Fudai

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Fudai

was a class of daimyo

Daimyo

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the , and the , was a feudalism regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family....
in Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of History of Japan running from 1603 to 1868. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.

of the families who formed the ranks of the fudai daimyo were families which had served the Tokugawa clan since before its rise to national primacy. Some of these include the Honda

Honda clan

The is a Japanese family claiming descent from the medieval court noble Fujiwara no Kanemichi. The family settled in Mikawa Province and served the Matsudaira clan as retainers; later, when the main Matsudaira family became the Tokugawa clan, the Honda had a rise in prestige....
, Sakai

Sakai clan

The was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from the Nitta clan branch of the Minamoto clan, who were in turn descendants of Emperor Seiwa. Serata Arichika, a samurai of the 14th century, was the common ancestor of both the Sakai clan and the Matsudaira clan, which the Sakai later served....
, Sakakibara, Ii

Ii clan

The is a Japanese clan which originates in Totomi Province. It was a retainer clan of the Imagawa family, and then switched sides to the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province....
, Itakura

Itakura clan

The is a Japanese clans which came to prominence during the Sengoku period. The family claimed descent from Shibukawa Yoshiaki, the son of Ashikaga Yasuuji, a relative of the Ashikaga shoguns....
, and Mizuno clan

Mizuno clan

The was a Japanese clan which claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto clan. In the Edo period, the Mizuno clan produced many men who were fudai daimyo serving the Tokugawa shogun, as well as countless families of hatamoto....
s. Tokugawa Ieyasu's "Four Great Generals

Shitenno (Tokugawa clan)

The were four famous Japanese samurai generals serving Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Sengoku Period through early Edo period:*Honda Tadakatsu*Ii Naomasa...
"- Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, Sakai Tadatsugu, and Ii Naomasa, were all pre-Edo era fudai, and went on to become fudai daimyo.

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was a class of daimyo

Daimyo

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the , and the , was a feudalism regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family....
in Edo period

Edo period

Japan

Origins

Many of the families who formed the ranks of the fudai daimyo were families which had served the Tokugawa clan since before its rise to national primacy. Some of these include the Honda

Honda clan

Sakai clan

Ii clan

The is a Japanese clan which originates in Totomi Province. It was a retainer clan of the Imagawa family, and then switched sides to the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province....
, Itakura

Itakura clan

Mizuno clan

Shitenno (Tokugawa clan)

Matsudaira clan

The was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. It first originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province ....
(from which the Tokugawa clan originated), while allowed to retain the Matsudaira surname, were fudai.

In the Edo period

As Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Japanese name|Tokugawa}} was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868....
rose to power in the 16th century, his domains increased, and as his domains increased, he began to hand out landholdings to his vassals, so that one by one, many of them became daimyo

Daimyo

The were powerful territorial lords who ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. The term derives from a shortening of the title , which literally means "great named land" and originally simply referred to the owner of a large estate....
. This was the birth of the fudai daimyo class. In contrast to the tozama
Tozama

A was a daimyo who was considered an outsider by the rulers of Japan. The term came into use in the Kamakura period and continued until the end of the Edo period....
, the fudai typically ruled small fiefs

Han (Japan)

The , or domains, were the fiefs of feudal lords of Japan that were created by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and existed until their Abolition of the han system in 1871, three years after the Meiji Restoration....
, many in strategic locations along the principal roads or in the Kanto region

Kanto region

The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region encompasses seven Prefectures of Japan which overlaps the Greater Tokyo Area: Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture, and Kanagawa Prefecture....
near the headquarters of the shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the , and the , was a feudalism regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family....
at Edo

Edo

, literally: Headlands and bays-door, "estuary", ), also Romanization of Japanese as Yedo or Yeddo, is the Geographical renaming of the Capital of Japan Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868....
. High posts in the shogunate, such as Roju

Roju

The , usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa shogunate Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Roju....
and wakadoshiyori

Wakadoshiyori

The , or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in 17th century Tokugawa shogunate Japan. The position was established around 1631, but appointments were irregular until 1662....
, normally went to fudai. In addition, the post of Kyoto Shoshidai

Kyoto Shoshidai

The was an important administrative and political office in the early modern government of Japan. However, the significance and effectiveness of the office is credited to the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, who developed these initial creations as bureaucratic elements in a consistent and coherent whole....
almost always went to a fudai daimyo.

Other clans which were not pre-Azuchi-Momoyama era retainers of the Tokugawa also came to be counted as fudai: the Ogasawara

Ogasawara clan

The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji. The Ogasawara acted as shugo of Shinano province in the medieval period , and as daimyo of territories on Kyushu during the Edo period ....
and Doi are among them.

Occasionally, a family could be raised to or from fudai status. For instance, the Matsudaira clan

Matsudaira clan

The was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. It first originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province ....
to which Matsudaira Sadanobu

Matsudaira Sadanobu

Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and the similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief Roju of the Tokugawa Shogunate, from 1787 to 1793....
belonged went from being a fudai house to being a recognized

Shinpan (daimyo)

The daimyo were certain relatives of the Tokugawa shoguns of Japan. While all shinpan were relatives of the shogun, not all relatives of the shogun were shinpan; an example of this is the Matsudaira clan of the Okutono Domain....
relative of the Tokugawa family. Also, a hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in History of Japan had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa house, and the gokenin were the lower va...
who had an increase in income which raised his income level over 10,000 koku

Koku

The is a unit of volume in Japan, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres....
became a fudai daimyo.

Bakumatsu and beyond

Many fudai daimyo were involved in the vigorous political activity of the Bakumatsu, as well as the renewed military activities which occurred in that period. Two such men of fudai daimyo background were Ogasawara Nagamichi

Ogasawara Nagamichi

was the a Japanese samurai and official in the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa Shogunate. Before the Meiji Restoration, his courtesy title was Kokushi and lower 5th Court rank....
and Itakura Katsukiyo

Itakura Katsukiyo

was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period. Famed for his tenure as roju, Itakura later became a Shinto priest....
, who were two of the last roju
Roju

The , usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa shogunate Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Roju....
, and actively worked for reform and strengthening of the ailing shogunate. Others, such as Matsudaira Munehide

Matsudaira Munehide

', also known as ', was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period who ruled the Miyazu Domain . He was known by the titles or ....
, were involved in diplomacy and foreign affairs.

In the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the Emperor of Japan....
of 1868-69, some fudai houses such as the Toda of Ogaki

Ogaki Domain

The was a Japanese Han during the Edo period, located in Mino Province ....
and the Todo of Tsu sided with the Shogunate during the first battle at Toba-Fushimi. However, after the shogunate's loss there, many fudai houses did not side with the shogunate or with the shogun's former army which moved northward and eventually set up the Ezo Republic. Some remained neutral, while others (like the lords of Ogaki

Ogaki Domain

The was a Japanese Han during the Edo period, located in Mino Province ....
and Tsu) switched allegiances and openly supported the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

The Imperial Japanese Army , or literally Army of Empire of Greater Japan was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1867 to 1945....
. Ogasawara Nagamichi and Itakura Katsukiyo led small groups of their retainers during the fight against the imperial forces. However, their domains had already been occupied by the imperial army, and were forced to participate in the war on the imperial army's behalf. Only one fudai daimyo, Hayashi Tadataka

Hayashi Tadataka

was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Jozai Domain. Later in life, he was also known by his Style , . During the Boshin War of 1868, Hayashi led his domain's forces in support of the armies of the former shogun, and then the Northern Alliance....
of the Jozai Domain, willingly left his domain early in 1868, and led most of his retainer force on behalf of the armies of the former shogun, in the fight against the imperial army. Also, a handful of fudai in the far north formed part of the Northern Alliance

Ouetsu Reppan Domei

The Ouetsu Reppan Domei or was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War....
, fighting for the Alliance but not for the now-retired shogun.

Most of the fudai in the country entered the Meiji era peacefully, and ruled their domains until the domains' dissolution

Abolition of the han system

The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority ....
in 1871. After this, the former families of fudai daimyo became peers

Kazoku

The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947....
in the new Japanese nobility system.