Tokugawa Masayuki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hoshina Masayuki (保科正之, Hoshina Masayuki^?, June 17, 1611–February 4, 1673)- Japanese samurai of the early Edo period who became famous through his regency of his nephew, the young shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna. As the brother of the third shogun Iemitsu, he was able to wield great influence in political affairs, and was to consequently see his income rating rise sharply. Masayuki became lord of the Aizu domain (Mutsu Province, 230,000 koku), and founded the Aizu-Hoshina line (known from his son's generation onward as the Aizu-Matsudaira) which was to remain enfeoffed there until the Boshin War. Masayuki was also a patron of Yamazaki Ansai, one of the early figures in Edo-era Japanese Neo-Confucianism, and together with him wrote the famous Aizu House Code, which included a direct injunction regarding the loyalty of the clan to the Shogun.

Having taken most of the steps toward self-deification, Masayuki was enshrined after his death as the kami Hanitsu-reishin (土津霊神), at the Hanitsu Shrine near Lake Inawashiro.

[edit] Anecdotes

Tokugawa Iemitsu asked the famed swordsman Miyamoto Musashi to paint a screen portraying wild ducks. This was to pass into the hands of Masayuki, who took it with him to Aizu, and kept it as one of his family treasures.