Mukai Tadakatsu (向井忠勝, 1582–1641), more generally known as Mukai Shōgen (向井将監), was the Admiral of the fleet (Jp:お船手奉行) for the

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers 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, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

during the beginning of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, in the early 17th century. Between 1604 and 1606, under the order of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mukai Shogen, who was Commander in Chief of the Navy of Uraga, built Japan's first Western sailship together with William Adams and carpenters from the city of Itō. The ship was 80 tons, and allowed them to survey Japanese coasts. A second, larger ship of 120 tons, capable of sailing on the high seas was again ordered by Tokugawa Ieyasu. She was later lent in 1610 to a Spanish embassy, and crossed the Pacific Ocean. She was named by the Spanish '' San Buena Ventura''. He is then recorded as having participated to the preparation of the embassy of

Hasekura Tsunenaga was a kirishitan Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyō of Sendai. He was of Japanese imperial descent with ancestral ties to Emperor Kanmu. Other names include Philip Francis Faxicura, Felipe Francisco Faxicura, and Ph ...

to America and Europe in 1613, by giving his support to the mission and supplying his Chief Carpenter for the building of the '' San Juan Bautista''. He is also reported by Richard Cocks, head of the English Factory in Hirado, to have discussed with him and William Adams an invasion of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

by Japanese forces in 1616.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukai Shogen, Tadakatsu Samurai 1582 births 1641 deaths