Naomasa Matsudaira (2/2)Successful stock who played an active role in Osaka no Jin

On March 25, 1663, he was ordered by the shogunate to serve as the envoy for Emperor Reigen's enthronement, together with Motomasa Osawa, and traveled to Kyoto. On May 26 of the same year, he was promoted to the rank of Junior Fourth Rank and transferred to Major General of Sakonoe Gon.
He became the head of Dewa no Kuniyoshi.

However, on November 26th of the same year, he became ill, and since then his health has continued to deteriorate.
He died of illness on February 3, 1666, at the Edo domain residence. He passed away at the age of 66. His posthumous posthumous posthumous name was Kōshinin Kinyoichiku Dozen, and he was buried at Gesshoji Temple.
The eldest son, Tsunataka Matsudaira, inherited the headship of the family, and his descendants ruled the Matsue domain for generations until the Meiji Restoration.

Anecdotes related to Naomasa

Naomasa was a good talker

Naomasa was known to be a very smooth talker, and is said to have been ridiculed behind his back as ``Aburakuchi'' (a person who speaks smoothly and with a skillful manner of speaking, meaning he is good at flattering people).
Therefore, if he had been successful in the world, he would not have been able to succeed his older brother unless he was deposed, but it is said that he was given preferential treatment by the shogun family as a result and became a kunimochi daimyo.

Honored by Nobushige Sanada (Yukimura Sanada) at the Osaka no Jin.

It is said that during the Battle of Osaka, his birth mother told him, ``I want you to be noticed by my grandfather, Ieyasu, so that he won't be criticized for being born to a lowly mother.''
Naomasa was praised by his grandfather Ieyasu for his bravery in the attack on Sanada Maru at Osaka Castle.
Not only that, during the attack on Sanada Maru, the enemy general, Sanada Nobushige (Sanada Yukimura), praised his young samurai skills and threw him a military fan. This military fan was passed down from generation to generation as a treasure of the Izumo Matsue domain, where Naomasa was the first lord, and is currently on display in a corner of the Matsue Castle castle tower.

Naomasa's first campaign was in jeopardy

During the Osaka Winter Siege, Naomasa's biological mother had a low status and lived in a room.
As a result, it is said that he was in a state where it was doubtful that he would even be able to go to war because he did not have the necessary military funds to go to war, but thanks to his retainer Hyogo Kamiya borrowing a large sum of 2,000 ryo from Nishi Honganji Temple, he was able to go to war.

Onojo and Naomasa

Ono Castle was originally built in 1575 by Nagachika Kanamori, a vassal of Oda Nobunaga. After Nagachika was transferred to Hida Takayama, Hideichi Aoki and Shuichi Hasegawa took charge of Ono Castle as the castle lords. In addition, Oda Nobunaga's second son Nobuo Oda also served as the lord of the castle during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, but he sided with the Western army at the Battle of Sekigahara and was given away after the war.

After the Battle of Sekigahara, Echizen Province came under the control of Naomasa's father, Hideyasu Yuki, and Hideyasu had a senior vassal, Masaaki Tsuchiya, in Ono. Since Masaaki died when Hideyasu died, Masataka Oguri, another senior vassal, was appointed. Then, in 1624, when Tadanao Matsudaira (Hideyasu's eldest son), the lord of the Fukui domain, transferred land, Naomasa Matsudaira was confined to Ono, with the territory divided among his younger brothers, and the Ono domain was established with 50,000 koku.

Naomasa ruled until August 1635, when he was transferred to the Shinano Matsumoto domain.

Matsumoto Castle and Naomasa

When Naomasa Matsudaira entered the castle from the Ono domain in Echizen Province with 70,000 koku, he began expanding and renovating the castle, building a castle tower, and constructing a gate turret.
In addition, they also minted Kan'ei Tsuho Matsumoto coins, something that would normally be impossible for a small domain with 70,000 koku.

It is said that he was able to do these things because he had a good relationship with Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun, and because he was the biological son of Hideyasu Yuki (son of Tokugawa Ieyasu). I am.
Naomasa also established tax systems such as jishi exemption (exemption from annual tax on land and mansions). Until he was transferred to the Matsue domain in Izumo Province in 1638, he practiced good government and was respected as a wise prince by the people of his territory.
It is said that the transfer to the Matsue domain was regretted by the people of the domain.

Matsue Castle and Naomasa

It is also called Chidori Castle.
In 1638, Naomasa Matsudaira transferred the area from the Shinano Matsumoto domain for 186,000 koku.
From then on, Izumo Province was ruled by the Echizen Matsudaira family until the Meiji Restoration. The Matsudaira family also keeps 14,000 koku of Oki land.

It is said that the domain's finances were severely constrained by income from annual rice tax alone, and it is said that the domain's finances had been in dire straits ever since Naomasa entered the domain. It seems that they established a monopoly system from an early stage and controlled the production of wax, ginseng, cotton, and iron.
In addition, in 1726, the fifth lord of the Kyoho domain, Nobuyoshi, took advantage of the fact that iron was produced from iron sand by tatara iron making and tatara blowing, which had been popular for a long time. Steel production was carried out under a monopoly system organized by a cooperative centered on three Oyamabayashi landowner families in Sakurai and Itohara.

Another particularly famous feudal lord was Harusato Matsudaira, the seventh generation, who called himself Fumai. As a result of promoting financial reconstruction, it was possible to accumulate as much as 80,000 ryo during the Kansei era (1789-1801). Harusato took advantage of the improvement in the domain's finances and devoted himself to his long-time hobby, the tea ceremony, and founded the Fumai-ryu school. He also collects famous wares, and his catalog of ``Unshu Zocho,'' his books ``Kokin Meibutsu Ruiju,'' and ``Seto Ceramics Collection,'' volumes 1 and 2, are now important materials for tea ceremony research. There are so many.
Also, due to its connection with the tea ceremony, the town of Matsue became a famous place for Japanese sweets around this time, along with Kyoto, Nara, and Kanazawa.
In addition to tea and Japanese sweets, Matsue/Izumo is still a tourist attraction, with the gardens and crafts that Harusato liked being called ``Fumaiko's favorites.'' On the other hand, in his later years he wasted money, and the domain's finances were once again strained.

Currently, Matsue Castle is designated as a national treasure and is open to the public.
A castle festival is held from late March to mid-April, coinciding with the cherry blossom season. The castle tower, cherry blossoms, and lanterns are lit up with lanterns, making it a popular spot for local residents to enjoy the cherry blossoms at night. Other events include the warrior procession, Yasugi Bushi contest, and stage events.

Place related to Naomasa

Naomasa's bronze statue

In 1927, a bronze statue by Unkai Yonehara, ``Statue of Naomasa's First Battle,'' was erected in the main enclosure of Matsue Castle. However, in 1943 during the Pacific War, the statue was removed due to metal donations.
After the war, it was not rebuilt immediately, but in 2009, the bronze statue ``Statue of Naomasa Matsudaira'' by Minoru Kurasawa was rebuilt in front of the Shimane Prefectural Office.

Gesshoji Temple

It is located in Sotonakahara-cho, Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, and the graveyard of the Matsudaira family, the lords of the Matsue clan, within its grounds is designated as a national historic site.
Naomasa died in Edo in the 6th year of Kanbun (1666), but on his deathbed he said, ``When I die after 100 years, I will build a tomb here and make it a place for burial.'' Ta.
The second lord, Tsunataka, continues the will of his father, Naomasa, and runs Naomasa's mausoleum on the grounds. At this time, the name of the temple was changed to the current "Kankiyama". It is the graveyard of the 9th feudal lord after Naomasa.
The mausoleum gate of Fumai, the 7th feudal lord who was famous as a tea master, is said to have been made by Kobayashi Nyodei, a master craftsman from Matsue, and the splendid carvings still remain. On the grounds, there is also Daien-an, a tea room built by Fumai.
It was designated as a national historic site on March 29, 1996 as the "Matsue Domain Lord Matsudaira Family Graveyard," and the mausoleum gates of Koshin-in (Naomasa) and Daien-an (Harusato (Fumai)) are located in Shimane Prefecture. It has also been designated as a tangible cultural property. There is also a treasure hall within the precincts, where you can see exhibits of the belongings of successive feudal lords.