Hotta Masatoshi

Hotta Masatoshi ( Japanese 堀 田 正 俊 ; * March 12, 1634 in Edo ; † October 7, 1684 ibid) was daimyo and member or from 1681 head of the government council of the Tokugawa dynasty in Japan.

Life path

Hotta Masatoshi was born as the third son of Masamori , who did great services as an advisor to two shoguns . His mother was a daughter of the powerful councilor Sakai Tadakatsu . A year after his birth he was adopted by the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu by his nurse Kasuga no Tsubone and assigned in 1641 as a page to the later Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna (1641-1680). When Iemitsu died in 1651, Masatoshi's father Masamori followed him to death ( junshi )

Thanks to the benevolence of Ietsuna, Masatoshi made a steep career. Initially, he was assigned the fief of Moriya ( Shimousa province ) from his father's estate with a rice yield of 13,000  koku . In 1667 he received the fief Annaka (20,000 koku) when he was appointed head of ceremonies ( Sōjaban ). The Koga fief brought him 115,000 koku , and as a councilor he eventually got 200,000 koku . Among his followers is the Confucian scholar Arai Hakuseki , who was in his service for a while.

After his appointment to Wakadoshiyori ( 若 年 寄 , about "junior council") in 1670 he showed great political skills. In 1679 Ietsuna appointed him a council member ( rōjū ). When the childless Shogun died the following year, he stood up against the powerful advice Sakai Tadakiyo for the half-brother of the Shogun, Tsunayoshi , as his successor.

Under Tsunayoshi Masatoshi rose to the head of the council to Tairō ( 大老 ) in 1681 , with which the title Chikuzen no Kami (keeper of Chikuzen) and the fiefdom Koga were connected. Together with Makino Narisada, he pursued in the four years up to his death a policy shaped by Neo -Confucianism, which pursued the Shogun's care for the Tenno, the promotion of Confucianism, the arts and a stricter management of finances. Because of his rigor, there was soon a certain alienation from the other council members.

Masatoshi fell victim to an assassination attempt by his cousin Inaba Masayasu (1640-84) in the palace of the Shogun on October 7, 1684 , the background of which is not clear. Some sources describe Masayasu as deranged, others cite a dispute over a river straightening project as the reason. The post of Tairō was not occupied for a long time. The security measures introduced after the assassination, the Shogun no longer took part in the meetings himself, but was represented by his chamberlain Yanagizawa Yoshiyazu , reinforced the absolutist character of the Tokugawa regime.

Literature and Sources

• Martin Ramming (ed.): Japan manual . Berlin 1941
• Berend Wispelwey (Ed.): Japanese Biographical Archive . KG Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-598-34014-1 , Fiche 88
• John Whitney Hall (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Japan: Early modern Japan . Cambridge University Press, 1991. Chapter 9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In Japanese chronology : Kan'ei 11/11/12 - Jōkyō 1/8/28. Conversion with NengoCalc according to Reinhard Zöllner : Japanese time calculation . Iudicium Verlag, Munich 2003.
2. ↑ This sacrificial death was forbidden under the following Shogun Ietsuna.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Hotta is the family name, Masatoshi the first name.