was a Sengoku to early

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 character ...

Japanese

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 ...

, and the 2nd ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' of Fukui Domain in Echizen Province. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Matsudaira Tadanao"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 617]

Biography

Tadanao was born in

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Set ...

in 1595 as the eldest son of Yūki Hideyasu. His childhood name was Senchiyomaru (仙千代). In 1603, he travelled to

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 ...

with his father, and was received by his uncle,

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 Kamaku ...

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

, who took a great liking to him. In 1605, he received the

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 con ...

was ''Mikawa-no-kami'', and his Court rank of Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade. HIs courtesy title was elevated to ''Ukonoue-gon-shōshō'' the following year. In 1607, on the death of his father, he became ''daimyō'' of the 750,000 ''

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 ...

'' Fukui Domain 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. and in 1611 was wed to Katsuhime, one of Hidetada's daughters. He also underwent the '' genpuku'' ceremony, and was granted a ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

'' from Hidetada's name, becoming Matsudaira Tadanao and his courtesy title was changed to ''Sakonoue-gon-shōshō'', and rank elevated to Senior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade. However, from 1612 to 1613, there was armed conflict within Fukui Domain between various of his senior retainers. The issues were resolved with some difficulty by the shogunate, who blamed Tadanao's youth and inexperience for allowing the situation to get out of hand. Tadanao led Fukui troops in battle at the Osaka Winter Campaign, but lost control of his mercenary troops, for which he was scolded severely by his grandfather, the retired shōgun

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

. He took part in the next year's Summer Campaign, taking the head of Sanada Yukimura, and leading his forces at the very tip of the Tokugawa advance into Osaka Castle. However, he received no reward for his efforts, and his court rank remained at the ''jusanmi-sangi'' (従三位参議; senior 3rd rank, councillor) which he had been awarded in 1615, although his father had been ''chūnagon'' (中納言; Middle Councilor). He was, however, granted the courtesy titles of ''Echizen-no-kami'' and ''Sakonoue-gon-chūshō'' in 1615. Tadanao was so upset with the perceived insult that in 1621 he feigned illness and did not make his required '' sankin kōtai'' trip to Edo; in 1622 he even attempted to poison his wife (who was saved at the last moment by one of her maids taking her place). He even led his own soldiers on rampages through the homes of retainers. In 1622, he was banished by Hidetada to Funai Domain in Bungo Province, where he was allowed a 5000 ''koku'' allowance. He also entered the Buddhist priesthood, taking the name Ippaku (一伯). For the first three years, he lived at Ogiwara village on the coast, but then moved to an inland location at the insistence of local authorities, who feared that he might attempt to escape. He died in 1650 at age 56. Tadanao's son Mitsunaga was transferred from Fukui to

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 i ...

Echigo Province was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niig ...

. Tadanao's brother Tadamasa was transferred to Fukui Domain, The clan continued to hold the fief until the end of the

Family

* Father: Yūki Hideyasu * Mother: Lady Nakagawa * Wife: Tokugawa Katsuhime (1601–1672), daughter of the 2nd shōgun

and Asai Oeyo * Concubines: ** Hiraga-dono ** Nagami-dono ** Koito-dono ** Ikoku-dono * Children: ** Matsudaira Mitsunaga (1616–1707) by Katsuhime, daimyō of Tsuyama Domain ** Nagami Nagayori (1630–1667) by Nagano-dono ** Nagami Nagayoshi (1632–1701) by Nagano-dono ** Kamehime (1617–1681) by Katsuhime, married Takamatsu no Miya Yoshihito-Shinno, son of

Emperor Go-Yōzei was the 107th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Yōzei's reign spanned the years 1586 through to his abdication in 1611, corresponding to the transition between the Azuchi–Momoyama period and the Edo period ...

** Tsuruhime (1618–1671) by Katsuhime, adopted daughter of

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, w ...

, married Kujō Michifusa ** Kanhime married Oguri Masanori

References

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

References

External links

"Takada" at Edo 300

*
越前松平氏 (Echizen Matsudaira) at ReichsArchiv.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsdaira, Tadanao 1595 births 1650 deaths Shinpan daimyo Echizen-Matsudaira clan People of Edo-period Japan Japanese Buddhist clergy Edo period Buddhist clergy