was an early to mid-

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 6th ''

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 DomainDiCenzo, John. (1978)
''Daimyo, domain and retainer band in the seventeenth century: a study of institutional development in Echizen, Tottori and Matsue'', p. 216

Biography

Tsunamasa was born 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 ...

in 1661 as the eldest son of Matsudaira Masakatsu of Echizen-Matsuoka Domain and his mother was a daughter 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 fello ...

's uncle,

Matsudaira Sadayuki The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of th ...

. HIs name in infancy was Senkiku (仙菊), later becoming Matsudaira Tsunanobu (綱宣). In 1674, when his uncle Matsudaira Masachika became ''daimyō'' of Fukui Domain, an '' O-Ie Sōdō'' erupted between followers of Masakatsu and Matsudaira Mitsumichi's illegitimate son, Naokata. Although the dispute was settled in favour of Masachika, the faction favouring Masakatsu remain vehemently opposed to his rule, and blocked any action he attempted to take. Masachika decided to retire after two years, and appointed Masakatsu's son Tsubanobu as his successor. Tsunanobu changed his name to Tsunamasa at this time. He was granted Senior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade Court rank and 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 ...

of ''Echizen-no-kami'' the same year. His courtesy title was raised to ''Sakon'e-gon-shōjō'' in 1680. However, Tsunamasa quickly proved to be a poor choice as ''daimyō''. He was a cruel lord, subject to frequent fits of rage, going on rampages and even killing retainers. He also neglected his duties at

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established ...

. His retainers called on Masaaki to step back in; however, the shogunate acted first and threatened the attainder of Fukui Domain in 1686 and placed Tsunamasa under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if al ...

on grounds of insanity and incompetence. However, as Fukui was a famed domain founded by

's son Yūki Hideyasu, special consideration was given. Masachika and the domain's senior retainers were all called to Edo, and Tsunamasa was deposed. Fukui Domain was reduced by more than half, to a ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 54 ...

'' of 250,000 ''koku'', and Masachika was ordered to resume the position of ''daimyō''.Gow, Ian. (2004)
''Military Intervention in Pre-War Japanese Politics,'' pp. 16-17
Tsunamasa remained under

in Edo until his death under unknown circumstance in 1699.

Family

* Father: Matsudaira Masakatsu (1636-1693) * Mother: Kikuhime, daughter of Hisamatsu-

of Iyo-Matsuyama Domain * Wife: Kiyohime, daughter of Asukai Masanao * Concubine: Takemura-dono * Children: ** Honda Naganori (1690-1728), '' karō'' of Fukui Domain ** daughter (name unknown), married '' kuge'' Karasuma Mitsuei

References

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

External links

Fukui Domain on "Edo 300 HTML"
(3 November 2007) *
越前松平氏 (Echizen Matsudaira) at ReichsArchiv.jp

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsdaira, Tsunamasa 1661 births 1699 deaths Shinpan daimyo Fukui-Matsudaira clan People of Edo-period Japan