was a
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 ...
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 ...
and 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 ...
''
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 ...
'' under the
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 ...
of Japan. His
courtesy title
A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but is rather used by custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title).
In some context ...
was ''Kunai-no-taifu''.
Biography
Sakai Tadakatsu was the sixth son of
Sakai Ietsugu
is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its ''kofun'', keyhole-shaped burial mounds dating from the fifth century. The ''kofun' ...
, castellan of
Yoshida Castle
is a Japanese castle located in Toyohashi, southeastern Aichi Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Yoshida Castle was home to the Inaba clan, ''daimyō'' of Tateyama Domain. The castle was also known as and later as Toyohashi Castle. ...
and son of
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 ...
(1527–1596), who was a vassal 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 ...
. Tadakatsu's childhood name was Kogōrō, and when he underwent his ''
genpuku
is a public holiday in Japan held annually on the second Monday of January under the Happy Monday System. It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have already reached the age of maturity between April 2 of the previou ...
'' ceremony, he was awarded a ''
kanji
are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
'' from the name of
Shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
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.
Early life (1579–1593)
Tokugawa Hidetada was born to Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Lady Saigō on May ...
as a special mark of favor, becoming "Tadakatsu".
[Plutschow, Herbert. (1995)]
''Japan's Name Culture: The Significance of Names in a Religious, Political and Social Context,'' p.53.
/ref>
He became ''daimyō'' of Takada Domain
, was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in Echigo Province, in the Hokuriku region of Honshū. The domain was centered at Takada Castle, located in what is now part of the city of Jōetsu in Nii ...
in Echigo Province
was an old provinces of Japan, old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen Province, Uzen, Iwashiro Province, Iwashiro, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Etchū Province, ...
(100,000 koku) on the death of his father in 1618. However, only one year later, he was transferred to Matsushiro Domain
file:松代城(海津城) Matsushiro castle 2011.1.1 - panoramio (2).jpg, 300px, Matsushiro Castle
file:Ryukoji05.JPG, Part of the Matsushiro domain's Edo estate, relocated to Kamakura and used as a hall at Ryuko-ji Temple
was a Han (Japan), feud ...
in 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 ...
by order of the shogunate, with the same nominal ''kokudaka''. Three years later, in 1622, when the shogunate dispossessed the Mogami clan, Tadakatsu was transferred again, to become ''daimyō'' of Shōnai Domain. At that time, his ''kokudaka'' was increased to 138,000 ''koku''. One of his first actions on becoming ''daimyō'' of Shōnai was to begin the construction of Tsuruoka Castle
is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 125,389 in 49,024 households, and a population density of 95.74 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Tsuruoka is the biggest city in Tōhoku region i ...
as a replacement for the dilapidated Kamegasaki Castle. However, the completed Tsuruoka Castle was given to his grandson, Sakai Tadayoshi, and he continued to reside at the old Kamegasaki Castle after his retirement. It was unusual for a domain, especially of this size, to have two castles in violation of the shogunate's "one domain - one castle" edict, and was a mark of the high standing the Sakai clan enjoyed within the shogunate. On the other hand, funding of this castle resulted in higher taxation, which caused unrest in the domain, even to the point where petitions were sent directly to the shogunate in Edo
Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...
in 1634 complaining about misgovernment.
In his final years, Tadakatsu instigated an ''O-Ie Sōdō O-Ie Sōdō (, "house strife") were noble family disputes within the samurai and aristocratic classes of Japan, particularly during the early Edo period (17th century). The most famous is the ''Date Sōdō'', which broke out among the Date family in ...
'' by attempting to disinherit his own son, Sakai Tadamasa, in favor of his younger brother, Sakai Tadashige in 1642. This action was greatly opposed by the domain's senior advisors and ''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 ...
'' and Tadakatsu died in 1647 before the issue was resolved. The ō Matsudaira Nobutsuna
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who ruled the Kawagoe Domain. First serving Tokugawa Iemitsu as a page, Nobutsuna was renowned for his sagacity. He was named a rōjū in 1633. Nobutsuna led the shogunal forces to their final ...
ruled in favor of Sakai Tadamasa as successor.
References
Papinot, Edmond. (1906) ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon''. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaish
..Click link for digitized 1906 ''Nobiliaire du japon'' (2003)
*Asano Gengo 浅野源吾(1976). ''Shōnai-han shi'' 庄內藩史. Ed. by Tōhoku Shinkōkai 東北振興会. Tokyo: Tōyō shoin 東洋書院.
* ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.''
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakai, Tadakatsu (Shonai)
1594 births
1647 deaths
Fudai daimyo
Sakai clan