Ogasawara Tadazane

Ogasawara Tadazane (1596-1667) was a fudai daimyo who ruled 150,000 koku in Kokura in Buzen, succeeding Hosokawa Tadatoshi after his transfer to Kumamoto, and he was also the head of the main (sōryō) line of the Ogasawara clan, which has transmitted the Ogasawara school (Ogasawara-ryū), known for etiquette and for archery and horsemanship. His father, Ogasawara Hidemasa, and his brother, Ogasawara Tadanaga, were killed in action in the Summer Siege of Osaka, so he succeeded to the family headship at a young age, and after passing through Matsumoto in Shinano and Akashi in Harima, he put the domain's governance in order under the Tokugawa shogunate, with Kokura Castle, a base in northern Kyushu, as his stronghold. He took part in the Shimabara Rebellion (1637-1638) as a member of the shogunal army and distinguished himself in suppressing the uprising. However, it was the hatamoto Ogasawara houses (the Heibei and Nuinosuke lines), kin of the clan, who held the traditions of archery and horsemanship in the Edo shogunate. He was also known as a daimyo tea master, and he devoted himself to fostering Agano ware. He is also said to have been the lord whom the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi served the longest.