, or also known as , was ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of

Odawara Domain file:Odawara 2006-02-21 c.jpg, 250px, Odawara Castle, Headquarters of the Odawara Domain was a Japanese Han (Japan), domain of the Edo period, located primarily in western Sagami Province (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture). It was centered on Odawa ...

Sagami Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today the central and western Kanagawa Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kanagawa''" at . Sagami Province bordered the provinces of Izu Province, Izu ...

in 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 ...

, Japan. Ōkubo Tadachika was the son of

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 ...

, a Fudai daimyō hereditary vassal to the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

in what is now part of the city of

Okazaki, Aichi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 386,999 in 164,087 households, and a population density of 999 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Okazaki is in the ...

. He entered into service as a

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 ...

from age 11, and took his first head in battle at the age of 16. Ōkubo Tadachika appointed as

Rōjū The , usually translated as ''Elder (administrative title), Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a wh ...

After the establishment of

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. He came to be regarded as one of Ieyasu's most experienced and trusted advisors, along with

Honda Masanobu was a commander and ''daimyō'' in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Japan during the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods. In 1563, when an uprising against Ieyasu occurred in Mikawa Province, Masanobu took the side of the peasants against Ieyasu ...

. He was most known in history for his political career's demise due to the "Ōkubo clan's incidents", which caused him stripped from most of his domains control and exiled by the Shogunate. He also known for his work of ''Mikawa Monogatari'' chronicle, which recorded the history of Tokugawa Ieyasu's rise to power and the early Tokugawa shogunate.

Biography

Ōkubo Tadachika was born in 1553. He served

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 ...

from 1563 and made first appearance in history record during the siege of Horikawa Castle in Totomi in 1568. However, the castle were only captured in 1569. After it was captured, Ieyasu ordered Ishikawa Hanzaburo to massacre the castle prisoners and castle denizens, including women and children. It was recorded around 700 peoples beheaded on the banks of the Miyakoda River.* Tadachika, witnessed this massacre and testified in his personal journal, ''Mikawa Monogatari'', that "...both mens and womens be cut into pieces...". For the most part of years until 1582, Tadachika participated in many Ieyasu's major military campaign such as the Battle of Anegawa,

Battle of Mikatagahara The took place during the Sengoku period of Japan between Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu in Hamamatsu, Mikatagahara, Tōtōmi Province on 25 January 1573. Shingen attacked Ieyasu at the plain of Mikatagahara north of Hamamatsu during hi ...

, and the

Battle of Nagashino The was a famous battle in History of Japan, Japanese history, fought in 1575 at Nagashino Castle, Nagashino in Mikawa Province (present-day Nagashino, Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture). The allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu (38,000) ...

. During his service under the Tokugawa clan, Tadachika was appointed to the position of Bugyōshiki (magistrate). After the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582, he was among high-rank vassal who accompanied Ieyasu in the dangerous journey to escape into Mikawa through

Iga Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the T� ...

. Later in 1584, he also participated in the Tokugawa-Toyotomi conflict in the Komaki-Nagakute Campaign After the peace between Tokugawa and the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

, Ieyasu pay visit to

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: ...

in 1586, Tadachika was appointed as jūgoi (Junior Fifth Rank), and was given the surname Toyotomi. When Ieyasu transferred into

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 ...

, he was given control of Hanyu Castle and received domain stipend worth of 20,000 koku in

Musashi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Kawasaki and Yokohama. ...

. Later, after his father died, Tadachika inherit his position as the head of Ōkubo clan and control of domain which now totalled 70,000

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 ...

of worth under Tadachika. In 1593, he was assigned the post of

Karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

to Tokugawa Hidetada. In 1600, during the

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, ...

, his forces accompanied those of Tokugawa Hidetada along the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

, and were late in arriving at the battle due to the

Siege of Ueda Sekigahara campaign Sieges of the Sengoku period Attacks on castles in Japan Shinano Province Ueda, Nagano Military history of Nagano Prefecture The siege of Ueda was staged in 1600 by Tokugawa Hidetada, son and heir of the warlord Tokugawa ...

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

were dragged. In 1610, after the foundation of the

, he became a ''

rōjū The , usually translated as ''Elder (administrative title), Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a wh ...

''. In January 1614, when the de facto Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada mandated the persecution of Christians, Tadachika played a role in relaying the mandate to the Kyoto population to expel any Christian priests.

Ōkubo clan's affair

In 1613-1614 there was a series of chain of events which caused the Ōkubo clan fell from favor of the shogunate. First the '' Ōkubo Nagayasu Incident''. His domain was confiscated, and he was reassigned to a small 5,000 ''koku'' ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

'' holding in

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

. Shortly afterwards, he retired from public life, became a Buddhist monk by the name of Keian Dōhaku (渓庵道白). The second misfortune befall upon Ōkubo clan was when Tadachika career suffered, as his domains ownership were stripped and exiled. After Tadachika was exiled,

sent him a letter informing him of the safety of Tadanori's mother and wife in Odawara. There is also a theory recorded by Kuniteru Mitsuki that the reason why Tadachika were fell from favor of Shogunate at that moment was because Ieyasu, who was thinking of wiping out the

, though that Tadachika were too close with the daimyo lords of the Saigoku region (western region of Japan), thus he though that Tadachika might advocate for the reconciliation between the Shogunate with the Toyotomi clan. However, in recognition of Tadachika's long service for the Tokugawa clan and shogunate, Tadachika legitimate grandson, Ōkubo Tadatomo, was allowed to take over as head of the Okubo clan, while his adopted son who also named Ōkubo Tadatomo, returned to the lordship of the

. Furthermore, Ishikawa Tadafusa, who had been suspended due to his involvement in the so-called "Ōkubo affair", was allowed to return in consideration of the meritorious service of Ienari Ishikawa (the father of his adoptive family), and because of his military exploits at the

Siege of Osaka A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

Biography

Ōkubo clan's affair

Appendix

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

Further reading