was a

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 ...

during the

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 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Iori was an adopted son of legendary ronin

Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

Early life

Iori was the adopted son of

. He was adopted at the age of 11 by the master swordsman in 1623, when his adoptive father was 39 and living in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

. The genealogy of Iori's grandon states that Iori was Musashi's nephew from his eldest brother.

Career

Iori was a vassal of

Ogasawara Tadazane was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Early life Tadazane was the son of (1569–1615) with Toku-hime, daughter of Matsudaira Nobuyasu and granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He married Kamehime, daughter of Honda Tadamasa ...

, a Japanese samurai ''

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 early

. Iori's rise under Ogasawara's service was exceptionally fast. Iori entered at age 15 as a page and soon after became an official vassal. By 1632 Iori received 2500 koku and became one of Ogasawara's principal vassals. By 1638 his salary was increased by 1500 koku because of his efforts during the siege of Shimabara. At only 26 he had become Ogasawara's highest ranked vassal.

Early life

Career

References

Further reading