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.
In 1592, after the death of his brother Matsudaira Ieharu, Kiyotada inherited his brother’s domain in the province of Kōzuke, with an income of seven thousand koku of rice. In 1599, he changed his name to Tadaakira after receiving the character tada from his uncle, Tokugawa Hidetada. In 1600, together with his father, Tadaakira took part in the Battle of Sekigahara on the Tokugawa side.
In 1602, he received the Tsukude domain with an income of ten thousand koku, thus becoming a daimyō with a total income of seventeen thousand koku. In 1610, Tadaakira was granted the Kameyama Castle domain with an income of fifty thousand koku and was transferred to the province of Ise. He became a well-known commander during the Osaka campaigns of 1614–1615; eventually, he was granted that castle as well as two estates in the provinces of Settsu and Kawachi with a combined income of one hundred thousand koku.
Later, in August 1619, he was transferred to the province of Yamato, where he received Koriyama Castle and an income of one hundred twenty thousand koku, and in 1639, he was moved to the province of Harima, to Himeji Castle, with an income of one hundred eighty thousand koku.
Tadaakira was married to the daughter of Oda Nobukane, the younger brother of Oda Nobunaga. In the later years of his life, he assisted in governing the state as an official of the Tokugawa shogunate. Tadaakira died in 1644 in his residence in Edo. His descendants changed their place of residence several times until they finally settled in Oshi, where they remained until the Meiji Restoration.
See also
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Takeda Nobuyoshi
Takeda Nobuyoshi (1128–1186 or later) was a prominent Japanese samurai lord of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods and the founder of the Takeda clan.
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Tokugawa Iemochi
Tokugawa Iemochi (1846–1866) was the fourteenth shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate and ruled from 1858 until his death. His reign came during the turbulent final years of the shogunate, when Japan faced growing Western pressure and serious internal political conflict.
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Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari (1773–1841) was the eleventh shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate and ruled from 1787 to 1837, making him the longest-serving Tokugawa shōgun. He was a great-grandson of the eighth shōgun, Tokugawa Yoshimune.
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Matsudaira Nobuyasu
Matsudaira Nobuyasu was only twenty years old when his father ordered him to commit seppuku. The reason was not a defeat in battle, but a crisis inside the Tokugawa family that had become too dangerous to ignore.
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Yamagata Masakage
Masakage was one of Takeda Shingen’s most loyal and capable commanders. He was included in the famous list of the “Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen” and also belonged to the inner circle of four especially trusted warlords known as the Shitennō.
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Yagyu Munenori
Yagyū Munenori began his service under Tokugawa Ieyasu while his father, Yagyū Muneyoshi, was still at his side. In 1600, Munenori took part in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. As early as 1601, he was appointed a kenjutsu instructor to Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu’s son, who later became the second shogun of the Tokugawa clan.
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Yagyu Muneyoshi
A samurai from Yamato Province, he was born into a family that had been defeated in its struggle against the Tsutsui clan. Muneyoshi first took part in battle at the age of sixteen. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he was forced to enter the service of the Tsutsui house and later served Miyoshi Tōkei. He subsequently came under the command of Matsunaga Hisahide and in time became a vassal first of Oda and later of Toyotomi.
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Endo Naozune
Naozune served under Azai Nagamasa and was one of the clan’s leading vassals, renowned for his bravery and determination. He accompanied Nagamasa during his first meeting with Oda Nobunaga and at that time asked for permission to kill Nobunaga, fearing him as an extremely dangerous man; however, Nagamasa did not grant this request.
