* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Ōkubo Tadachika
大久保忠隣
The de facto first rōjū who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu — first daimyo of Odawara domain, later stripped of his lands
- Era
- Sengoku to early Edo period
- Lifespan
- 1553-1628
Description
Origins and First Battle
Ōkubo Tadachika (1553-1628) was born in Mikawa Province in 1553, the eldest son of Ōkubo Tadayo, a senior retainer of the Matsudaira (Tokugawa) house. Around 1563 he entered the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu, made a successful first battle at the assault on Horikawa Castle, and is said to have protected Ieyasu to the last at the Battle of Mikatagahara in 1572.
Rise in the Early Tokugawa Regime
Following the Honnōji Incident of 1582, he accompanied Ieyasu on the "Iga Crossing" as Ieyasu fled from Sakai in Izumi to Mikawa, and afterwards he devoted himself to administering the domains seized during the pacification of Kai and Shinano. He also took part in the Siege of Odawara in 1590, and after the pacification of the Kantō he was granted 20,000 koku in Musashi Province. Appointed karō attached to Tokugawa Hidetada, his holdings doubled to 65,000 koku in 1594 upon inheriting the family headship, and he is said to have held a position that could be called the first de facto rōjū (senior councillor) of the shogunate.
As Lord of Odawara
In the Keichō era he held Odawara Domain in Sagami with 65,000 koku (one theory holds that this was increased further), and under Hidetada he took part at the core of shogunal government. He is said to have been fond of shōgi, and an anecdote survives that when he was informed of his attainder he asked to be allowed to finish the game he had begun. (This is an anecdote handed down as tradition, and its historicity cannot be affirmed.)
Attainder and Later Life
In the 12th month of Keichō 18 (early 1614) Tadachika was ordered to travel to Kyoto to suppress Christianity. In the 1st month of Keichō 19 (1614), while he was in Kyoto carrying out that task, he was suddenly stripped of his lands and exiled to Ōmi Province. As background to his attainder, a conspiracy theory involving his political rivals Honda Masanobu and his son Masazumi has long been discussed, but Masanobu himself is also said to have looked favorably on Tadachika, and no settled account exists. Tadachika took holy orders in Ōmi and died there in 1628 at the age of 75.
Legacy
Ōkubo Tadachika is remembered for a career of striking contrasts: a senior retainer who supported the Tokugawa regime in both administrative and military affairs from its founding years, yet who was removed from the political stage by a sudden attainder late in life. His rise and fall are often described in contrast, and he is frequently discussed in early modern historical studies as one of the representative military commanders of the founding generation of Tokugawa retainers.