Matsudaira Tadateru

Matsudaira Tadateru (松平 忠輝, February 16, 1592 – August 24, 1683) was a daimyō during the Edo period of Japan. He was the sixth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was born in Edo Castle during the year of the dragon (tatsu), and as a child his name was Tatsuchiyo (辰千代). His mother was Lady Chaa (茶阿局, Chaa no Tsubone), a concubine of Ieyasu. Ieyasu sent the boy to live with a vassal, Minagawa Hiroteru, daimyō of the Minagawa Domain in Shimotsuke Province.

Matsudaira Tadateru's grave, at Teishoin in Suwa, Nagano

Matsudaira Tadateru

In 1599, Ieyasu granted him a fief in Musashi Province, and increased his holdings in 1602 and 1603 with transfers first to Shimōsa and then to Shinano Provinces. Tadateru married Irohahime, the first daughter of Date Masamune, in 1606. In 1610, Tadateru became daimyo of Takada in Echigo Province. He had interests in martial arts, tea, and foreign intercourse. It is said that he was baptized a Christian.

Tadateru was assigned to remain in Edo during the Winter Campaign of the Siege of Osaka (1614). He participated in the Summer Campaign (1615), but his older brother, the then shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada, relieved him of command and exiled him to Ise, then Hida, and finally Shinano Province, where he remained until his death.

A 1987 television show Dokuganryū Masamune starring Hiroyuki Sanada dramatized the life of Matsudaira Tadateru.

Tadateru was posthumously pardoned in 1984 by Tokugawa Tsunenari, the head of the former shogunal house.