Shitennō (Tokugawa Clan)
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The is a Japanese
sobriquet A sobriquet ( ) is a descriptive nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may beco ...
describing four highly effective
samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
generals who fought on behalf of
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 ...
in
Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...
. They were famous during their lifetimes as the four most fiercely loyal vassals of the Tokugawa clan in the early
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 ...
.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005). "Sakakibara Yasumasa" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see'
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File
.
Each of those four generals was the founder of a cadet branch clan: *
Honda Tadakatsu , also called Honda Heihachirō (本多 平八郎) was a Japanese samurai, general, and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings (Shitennō) a ...
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 H ...
* Ii Naomasa of the
Ii clan is a Japanese clan which originates in Tōtōmi Province. It was a retainer clan of the Imagawa clan, Imagawa family, and then switched sides to the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province at the reign of Ii Naotora. A famed 16th-century clan membe ...
*
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 Shitennō (Tokugawa clan), "Four Guardian ...
of the Sakakibara clan *
Sakai Tadatsugu was one of the most favored and most successful military commanders serving Tokugawa Ieyasu in the late Sengoku period. Serving as the highest-ranking general in the Tokugawa clan along with Ishikawa Kazumasa, Tadatsugu is also regarded as o ...
of the
Sakai clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Nitta clan, 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 a ...


Fudai leaders

Originally, the sobriquet did not exist during the
Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...
, it first appeared in
Arai Hakuseki was a Confucianist, scholar-bureaucrat, academic, administrator, writer and politician in Japan during the middle of the Edo period, who advised the ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ienobu. His personal name was Kinmi or Kimiyoshi (君美). Hakuseki (白 ...
work of ''Hankanfu'' in 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 ...
. Regarding the subject figures of this grouping in 1586, according to " Sakakibara clan historical records", Ieyasu sent Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Ii Naomasa as representatives to
Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, where the three of them were regarded as "''Tokugawa Sanketsu''" (Three great nobles of the Tokugawa). In following month, they were joined by Sakai Tadatsugu and were to accompany Ieyasu on his personal trip to Kyoto, where the four of them "became famous". In 1894, Frederick Dickins recorded in English the existence of "four Tokugawa guardians" during Sengoku period, although he did not name these individuals.


Political aspects

After the peace negotiations between Tokugawa Ieyasu and
Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...
following the
battle of Komaki and Nagakute The , also known as the Komaki Campaign (小牧の役 ''Komaki no Eki''), was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu ...
, Tadatsugu, Naomasa, Tadakatsu, and Yasumasa gained fame in Kyoto. All of the Tokugawa Shitennō possessed more than 10,000
koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...
(rice unit) as a
Daimyo 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 nominally to ...
(provincial governor). Naomasa already possessed 120,000 koku, while Yasumasa and Tadakatsu respectively held domains worth 100,000 koku. However, Tadatsugu, who retired in 1588, had his successor Sakai Ietsugu only inherit a domain worth 37,000 koku. There are several theories regarding this: * Shigeo Negishi, professor of history at Kokugakuin University, is of the opinion that the clear disparities between them were due to several factors: The first was due to deliberate political strategy by Ieyasu to strengthen control over his vassals after he relocated to the
Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...
by promoting the younger generations of loyal vassals, as he viewed that Yasumasa, Tadakatsu, and Naomasa were great assets for the future. The second reason was due to Tadatsugu himself being content with his relatively low stipend, as he already held a pivotal position as Fudai daimyō who had de facto control over the old loyalist clans of the Tokugawa originating from Higashi-Mikawa. * Kawada Sadao, and other researchers who agreed with him, instead argued it was actually Toyotomi Hideyoshi who decided the location of the territories and domains of Tadakatsu, Yasumasa, and Naomasa. The aim of Hideyoshi was that he valued the military capabilities of the Shitennō, and the domains distributed to them held significant strategic values to defend against potential threats from Uesugi Kagekatsu, who at that time had still not submitted to Toyotomi rule. Kawada Sadao opinion is that during the restructuring of the Tokugawa clan management after the retirement of Tadatsugu, the memberships of the "Shitennō" actually consisted of five people, with
Ōkubo Tadayo was a samurai general in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Azuchi–Momoyama period, subsequently becoming a ''Daimyō'' of Odawara Domain in early Edo period, Japan. Biography Ōkubo Tadayo was the eldest son of Ōkubo Tadakazu, a her ...
and Torii Mototada taking Tadakatsu's place. This version did not include Tadatsugu, since he had already retired from military service. Regardless the version, Yū Kawamura from
Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Chiba, Chiba, Japan. It offers doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in ...
saw the step to place of most military effective Tokugawa vassals in control of those regions were to pacify the populations of newly subdued territory which formerly ruled by the
Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of '' shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this perio ...
before the
Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as H ...
, while also guard the eastern domains from any influence or threat from the Satomi clan which has not yet submit to Toyotomi rule at that time. Stephen Turnbull stated that prior to the inclusion of Ii Naomasa, the ''Tokugawa-shitennō'' consisted of Ishikawa Kazumasa, Sakai Tadatsugu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Honda Tadakatsu, as they fought in the battle of Anegawa. After
Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...
however, Ieyasu seems to have disproportionate attitude towards the Fudai daimyo vassals, as it seems he rewarded Tozama daimyō, newcomers who just entered Ieyasu service during
Sekigahara Campaign The Sekigahara Campaign was a series of battles in Japan fought between the Eastern Army aligned with Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western Army loyal to Ishida Mitsunari, culminating in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. The conflict was sparked by a ...
such as Ikeda Terumasa, with far bigger reward of domains increase than his hereditary Fudai vassals like Yasumasa, Tadakatsu, or Naomasa. It is recorded by Arthur Lindsay Sadler that Naomasa and Honda Tadakatsu expressed dissatisfaction of their rewards to Ieyasu. But this theory were contested as theory pointed records that Ieyasu originally intended to reward his Fudai generals far bigger, such as when he offered Yasumasa with 250,000 koku of domain increase, or Tadakatsu with 150,000 koku. However, both of them refused and instead assign the domain rewards to their sons. Furthermore, Harold Bolitho pointed out after the Tokugawa shogunate established, these Fudai lords refused to take part in larger government administration and rather focusing on governing their own respective military domains.


Cultural & Religious aspects

The sobriquet evolved from the "
Four Heavenly Kings The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhism, Buddhist gods or Deva (Buddhism), ''devas'', each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. The Hall of Four Heavenly Kings is a standard component of Chinese Buddhism, Ch ...
" of Buddhist iconography. These are said to be the guardians of the four horizons. " Tokugawa 16 divine generals" (''Tokugawa jūrokushinshōjin''); Another cultural depiction about Tokugawa Fudai lords group has the original Shitenno Ii Naomasa, Sakai Tadatsugu, Honda Tadakatsu, and Sakakibara Yasumasa included in the more expanded version of collectives. The name of those 16 generals were enshrined in Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine. It is thought that the numbers of the Four Heavenly Kings and Twelve Divine Generals of Buddhism were added together to form the "''16 Divine Generals''" has religious and cultural aspect to associate Ieyasu Tokugawa as central figure of personality cult, just like Buddha is guarded by sixteen divines or celestial deities in
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
. This list has additional 12 figures: "Tokugawa 24 generals" (''Tokugawa Nijūshi-shōjin''); Another cultural depiction also expand the names above into more expanded version of the 16 Tokugawa generals with 8 more addition members. This list include another 8 Tokugawa generals: " Tokugawa 28 generals" (''Tokugawa nijūhachishinshōjin''); A bigger version of the groupings which depicted in the painting made by
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (; also named Taiso Yoshitoshi ; 30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892) was a Japanese printmaker.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005)"Tsukoka Kōgyō"in ''Japan Encyclopedia,'' p. 1000. Yoshitoshi ha ...
(1839–1892). This group were consisted of the original 16 Tokugawa generals plus another addition Tokugawa generals. It consisted of 12 different figures from the "Tokugawa 24 generals" version. The 12 additional members consisted:


Tokugawa Four Gallery

Image:Hikonehku1.jpg, Ii Naomasa Armor at Hikone Castle (1561–1602) Image:Armor of Honda Tadakatsu.jpg, Honda Tadakatsu armor, at Mikawa Bushi Museum, Okazaki,
Aichi prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...
(1548–1610) image:NanbanDo.jpg, Sakakibara Yasumasa's ''Gusoku'' armor with ''Nanban''(european) style. (1548–1606) Image:Domaru of Sakai Tadatsugu.jpg, Sakai Tadatsugu ''Iroiro Dō-maru'' armor, Chidō Museum (1527–1596)


See also

* Shitennō (samurai) * Shitennō-ji * Kōdōkan Shitennō


Appendix


Footnotes


References


Bibliography

* 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 an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...
.
OCLC 48943301
* Bolitho, Harold. (1974). ''Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan.'' New Haven: Yale University Press.
OCLC 185685588
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shitenno (Tokugawa clan) Samurai Tokugawa clan