Hosokawa Tadataka (細川忠隆)
Tadataka HOSOKAWA, or Kyumu NAGAOKA, was a busho (Japanese military commander) from the Azuchi-momoyama period to the Edo period. His actual family name was Genji. His family line was the Hosokawa clan, a branch family of the Ashikaga clan founded by MINAMOTO no Yoshikuni who had been a son of MINAMOTO no Yoshiie, a Chinju-fu shogun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North) and the head of the Kawachi-Genji that was derived from a family line of Seiwa-Genji (Minamoto clan). Tadataka was the eldest son of Tadaoki HOSOKAWA and his mother was Tama whose baptismal name was Gracia HOSOKAWA, a daughter of Tadaoki HOSOKAWA. His lawful wife was Chiyo, a daughter of Toshiie MAEDA. After he was disinherited in 1604, he named himself Kyumu NAGAOKA. His official court rank before the disinheritance was Jushiinoge jiju (Junior Forth Rank, Lower Grade Chamberlain).
He excelled at literary and military arts, and was loved by his grandfather, Yusai HOSOKAWA. He participated in a poetry gathering held by Yusai to appreciate the view of Amanohashidate in 1599, during which Mitsuhiro KARASUMARU, Michikatsu NAKANOIN and others were invited, after which, a tanzaku (long, narrow card on which Japanese poems are written vertically) which was written by Tadataka, remained in Chionji Temple in Tango Province.
The Disinheritance
In 1600, while Ieyasu TOKUGAWA was absent, Mitsunari ISHIDA who was one of the Gobugyo (five major magistrates) and others raised an army and urged Gracia HOSOKAWA, the wife of Tadaoki, to become a hostage. Gracia rejected this and committed suicide at the Hosokawa residence in Tamatsukuri, Osaka, while Chiyo MAEDA, the wife of Tadataka, escaped to the neighboring Ukita residence where her elder sister Gohime resided.
At that time, Tadataka was undergoing an expedition to Aizu as well as an attack on Gifu-jo Castle together with Tadataka. At the Battle of Sekigahara Tadataka belonged to the Eastern army, where he distinguished himself in the war through his services, and was thanked by Naifu (Hidetada TOKUGAWA). Incidentally, at Matsui Bunko in Yatsushiro-City, there exist five letters to Okinaga MATSUI from Tadataka before and after the Battle of Sekigahara. The letters say that Tadataka had apparently been approved as the heir by both himself and others.
In November 1600, however, he was reproved for his wife, Chiyo, who had run away from the residence in Tamatsukuri, Osaka. His father, Tadaoki directed him to divorce his wife and sent her away to Toshinaga MAEDA who was Toshiie's legitimate son. Tadataka did not agree to the divorce and visited the MAEDA family to ask for help. However, Tadaoki who had lost his wife, Gracia, got angry at him, and Tadataka was disowned before he went to Buzen Province, his new territory. Then, in 1604, Tadataka was disinherited, became a monk, called himself Kyumu NAGAOKA, and was confined to his house in Kyoto together with Chiyo and his eldest son, Kumachiyo. Kumachiyo died young, in the same year and was buried in the ancestral temple of Saion-ji Temple with the posthumous Buddhist name of 空性院即謳大童子.
Chiyo, the legal wife of Tadataka, was a daughter of Toshiie MAEDA, and the matrimonial relation between the Maeda and Hosokawa family was thought as unfavorable by the Tokugawa family. The cause of the disinheritance is currently interpreted as Tadaoki HOSOKAWA taking the opportunity to try to divorce Chiyo in order to cut their connection with the Maeda family, which was not agreed to by Tadataka.
Tadataka's livelihood in Kyoto after the disinheritance was supported by his grandfather, Yusai HOSOKAWA who had retired and lived in Kyoto with 6000 koku of his own shoryo (territory). After Yusai passed away, 6000 koku of his territory was disposed of and Tadatake received 3000 koku of Fuchi mai (an allowance in rice) as a retirement stipend from the Hosokawa family to stabilize his life economically.
On a side note, according to the historical materials Chiyo was the mother of Tadataka's four children who had been born between 1605-1609 in Kyoto, that were Toku (later, the wife of Saneharu SAIONJI, the Minister of the Left), Yoshi, Fuku (later, the wife of Michishiki KUZE, the first of the KUZE family), and Man (who died prematurely). This means that Chiyo was disowned from the Hosokawa family but not divorced by Tadataka. Afterward, Chiyo left Kyoto to return to Kaga and married Nagatsugu MURAI of MURAI family which was one of the eight Maeda families. The marriage took place not in 1605 but possibly in 1600 after the death of Yusai.
Reconciliation with Tadaoki
In 1626 Tadaoki HOSOKAWA visited Tadataka's residence at the site of Rikyu's Juraku residence, Bishamon-cho, Kyoto, and met his grandson for the first time. He reconciled with Tadataka after 25 years, while Tadataka continued to live in Kyoto.
Tadataka kept a close relation with the court nobles who had also been his relatives, and spent a lot of time becoming intimate with a book on poetry entitled "Gumonkenchu"(Answer and question about poetry), Noh, Utai (the chanting of a Noh text), Chanoyu (the tea ceremony) and so forth in Kyoto. After he received his retirement stipend, he became admired little by little as an elder in the cultural and activity saloons such as Noh and tea ceremony with court nobles in Kyoto. Later, he reportedly played a role in uniting the Imperial court and the Hosokawa domain based on the position of the father-in-low of Saionji Sadaijin (minister of the left). Letters from Tadataka in Kyoto to his younger brother Tadatoshi HOSOKAWA who was the lord of Kokura-jo Castle can be seen here and there.
Additionally, Tadaoki moved to the Kumamoto Domain in Higo Province in 1632 and invited Tadataka to Yatsushiro-jo Castle to formally reconcile in 1642. He told Tadataka to live in Kumamoto, but Tadataka refused, and went back to Kyoto.
In 1646 he passed away in Kyoto at the age of 67. His posthumous Buddhist name was泰仰院殿前拾遺瑞巌宗祥大居士. Tadataka was buried in Kotoin of Daitokuji-Temple, Kita Ward, Kyoto City, and a part of his ashes were buried in Saionji family-associated Hojusan Chikurin-in Temple, Kamigyo Ward as well as in a graveyard of the Naizen family at the site of Zuigan-ji Temple, Chiharadai, 3-24, Shimazaki, Kumamoto City. On his death, he left a will to inherit a total of 2000 koku of his retirement stipend to Tadatsune and Tadaharu, and a total of 1000 koku of his retirement stipend to Toku who was the wife of Saionji family and other daughters, which was later carried out.
Descendants
In 1620 Tadataka married Kiku, the daughter of 長谷川求馬 who was Toyotomi-Ronin, as his second wife and before long two boys, namely Tadatsune NAGAOKA and Tadaharu NAGAOKA were born. A son of Tadaharu later built the Hosokawa-Naizen family, or Nagaoka-Naizen family, the head of the vassal of the Kumamoto clan that was worth 6000 koku. The family crest of Naizen family are Goshichi no kiri and Hosokawa Kuyo (nine-planet crest), as well as Toki-Gikyo-mon as Ura-mon which was connected to Gracia of the AKECHI family.
Tadafusa, the second generation of the Naizen family became the first President of Jishukan school of a hanko (a domain school), and his younger brother served as the position of Karo (chief retainers) in the Kumamoto domain. Additionally, Takachika HOSOKAWA, a political analyst and his nephew Ryuichiro HOSOKAWA are descendents of Tadataka and inherited the bloodline of Tadaoki HOSOKAWA and Gracia.