was a Japanese ''

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 nominal ...

'' of 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 characte ...

, who ruled the

Kuwana Domain 250px, Reconstructed portion of Kuwana Castle was a Japanese feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Ise Province. It was centered on Kuwana Castle in what is now the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture. It was con ...

and then the Himeji Domain. He was the son of

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 along with Ii ...

. Tadamasa's first battle was during the Siege of Odawara, in 1590; he also fought at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. After his father's retirement in 1609, he succeeded to the Honda family headship, becoming the second generation lord of the

. Several years later, he took part in the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

, and received the Himeji Domain, with 150,000 '' koku'' of revenues, as a reward. Tadamasa's wife was Kumahime, the 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 eldest son

Matsudaira Nobuyasu was the eldest son of Matsudaira Ieyasu. His ''tsūshō'' ("common name") was . He was called also , because he had become the lord of in 1570. Because he was a son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, he is often referred to, retroactively, as . Biography No ...

. Their eldest son,

Honda Tadatoki was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Tadatoki was born as the eldest son of Honda Tadamasa. His mother Kumahime was a granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga. In 1616, Tadatoki married Senhime, another granddaughter ...

(the husband of

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 ...

's daughter

Senhime (May 26, 1597 – March 11,February 6 in the old calendar 1666), or Lady Sen, was the eldest daughter of the '' shōgun'' Tokugawa Hidetada and later the wife of Toyotomi Hideyori. She was remarried to Honda Tadatoki after the death of her fir ...

), was in line to inherit the Himeji Domain. However, as Tadatoki died in 1626, at age 31, the domain went to his younger brother,

Honda Masatomo is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

. In 1617–1618, Tadamasa and his family inherited

Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex situated in the city of Himeji which is located in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network o ...

, and he added several buildings to the castle complex, including a special tower for his daughter-in-law, Princess Sen. In 1628–1629 he rebuilt some of the building at

Ichijō-ji is a Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect in Kasai, Hyōgo, Japan. It was first established in 650 at Emperor Kōtoku's request, and the temple complex and buildings have undergone several periods of destruction and reconstruction since its ...

that had been destroyed by fire, including the main hall.

Notes

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References

* Battle of Dōmyōji * Japanese Wikipedia article on Tadamasa (23 Sept. 2007) Samurai 1575 births 1631 deaths Fudai daimyo Honda clan {{Daimyo-stub