(July 16, 1830 – July 5, 1904) 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 Tanakura and then

Kawagoe Domain Kawagoe Castle daimyō residence, administrative headquarters of Kawagoe Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Musashi Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Kawagoe Castle, locate ...

s. He served as ''

gaikoku bugyō were the commissioners or "magistrates of foreign affairs" appointed at the end of the Edo era by the Tokugawa shogunate to oversee trade and diplomatic relations with foreign countries. In essence this was the beginning of the creation of a Mini ...

'' and ''

rōjū The , usually translated as '' Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two ''sh� ...

'' in the Tokugawa administration.

Biography

Matsudaira Yasuhide was born in Edo to the high-ranking

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

Matsudaira Yasuzumi; his childhood name was Mantarō. He succeeded Yasuzumi upon the latter's retirement early in 1848, taking the name of Yasunao. Yasunao served in a variety of minor posts in the Tokugawa shogunate, before being appointed to the concurrent posts of

and Kanagawa bugyō in early 1860. From 1860 to 1861, he was involved in boundary negotiations with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and was a member of the Tokugawa shogunate's embassy to Europe. Yasunao was adopted as the successor to Matsudaira Yasuhiro,Head of the main Matsui-Matsudaira family. lord of the

Tanakura Domain was a '' fudai'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in southern Mutsu Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Tanagura Castle, located in what is now part of the town of Tanagura in Fukushi ...

, in late 1864. Shortly after his succession, he received the title of '' Suō no Kami'' and changed his name to Yasuhide. Yasuhide was slated for transfer to the

Utsunomiya Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Shimotsuke Province (modern-day Tochigi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Utsunomiya Castle in what is now part of the city of Utsunomiya. Utsunomiya was ruled ...

in the spring of 1865; however, this was canceled. Soon afterward he was appointed to the position of

. In 1866, he was again slated for transfer, this time to the Shirakawa Domain; however, because of the current ruling family's financial situation, this move was also canceled; Yasuhide was instead moved to the

. In Kawagoe, he is remembered for having opened the domain's school, the Chōzenkan (長善館). Yasuhide was relieved of his duties as

during the disintegration of the Tokugawa government in early 1868. After the start of 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 ...

, he was briefly ordered into solitary confinement by the

Meiji Government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

for a month in the spring of 1868; the next year, he retired in favor of his adopted heir, Yasutoshi. , -

Published work

*Matsudaira Yasuhide 松平康英 and Onoma Ritsuken 尾間立顕 (1919). ''Bakumatsu ken'ō shisetsu danpan shiki'' 幕末遣欧使節談判私記 (A Private Record of Discussions Pertaining to the Diplomatic Mission to Europe in the ''Bakumatsu'' Period). Tokyo: Min'yūsha 民友社, 1919. (published posthumously)

Biography

Published work

References

Further reading