Daimyo Matsudaira Tadayori, a distinguished vassal of the Tokugawa clan, was born in 1582, the same year Oda Nobunaga was assassinated, and met his demise in a dispute following a tea ceremony in Edo in 1609.
During the pivotal Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tadayori was entrusted with safeguarding the Tokugawa and Matsudaira ancestral home, Okazaki Castle in Mikawa (Aichi Prefecture). Post-battle, he was granted the command of Inuyama Castle (Aichi Pref.) and Kaneyama Castle in Mino (Gifu Pref.). Subsequently, his uncle, Matsudaira Iehiro, passed away, and Tadayori inherited his uncle's estates and a stipend of 15,000 koku at Musashi-Matsuyama (northern Tokyo, Saitama Pref.) later that year.
At the age of 20, Tokugawa Ieyasu doubled Tadayori's income in 1602, and he was reassigned to the strategically important Hamamatsu Castle with a stipend of 50,000 koku. Tadayori's wife hailed from the Oda clan (Nagamasu Yuraku), a younger sibling of Oda Nobunaga, and the couple had six children.
While fulfilling his duties in Sankin Kotai, the mandatory alternate attendance at the Shogun's court, Tadayori attended a tea ceremony at the residence of Mizuno Tadatane, a cousin of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the head of the Mizuno clan in Mikawa (Aichi Pref.), on October 26, 1609. Other notable attendees included the feudal police chief Hatamoto, Kume Saheiji, and Hattori Hanhachiro.
Following the tea ceremony, the gathering transitioned to sake drinking and a game of Japanese chess known as Go. Amidst a dispute over a winning move between Mizuno and Hattori, tempers escalated, leading to drawn swords. In the attempt to quell the altercation, Matsudaira Tadayori lost his life at the age of 27. His final resting place is at Seigan-ji Temple in Fuchu, western Tokyo.
Subsequently, both Hattori and Mizuno were ordered to commit seppuku over the incident, which occurred a month later.
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.
