Matsue Domain (1/2)Ruled by the Echizen Matsudaira family

The Matsue domain was ruled by three families: the Horio family, the Kyogoku family, and the Echizen Matsudaira family. However, the Horio family and the Kyogoku family had the misfortune of becoming extinct one after another, and the Matsudaira family's rule was by no means stable. Let's take a look at the history of the Matsue clan.

Matsue domain before the Matsudaira family

The Matsue clan was reduced to two provinces, Suo and Nagato, because the Mori clan, which had long ruled the Izumo and Oki regions, sided with the Western army at the Battle of Sekigahara, and in exchange, it received 120,000 koku in Hamamatsu, Totomi Province. It was established when Tadauji Horio, who had ruled the territory, was transferred with his father Yoshiharu Kajio to Izumo and Oki provinces with 240,000 koku. Initially, it was called Izumo Tomita Domain. After that, Tadashi Kajio, who entered Gassan-Tomida Castle, decided to build Matsue Castle because he thought it was unsuitable for building a castle town and began construction. Tadauji Kajio died of illness at the age of 27 without seeing the castle completed, and was succeeded by his eldest son Tadaharu Horio. Since Tadaharu Horio was still a child, his grandfather, Yoshiharu Kajio, served as his guardian and the de facto lord of the domain. When Matsue Castle was completed in 1611, Tadaharu Horio moved there and established the Matsue Domain. Yoshiharu Kajio passed away in June of the same year, shortly after witnessing this. However, Tadaharu Horio was unable to find a successor even after reaching adulthood, and died at the age of 33 in 1633. Since there was no successor, the Kajio family became Mutsugu Kaiyuki.

The person who replaced the Kajio family as the lord of the Matsue domain was Tadataka Kyogoku, who was transferred from the Wakasa Obama domain. Tadataka was married to Hatsuhime, the daughter of the second shogun Hidetada Tokugawa, but the shogun's family was displeased because the couple did not get along well and when Hatsuhime died, he was not present at her death. I'm buying.

Even after becoming the lord of the Matsue domain, he did not achieve much and died in 1637 at the age of 45. Since there was no male successor, he was given up.
Furthermore, there is a legend that the reason why two families in the Matsue domain became extinct one after another was because they erected human pillars when building Matsue Castle. In addition, during the Edo period, Bon dances were prohibited in areas where Matsue Castle could be seen, as the girls who were made into jinbashira were those who were good at Bon dances.

Reign of the Echizen Matsudaira family

With the extinction of the Kyogoku clan, the new lord of the Matsue domain was Naomasa Matsudaira, the lord of the Shinano Matsumoto domain. Naomasa Matsudaira was the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the third son of Hideyasu Yuki. The surname ``Matsudaira'' is the surname of the family descended from Hideyasu Yuki, and is one of the main branches of the Tokugawa family. Matsudaira Naomasa was a cousin of Tokugawa Iemitsu in terms of blood, so he was given considerable preferential treatment as a daimyo of a small domain. When he was transferred to the Matsue domain, he was also given the additional responsibility of administering 14,000 koku of Oki Province, which was under his direct control.
Naomasa Matsudaira, who became the lord of the Matsue domain, severely suppressed Christians. Additionally, we are repairing the tomb of Emperor Gotoba in Oki and constructing a new shrine and other buildings. Until his death at the age of 66, Naomasa Matsudaira ruled the Matsue clan, a series of short-lived feudal lords, and laid the foundation for the Matsudaira family's reign.

However, the reign of the Matsue domain began to deteriorate from the time of Matsudaira Tsunataka, the successor of Matsudaira Naomasa. The domain's government began to lack stability due to major floods and the expulsion of a senior vassal, Takakiyo Kozai. Tsunataka Matsudaira tried to rebuild the domain's governance by implementing policies such as banning the export of rice and grains, banning sake brewing, and issuing domain bills, but it is said that these policies only served to confuse the domain's governance.

In the end, Matsudaira Tsunataka himself fell in love with the wife of a vassal, and in order to make her his own, he exposed the shameful act of falsely accusing his vassal of a crime and sending her into exile. After that, Tsunataka Matsudaira suddenly died at the age of 45, but it is said that rumors persisted that it was due to the curse of a vassal.

Subsequent feudal lords, including Tsunachika, Yoshitoru, and Nobutsugu, all focused on cultivating commercial crops, issuing domain bills, and even working on the iron industry in an attempt to reform the domain administration and rebuild the domain's economy. It doesn't work either. Finally, when the sixth lord, Matsudaira Soen, assumed the position of lord at the age of just two in 1731, it was said that the Matsumae clan would be destroyed. When Matsudaira Soen turned 18, he changed the government that had been carried out by councils of retainers to direct government by the feudal lord, and implemented a fiscal promotion plan called ``Reforms of Your Intent'' with a vassal named Bichu Odagiri as his assistant. This reform was partially successful, and Matsudaira Soen actively promoted capable middle- and lower-rank samurai. However, more natural disasters struck Matsue, and opposition from senior vassals grew, and the reform was only halfway completed. Later, in 1767, Matsudaira Soen took responsibility for the financial impoverishment of the domain, handed over the headship of the family to his second son Harusato Matsudaira, and retired.

Harusato Matsudaira, the 7th generation feudal lord who inherited the headship of the family, is the most famous feudal lord of the Matsue domain. Harusato Matsudaira once again embarked on financial reconstruction with the chief retainer Shigeyasu Asahi as his assistant, encouraging the cultivation of crops with high commercial value such as cotton, Korean ginseng, mulberry tree, and hazenoki, and also carried out flood control works. Later, as a result of his efforts, he succeeded in cultivating Korean ginseng, and in 1785, he successfully completed the flood control project for the Sada River. At the same time, the Matsue clan's finances improved rapidly by implementing strict frugal measures such as reducing debt and banning the use of clan notes. However, after that, Harusato Matsudaira became devoted to his hobby, the tea ceremony, and began buying expensive tea utensils. Harusato Matsudaira's catalog of tea utensils, ``Unshu Zocho'', his own books ``Kokin Meibutsu Ruiju'', and ``Seto Ceramics Collection'' are still valuable materials for the study of tea utensils.

Also, when Matsudaira Harusato was the lord of the domain, Matsue became a major producer of Japanese sweets, along with Kyoto and Nara, as the tea ceremony became popular. In addition, gardens and crafts have created a kind of brand called ``Fumaiko Hobby,'' greatly contributing to the development of Matsue's culture. However, thanks to such dissipation, the Matsue clan's finances, which had once recovered, deteriorated again.