Matsudaira Nagachika (1473–1544?) was a daimyō of Japan’s Sengoku period and the third son of Matsudaira Chikatada. He was also the great-grandfather of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In 1496, Nagachika succeeded his father as the head of the main branch of the Matsudaira clan. At the time, the Matsudaira clan was locked in a bitter conflict with the neighboring Imagawa clan over control of Mikawa Province. Shortly after assuming leadership, Nagachika was attacked by Imagawa Ujichika but emerged victorious after a hard-fought battle.
Beyond his military achievements, Nagachika was also skilled in the art of renga poetry. His decade-long leadership was marked by the consolidation of the Matsudaira family's power in Mikawa—a foundation that would later prove crucial for the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In 1508, conflict with the Imagawa reignited, and Nagachika once again successfully repelled their forces. That same year, he formally passed leadership of the clan to his eldest son, Nobutada, then 28 years old, and retired. However, despite stepping down, Nagachika continued to fight alongside Nobutada and later served as guardian to his grandson, Kiyoyasu.
Nobutada struggled with leadership and alienated many of the Matsudaira clan's vassals. Under pressure and fearing for his life, he relinquished power to his son, Kiyoyasu, and withdrew from public affairs. Nagachika then took on the role of mentor to his grandson, just as he had with his son.
Under Nagachika’s guidance in the early 1530s, Kiyoyasu pressed forward against the Imagawa, particularly in eastern Mikawa. However, internal clan tensions remained. Kiyoyasu faced rivalry from his uncle, Matsudaira Nobusada, and animosity from vassal Abe Masatoyo. On December 5, 1535, Abe Masatoyo assassinated Kiyoyasu, who was just 24 years old at the time.
Following Kiyoyasu’s death, a power struggle over leadership of the Matsudaira clan erupted between Nobusada and Kiyoyasu’s nine-year-old son, Matsudaira Hirotada. Hirotada, who would later become the father of Tokugawa Ieyasu, sought support by aligning himself with the Imagawa clan.Though briefly ousted from Mikawa by Nobusada, Hirotada managed to rally enough support to reclaim leadership. However, Nobusada remained a persistent source of trouble.
Over time, Hirotada solidified his authority, while his great-grandfather, Matsudaira Nagachika, withdrew completely from clan affairs. Nagachika died on August 22, 1544, at the age of 72.
See also
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Minamoto no Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune was the son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and his second wife, Tokiwa Gozen, as well as the younger half-brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the first shogunate, who had once suffered defeat in the struggle against the Taira clan. Yoshitsune spent his childhood in exile at the Kuramayama Temple. According to legend, he studied not so much Buddhist sutras there as the arts of war. At the age of fifteen, he entered the service of the governor in Mutsu, Fujiwara Hidehira.
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Miyoshi Chokei
The eldest son of Miyoshi Nagamoto (Motonaga), at the age of seventeen and with the support of Miyoshi Masanaga and Matsunaga Hisahide, invaded Kinai, the inner provinces of Japan, and in 1539 seized control of Kyoto. In 1543 he expelled Hosokawa Ujitsuna from the commercial city of Sakai and appointed his own brother, Sōgo Kazunari, as the city’s new leader. In 1548 he took the name Chōkei. When a conflict arose between him and Masanaga, Chōkei appealed to his liege lord, Hosokawa Harumoto, asking him to raise troops in the provinces of Settsu, Izumi, and Kawachi, but Harumoto instead chose to ally with Masanaga against Chōkei.
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Matsudaira Ietada
Matsudaira Ietada, also known as Tomomo-no Suke, was the eldest son of Matsudaira Koretada, the head of the Fukozu branch of the Matsudaira clan. Ietada was born in 1555 at Fukozu Castle. When he reached adulthood (for samurai children this age range was between 11 and 17), the Fukozu-Matsudaira clan was under the authority of Tokugawa Ieyasu and commanded by Sakai Tadatsugu. In the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Tadatsugu’s unit, which included both Ietada and his father, took part in the assault on the fort on Mount Tobigasu-yama. During the fighting, Koretada was killed, and twenty-year-old Ietada became the new head of the clan.
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Matsudaira Tadaakira
Tadaakira was the fourth son of Okudaira Nobumasa, a vassal of the Tokugawa clan, and his mother was Kame, the eldest daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1588, Tadaakira was adopted by Ieyasu and received the Matsudaira family name; at that time, he bore the name Kiyotada.
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Mashita Nagamori
Nagamori possessed remarkable diplomatic and administrative talent while remaining a brave warrior. He is believed to have come from the village of Mashita in the province of Owari, which today is part of Aichi Prefecture. He was a vassal of Oda Nobunaga and later served Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the Battle of Komaki–Nagakute in 1584, Nagamori took at least two enemy heads. Later, he was entrusted with overseeing major public construction projects, including the reconstruction of Fushimi Castle and the building of the large Sanjō and Gojō bridges in Kyoto.
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Magara Jurōzaemon Naotaka
Magara Jurōzaemon Naotaka was a vassal of Asakura Yoshikage from the province of Echizen, and very little is known about his life, including even the exact year of his birth. Magara gained his renown through his heroic death at the Battle of Anegawa in 1570. In this battle, the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu confronted the armies of Asai and Asakura, with Ieyasu taking command of the left flank and fighting against the Asakura forces. After crossing the shallow Anegawa River, which separated the two armies, Tokugawa’s finest generals — Honda Tadakatsu and Sakakibara Yasumasa — launched an assault on the headquarters of Asakura Kagetake, the commander-in-chief of the Echizen army. The attack by Honda Tadakatsu was so swift that Kagetake found himself almost completely surrounded by enemy troops.
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Kusunoki Masashige
Kusunoki Masashige was, without exaggeration, a genius of guerrilla warfare. If not for this talented commander, Emperor Go-Daigo would likely have failed not only to ascend the throne, but even to put up any real resistance against the powerful Hojo clan.
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Kobayakawa Takakage
Kobayakawa Takakage was rightfully considered one of the most intelligent men of his era. Even Kuroda Kanbei, the celebrated strategist famed for his cunning—about whom people said he could outwit even a fox—admitted that Takakage was his equal in intellect, and at times even surpassed him. After the death of his father, Mōri Motonari, Takakage effectively governed the Mōri clan for many years while serving as advisor to his nephew, Mōri Terumoto.
