyama Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Mimasaka Province in modern-day Okayama Prefecture.National Diet Library
, 13 August 2008) In 1853, he was adopted by Matsudaira Naritoki, the 9th lord of Matsue. Soon after, Naritoki retired, and Sadayasu became lord of Matsue.

Political career

During Sadayasu's tenure as lord, Matsue samurai were deployed to security duties in Osaka and Kyoto. For much of the

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government ...

period, the policy of Matsue was pro-

shogunate , 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 ...

Boshin War

In 1868, Matsue forces took part in the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

on the side of the Meiji government. The same year, there was a peasant revolt in the

Oki Islands The is an archipelago in the Sea of Japan, the islands of which are administratively part of Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The islands have a total area of . Only four of the around 180 islands are permanently inhabited. Much of the ...

, which was part of Matsue territory. Sadayasu dispatched troops to quell it by force; he withdrew after receiving complaints from Satsuma and Chōshū.

Retirement and death

Sadayasu was relieved of his duties as ''daimyō'' in 1871, due to the order for the abolition of the domains. He retired from family headship in 1872, in favor of his adopted son Naotaka. However, as Naotaka retired in 1877, Sadayasu again assumed headship until 1882. In 1882 he passed headship to his 3rd son Naosuke. A few weeks later he died, at age 47.

Notes

References