The time of the Echizen Matsudaira family, an special treated family

Ieyasu's second son, Yuki Hideyasu, was adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi after the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute (1584), but after Yodo-dono gave birth to their first child, Tsurumatsu, Hideyasu was adopted by Yuki Harutomo after the Siege of Odawara (1590). In order to win over Ieyasu, Hideyoshi married off his sister (Asahihime) and also offered his mother (Omandokoro) as a hostage, but it was probably necessary to strike a balance by wanting to adopt Hideyasu, who could have easily become his legitimate son.

Nobuyasu, the original Ieyasu's heir, was the son of Tsukiyamadono, a member of the Imagawa clan, but had already been forced to commit seppuku (1579) on the orders of Oda Nobunaga. As Tsukiyamadono's legal wife, she did not recognize Hideyasu's birth mother as a concubine, and for some time Ieyasu was unable to recognize him as his own son. There is an anecdote that Nobuyasu, feeling sorry for Hideyasu, secretly arranged for them to meet. Meanwhile, there is also an anecdote that Hideyasu was born as a twin, and that the younger brother served as a priest at Chiryu Shrine, his mother's family home, for a time.

At the time of the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, Ieyasu had four sons: Hideyasu, Hidetada, Tadayoshi, and Nobuyoshi. However, Hideyasu, the oldest son, was adopted, leaving Hidetada, the third son, as the heir to the Tokugawa family. Hideyasu's first battle was in the Kyushu Conquest, and he built his career by suppressing the Kasai-Osaki Rebellion, the Bunroku-Keicho War, and the Aizu Conquest. He was also highly regarded as a brave general with excellent leadership skills, and it seems he had a good relationship with Ieyasu. When Ieyasu entered Edo, he inherited the Yuki clan, a prominent Kanto family, which Ieyasu likely judged would not be a disadvantage in governing his new territory.

The Yuki family, along with the Oyama family, are descendants of Fujiwara Hidesato (Tawara Tōta), and their ancestor is Yuki Tomomitsu. His mother was Minamoto no Yoritomo's wet nurse, and with Yoritomo's immense trust, he was appointed land steward of Yuki County, and the lineage has continued for 400 years. As the Sengoku period began and the family was at the mercy of the conflict between Uesugi Kenshin and the Hojo clan, Yuki Harutomo, the head of the family, participated in the Battle of Odawara, was assured of his territory, and begged Hideyoshi to adopt Hideyasu. This was a courageous move to preserve the family name, as he sent his adopted son (Tomokatsu), who had come from the Utsunomiya family, back to his parents' home and severed ties with the family (the Oyama family).

After the Battle of Sekigahara, Ieyasu appointed Hideyasu as lord of Echizen Kitanosho, with a fief of 680,000 koku. His adoptive father, Harutomo, also left his hometown of Yuki and moved to Echizen. However, after Hideyasu's early death (1607), his sons reverted to the Matsudaira surname, prompting Ieyasu to plead with him to have Hideyasu's fifth son, Naomoto, succeed him as head of the Yuki clan. Hideyasu's five adult sons (Tadanao, Tadamashi, Naomasa, Naomoto, and Naoyoshi) each became daimyo, led by his eldest son, Tadanao. This shows how much consideration Hidetada, Iemitsu, and the shogunate at the time showed for Hidetada's older brother, Hideyasu's family. Tadanao, who inherited his father Hideyasu's estate, felt disadvantaged by the disparity between him and his uncles from the Gosanke, and his rebellious attitude toward Hidetada led to his removal from the ranks. He was exiled to the Bungo Funai Domain, but his eldest son Mitsunaga was given 260,000 koku of land in the Takada Domain of Echigo. Tadanao's younger brother, Tadamasa, was given 500,000 koku of land in Echizen, and the name of the area was changed to Fukui.

While Hideyasu, the founder of the family, held a fief of 680,000 koku, his descendants held a total of over one million koku in the early Edo period (Echigo Takada Domain: 260,000 koku, Echizen Fukui Domain: 500,000 koku, Izumo Matsue Domain: 186,000 koku, Harima Himeji Domain: 150,000 koku, and Echizen Ono Domain: 50,000 koku). Even at the end of the Edo period, the five families and their branch domains held fiefs of nearly one million koku, and although their status was lower than that of the Gosanke and Gosankyo, they remained an special treated family until the end. In the Fukui domain at the end of the Edo period, Matsudaira Shungaku, who was adopted from the Tayasu family, was one of the Four Wise Lords of the late Edo period.

In the NHK historical drama "Berabou," there is a line in which Hitotsubashi Harusada, the father of the 11th Shogun, Ienari, persistently encouraged the Shogun to have more children, saying that he would dye Japan with the Hitotsubashi bloodline, but in reality, Ienari had 53 children, 28 of whom reached adulthood. Since only one heir was necessary, after Matsudaira Sadanobu was ousted, securing marriage homes for Ienari's children and homes for his adopted children became an important job for the Roju of the time.

The Echizen Matsudaira family was no exception, and the Tsuyama Matsudaira family, descendants of Tadanao and Mitsunaga, the Akashi Matsudaira family, descendants of Naoyoshi, and the Yuki Matsudaira family, descendants of Naomoto, all adopted Ienari's sons. Furthermore, the aforementioned Matsudaira Shungaku was also the biological son of Hitotsubashi Harusada, meaning that four of the five Echizen Matsudaira families were temporarily on the verge of being replaced by the Hitotsubashi family (which, in turn, was Yoshimune and the Kishu Tokugawa family). As was the case with the Tokugawa Shogunate, it was difficult to maintain male lineage through the same bloodline, and the Hitotsubashi family soon ran short of heirs, so it is well known that they adopted Yoshinobu from the Mito Tokugawa family and produced their last shogun.

As mentioned above, Tadanao, who was supposed to be the head of the family, was stripped of his title and exiled, yet his eldest son Mitsunaga was given 260,000 koku of land in the Takada domain, partly because his mother was Hidetada's daughter (Katsuhime). The Takada domain, which had managed to survive, was left without an heir after Mitsunaga's successor, Tsunakata, died young, and the family split over the succession, leading Shogun Tsunayoshi to again decide to strip the family of its title. Twenty years later, the family was pardoned, and Nobutomi, the grandson of Naomoto of the Yuki Matsudaira family, was adopted by Mitsunaga and given 100,000 koku in the Mimasaka Tsuyama domain, which he continued to hold until the end of the Edo period.

Katsuhime married her daughter Kunihime to Mitsumichi, the lord of the Fukui domain, but further tragedy befell the Fukui domain's family. Kunihime was under so much pressure to leave behind an heir that she committed suicide, and Mitsumichi followed suit and committed suicide. Mitsumichi had a son (Naokata) with a concubine, but Katsuhime would not allow him to be the heir, leading to this tragedy. The tragedy of the Fukui domain did not end there, and the youngest brother (Masachika) succeeded him, but his nephew (Tsunamasa), who succeeded him, went insane and the domain's kokudaka (rice yield) of 500,000 koku was halved.

The Echizen Matsudaira clan's unique pride as the Shogun's elder brother led to an excessive emphasis on blood purity within the Tokugawa clan, ironically resulting in the shrinking of the head family, the families of Tadanao and Tadamasa. In order to contain the Kaga Maeda clan's 1.2 million koku from both the east and west, Ieyasu placed his second son, Hideyasu, in Kitanosho, Echizen, and his sixth son, Tadateru, in Takada, Echigo. Dealing with relatives was not easy, as relatives who served as a defense for the Shogun's clan could also become rivals threatening the family. During the Muromachi period, many of the Shogun's brothers became monks, but there was an increasing number of cases where they easily returned to secular life and became rivals to the current Shogun. The Gosanke (Three Houses) and later Gosankyo (Three Houses of the Shogunate) functioned to a certain extent as a system for securing spare Shoguns while maintaining the distinction between lord and vassal. However, the cases of the Echizen Matsudaira clan and the demotion of Tadateru and Iemitsu's younger brother, Tadanaga, were unavoidable in demonstrating the Shogun's authority. Incidentally, when the lord of Kaga domain was on his alternate attendance route, he passed through the territory of Takada domain and entered Edo via the Nakasendo road, which is the same route as the modern Hokuriku Shinkansen.

Fukui is full of hometowns that seem like they could be the setting for a historical drama, but never were, such as Ichijodani of the Asakura clan, Kitanosho of Shibata Katsuie, and Fukui Castle of the Echizen Matsudaira clan. Last year, Echizen City (formerly Takefu City), where Murasaki Shikibu accompanied her father when he was transferred, was featured a little, but now that the Shinkansen is connected, I think it's about time it got some more attention. I'd like to go there before it gets too crowded.