The is a Japanese

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expl ...

describing four highly effective

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

generals who fought on behalf of

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 fel ...

Sengoku period The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

. They were famous during their lifetimes as the four most fiercely loyal vassals of the Tokugawa clan in the 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 ...

.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005). "Sakakibara Yasumasa" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see'
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File
.

Etymology

The sobriquet evolved from the "

Four Heavenly Kings The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. In Chinese mythology, they are known collectively as the "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" () or "Sìdà Tiānwáng" (). In th ...

" of Buddhist iconography. These are said to be the guardians of the four horizons.

Fudai leaders

Each of these four generals was the founder of a cadet branch clan: * Honda Tadakatsu of the

Honda clan The is a Japanese family that claims descent from the medieval court noble Fujiwara no Kanemichi. The family settled in Mikawa and served the Matsudaira clan as retainers. Later, when the main Matsudaira family became the Tokugawa clan, the Hon ...

Ii Naomasa was a general under the Sengoku period ''daimyō'', and later ''shōgun'', Tokugawa Ieyasu.Ii clan is a Japanese clan which originates in Tōtōmi Province. It was a retainer clan of the Imagawa family, and then switched sides to the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province at the reign of Ii Naotora. A famed 16th-century clan member, Ii Naomas ...

Sakakibara Yasumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period through early Edo period, who served the Tokugawa clan. As one of the Tokugawa family's foremost military commanders, he was considered one of its "Four Guardian Kings" (''shitennō'' 四� ...

of the

Sakakibara clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who rose to prominence during the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate.Alpert, Georges. (1888). Before the Meiji Restoration, the clan served as ''daimyō'' of Takada Domain in Echigo Province. The Sakakibara ...

Sakai Tadatsugu was one of the most favored and most successful military commanders serving Tokugawa Ieyasu in the late-Sengoku period. He is regarded as one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa (''Tokugawa-Shitennō''). along with Honda Tadakatsu, Ii Nao ...

of the

Sakai clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Nitta branch of the Minamoto clan, who were in turn descendants of Emperor Seiwa. Serata (Nitta) Arichika, a samurai of the 14th century, was the common ancestor of both the Saka ...

Appert, "Sakai" at

Tokugawa Four Gallery

Image:Ii Naomasa.jpg,

Ii Naomasa was a general under the Sengoku period ''daimyō'', and later ''shōgun'', Tokugawa Ieyasu.Honda Tadakatsu
(1548–1610) Image:Sakakibara Yasumasa.jpg,

(1548–1606) Image:Sakai Tadatsugu.jpg,

(1527–1596)

Notes

References

* Appert, Georges and H. Kinoshita. (1888)
''Ancien Japon.''
Tokyo: Imprimerie Kokubunsha
OCLC 4429674
* Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia.'' Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...

.
OCLC 48943301

Etymology

Fudai leaders

Tokugawa Four Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Further reading