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

According to one theory, Matsudaira Harusato was afraid that the shogunate would take advantage of him by rebuilding his finances all at once, so he intentionally played the role of a hobbyist. However, the finances that he once again deteriorated were never rebuilt.

Furthermore, this is not the only anecdote about Harusato Matsudaira; it is said that he had the legendary sumo wrestler Raiden Tamemon as a samurai, and that his hobby was to have the ceiling of his room made of glass and watch goldfish swim through it. . By the way, the goldfish that was bred at this time is called "Izumonankin" and is currently designated as a natural monument of Shimane Prefecture.
In 1806, Harusato Matsudaira handed over the headship of the family to his eldest son, Masatsune Matsudaira, and lived his life as a hobbyist until his death in 1818.

Matsudaira Naritsune was a hobbyist like his father, but his life was short-lived and he died in 1822 at the age of 32. Saisai Matsudaira, the 9th lord of the domain who succeeded him, donated 120,000 ryo to the shogunate, despite the fact that the domain's condition deteriorated to the extreme due to a series of natural disasters such as the Tenpo famine, the Great Flood, and a fire in the castle town. He was forced to retire because he once again worsened the domain's finances to the brink of bankruptcy, as he continued to travel and devote himself to his hobby of falconry.

His successor, the 10th lord, Sadayasu Matsudaira, encouraged literary and martial arts and established a Western school. Also, it was the end of the Edo period, and Matsudaira Sadayasu was in charge of guarding Osaka and Kyoto as a member of the Sabaku faction. In 1862, the warship Yakumo Maru was purchased from the United States. Apart from Satsuma and Choshu, the Matsue domain is the only example of a domain purchasing a warship. Then, in 1863, in order to increase military armament, they conscripted men between the ages of 17 and 50 in Oki Province to create agricultural soldiers. However, the farmers strongly objected to this, and finally in 1868, 3,000 people rose up and started a rebellion. (Oki Riot) As a result, the magistrate who had ruled Oki was expelled by the people, and Oki became independent from the Matsue domain for a time and established an autonomous government. The Matsue clan tried to suppress the Oki riots by force, but they encountered opposition from both the Choshu and Satsuma clans, and an autonomous government was finally established through the intervention of the Tottori clan and the new government. As a result, Oki was granted independence as Oki Prefecture in 1898, two years earlier than the abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures.

Furthermore, even after the restoration of Taisei and the Restoration of the Monarchy, Matsudaira Sadayasu remained ambiguous as to whether he would support the new government or the Shogunate. He hid Takesato Matsudaira, the lord of Hamada in Iwami Province, who was defeated in the Second Choshu Conquest, but he sided with the new government during the Boshin War in 1868, causing the new government's displeasure. I did. After that, Sadayasu Matsudaira remained in an ambiguous attitude until the 4th year of the Meiji era when the feudal domain was abolished and the establishment of prefectures took place, and he was dismissed from office by the governor of the Matsue domain. Although he later handed over the headship of the family to his eldest son and returned to the headship again, he died at the age of 48.

Later Matsudaira family

During the Meiji period, the Matsudaira family was ranked as a peerage. In 1894, Sadayasu Matsudaira's third son, Naosuke Matsudaira, received a loan of 1,700 hectares of mountain forest in Takasu Village, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido, and began cultivating it as Matsudaira Farm, bringing in settlers from Toyama and Kagawa. After that, in 14 years, we will complete the development of 1,337 hectares of leased land and distribute all the farmland to residents. Naosuke Matsudaira's second daughter married Nasuke Nabeshima, the head of the Nabeshima family of the Hasuike domain, and his grandson became Yoshinobu Tokugawa, the 21st head of the Owari Tokugawa family.

Matsue domain summary

The Matsue clan was ruled by the Matsudaira family of Echizen descent from the early Edo period until the end of the Edo period, but due to a series of natural disasters, the domain's finances seemed to be in constant trouble. The finances of all clans deteriorated over time, but only the Matsue clan was said to be at risk of extinction. At the same time, hobbyists like Harusato Matsudaira, the seventh lord of the domain, arose, and Matsue's culture, which continues to this day, flourished. The Matsudaira family still exists today, and its blood continues to flow through his mother to the current head of the Owari Tokugawa family.