Toda Tadamasa (戸田忠昌)
Tadamasa TODA (1632 - October 2, 1699) was a feudal lord who lived in the early Edo period. He was the third lord of the Tahara Domain of the Mikawa Province, the lord of the Amakusa Domain of the Higo Province, the lord of the Iwatsuki Domain of the Musashi Province, and the first lord of the Sakura Domain of the Shimosa Province. He was the third generation of the Toda family in the Utsunomiya Domain.
He was the eldest son of Tadatsugu TODA, who was the fifth son of Takatsugu TODA and the first lord of the Tahara Domain. He was adopted by his uncle Tadayoshi TODA. His name was initially Tadaharu, and then changed to Shuzen. He was awarded the rank of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade and appointed as the Governor of Iga Province, and then awarded the rank of Junior Forth Rank, Lower Grade Chamberlain and appointed as the Governor of Echizen Province. His mother was a daughter of TOMO no Tadayoshi. His lawful wife was a daughter of Tomitomo AKIMOTO. His children were Takatomo AKIMOTO (the eldest son), Tadazane TODA (the second son), Tadaaki TODA (the fifth son), and Tadatsune TODA (the sixth son).
In Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun), he was promoted from an official in charge of the ceremonies and a magistrate of temples and shrines, to the Kyoto deputy, and finally to the member of shogun's council of elders.
According to especially in 'Okahyosetsu' in the profile in "Dokai Koshuki", Tadamasa as well as his colleagues Tadatomo OKUBO and Masatake ABE were described as 'good military commanders.'
Biography
His family line was the main branch of the Tahara-Toda family of the Toda clan. He was the sixteenth descendant of the Toda clan and the fifth generation head of the Tahara-Toda family.
(The third generation as a feudal lord family.)
In September 1639, he was adopted by his uncle Tadayoshi. After Tadayoshi died, he succeeded as the head of the Toda family in the Tahara Domain on September 19, 1647. On February 18, 1659, he was awarded the rank of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade and appointed as Governor of Iga Province, and the following year, he entered the designated castle for the first time. In May 1664, he was transferred to the Amakusa Domain of the Higo Province and received an additional 10,000 koku. He was assigned to the Tomioka-jo Castle, where he questioned the necessity of the castle and demolished the castle keep and the secondary enclosure of the castle, leaving only the outermost outworks of the castle as the regional government office in 1670. In 1671, he was appointed official in charge of the ceremonies, therefore, served consequently as the magistrate of temples and shrines. In the same year, he was ordered to transfer, and his domains were moved to Sagami Province, Shimosa Province, Musashi Province, and Hitachi Province. In 1676, he was appointed as Kyoto deputy and then awarded the rank of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, Chamberlain and appointed as Governor of Echizen Province.
Furthermore, he received an additional 10,000 koku as his domain was moved to the Kinai region (the five capital provinces surrounding the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto). In August 1681, he received an additional 10,000 koku in Kawachi Province. On December 24 in the same year, he was appointed as the member of shogun's council of elders, and transferred to the Iwatsuki Domain of Musashi Province as a lord. It is said that, while he was the lord of the Iwatsuki Domain, he built a drainage in Sasayama Village (Sasayama, Hasuda City) in his domain; the drainage became called 'Yamashiro hori' after the Tadamasa's title the governor of Yamashiro. In January 1683, he was transferred to the Sakura Domain of the Shimosa Province and received an additional 10,000 koku. On October 7, 1684, Masatoshi HOTTA, who held the title of chief minister, was called to by Masayasu INABA, who was Masatoshi's cousin and held the title of managerial position, and suddenly killed by him. Upon hearing the outcry 'Iwami (the official rank of Masayasu Inaba) went mad', shogun's council of elders rushed to Masatoshi, and Tadatomo OKUBO, Masatake ABE, and then Tadamasa TODA brought their swords down upon Masayasu. In 1694, he received additional 10,000 koku in Shiki, Wakae, and Tanboku Districts of Kawachi Province, coming to possess 71,000 koku in total. He was supposedly incorruptible, and rich in wit and benevolence. On October 2, 1699, he died during his tenure as a member of shogun's council of elders. He died at the age of 68. He was buried in the Shogen-ji Temple in Ushigome, Edo; thereafter, the temple became a family temple of the Tahara-Toda family. His eldest son Takatomo was adopted by the Akimoto family (Tadamasa's wife was from the Akimoto family) and his second son Tadazane succeeded as head of the family.
Stories surrounding Tadamasa
Gunbe TAKATA, who was famous in Chushingura (The treasury of Loyal Retainers), was originally a vassal of Nagashige OGASAWARA, but he later became a masterless samurai and served Naganori ASANO, who was the lord of the Ako Domain, through the good offices of Tadamasa TODA.
Tadamasa's words from the stories in "Meisho Genkoroku" (the collections of anecdotes of great commanders in Japanese history)
"Meisho Genkoroku" has the following quote.
When Tadamasa was young, he was manly and bighearted and often immoderate. When his favorite concubine caused a problem, his main retainer Yojiemon HIKOSAKA made a move to remonstrate against Tadamasa and remained seated day and night without going to sleep for two days, saying that he would not leave the place, unless Tadamasa banished his concubine; as a result, Tadamasa finally relented and banished her. After that, he conducted himself properly and finally became an able and important retainer as a member of shogun's council of elders of the government. In a cerrain year, there was a great fire in Edo; Yorinobu TOKUGAWA of the Kishu Domain was concerned about the shogun in Edo-jo Castle, and tried to go to the castle. Seventeen-year-old Tadamasa, staying at Edo-jo Castle on duty, did not let Yorinobu in the gate and told him "Security is tight due to an emergency, therefore I can not let you in. Please talk with the shogun's council of elders." Yorinobu immediately met Tadakiyo SAKAI, told him "If the castle is in no danger, I do not need to come in" and left the place.
It is said that Tadakiyo SAKAI was impressed with Tadamasa's judgment--the situation was recorded as follows:
When I patted Tadamasa on the back, saying "You are young, but have good understanding of guarding", I noticed that he was wearing a protective vest. Tadakiyo clapped his hands, further impressed with and surprised at Tadamasa's outstanding capability, and went back. Tadakiyo talked about this to his colleagues, never stopped praising Tadamasa. Although Tadakiyo was not particularly close with Tadamasa before that, he was impressed with his appearance and always praised him. When the position for the lord of Amakusa Domain of the Higo Province became vaccant, the cabinet officials of the Shogunate concluded that no other person was more qualified than Tadamasa for the lord of Amakusa. Accordingly, Tadamasa was to rose to the lord of the Amakusa Domain.
When Tadamasa was in his old age, he had a grandson-in-law Tadazane SAKAI. As Tadazane was young, his relative Nobuoki MATSUDAIRA ('Nobuoku' in the original document as a typographical error) acted as guardian, and Tadamasa handled the important issues of the domain. During the Jokyo era, Sakai family had a vassal who possessed 1,000 koku but whose legitimate son did not possess enough merit to become head of the family, and what is worse, the vassal did not have any other son to disinherit the son. Then, the vassal thought that he wanted to adopt his exemplary nephew from among his relatives, but he suddenly died without specifically proceeding with the adoption. The Sakai family tried to figure out who should be the heir to the vassal, assumed that the legitimate son and nephew of the deceased might receive 500 koku each, and then consulted with the guardian Nobuoki MATSUDAIRA. Nobuoki said "If the legitimate son is not an able person, my idea is the same as all of you have said, but as it is an important decision, you'd better consult with Tadamasa." Then, the Sakai family asked Tadamasa's opinion about the inheritance of their vassel, only to receive the Tadamasa's reply "I am not in a position to advise on that matter, as the Sakai family has its own traditional manners." If it was a governmental affair, I could have said something. A member of the Sakai family once again said that the family had never reduced the enfeoffment in such a manner, and wanted to consult with Tadamasa about dividing up the enfeoffment between the legitimate son and nephew. Tadamasa replied that "Inheritance is quite an important matter even if the successors are children. That is why I refuse to say anything on that matter." When a member of the Sakai family mentioned this to Nobuoki, he said "Tadamasa must have had some intention in saying so, and thus, I should ask him for details." When Nobuoki and the vassal of the Sakai family went to Tadamasa again to ask for his consultation, Tadamasa finally expressed his opinion by taking consideration of their repeated requests. Tadamasa said "the deceased vassal was the main retainer who served the lord Tadazane since the lord was young and rendered distinguished services; however, it is not a good idea to give 500 koku for each of the vassal's legitimate son and the nephew, even if the legitimate son is incapable while the nephew is able to help the clan. I believe that we could repay the vassal's contribution only by making his son succeed all of his father's enfeoffments. We should say that the vassal is unquestionably loyal, as he was willing to have his newphew his successor. If he reported before he died that his son would be disinherited and his nephew would succeed him, I would never hesitate to respect the will of the deceased; however, when the vassal dies without any procedure, a biological son should succeed all salaries and why don't you give his nephew a little allowance." Those who heard this were impressed and handled the issue as dictated by Tadamasa.