Okudaira Iemasa (奥平家昌)
Iemasa OKUDAIRA (1577 - November 11, 1614) was a busho (Japanese military commander) and a daimyo (Japanese feudal lord) who lived from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the early Edo period. He was the lord of the Utsunomiya Domain, Shimotsuke Province (the 26th lord of Utsunomiya-jo Castle).
He was the eldest son of Nobumasa OKUDAIRA, the lord of the Kano Domain, Mino Province. His mother was Kame-hime (Seitokuin), the eldest daughter of Ieyasu TOKUGAWA. His lawful wife was Homyoin, the second daughter of Tadakatsu HONDA. His children were: Tadamasa OKUDAIRA (the eldest son) and Bin hime (adopted by Hidetada TOKUGAWA and became the lawful wife of Tadaharu HORIO). Both were the real children of his lawful wife from the Honda clan. He was awarded the official rank of Junior Forth Rank, Lower Grade and appointed as the Master of the Palace Table and served as a chamberlain.
Upon genpuku (to celebrate one's coming of age), he was given one character from the name of Ieyasu for his new name Iemasa. For Ieyasu, Iemasa was not only a grandchild from a daughter married into another family, but also the eldest grandson (he was older than his uncle Hidetada), so Ieyasu treated Iemasa preferentially and gave him swords and hawks.
On March 10, 1601, his father Nobumasa was awarded 100,000 koku in the Kano Domain, Mino Province in recognition of his public safety operation in Kyoto after the victory of the Battle of Sekigahara. Therefore, his parents left Iemasa in Miyazaki, Kozuke Province for the appointed place with his younger brother Tadamasa OKUDAIRA. On February 19, 1602, subsequently to his father, he was awarded 100,000 koku in the Utsunomiya Domain, Shimotsuke Province, which was an strategic point in the Northern Kanto, and entered the domain on March 18, 1602. After that, he devoted himself to develop the castle town of the Utsunomiya Domain. On November 17, 1611, his lawful wife from the Honda clan (supposedly Mori hime) died.
After transferred to Utsunomiya, he strongly felt that the vassal system that had continued from the time in Mikawa does not work any longer, so he carried out reforms in the senior vassal system. In the Okudaira family, the senior vassals from 12 families, who worked hard for Iemasa's father Nobumasa in the Battle of Nagashino, were called "Shichizoku goro." Although they were rear vassals of Ieyasu, they received an expression of recognition for their efforts directly from Ieyasu after the victory in the Battle of Nagashino, and further won an endorsement of kind treatment for their descendants. The total of 12 families were collectively called "Shichizoku goro," including the initial seven families that were unable to succeed the main family and thus supported the main family as branch families, being in charge of military affairs, and five families served as small feudal lords selected as senior vassals in charge of governmental affairs.
After the maelstrom of war was over with the transition to peaceful rule, the burdens of military affairs on Shichizoku goro were reduced while the burdens of governmental affairs dramatically increased. Accordingly, Iemasa merged the seven vassal families with the five main retainer families and named them "Taishinshu" (literally, people of high rank), and decided that five or six families out of twelve families alternately attend to governmental affairs every month; 12 families cooperatively deal with emergency situations. Those 12 families were not equally ranked and their salaries were determined according to their ranks; two families in leading positions were paid not less than 2,000 koku (1,000 koku was paid for the lowest ranking family). Only the families in the leading positions, the Yamazaki family and the Shoda family, were permitted to build their houses inside the Ote-mon Gate.
Iemasa had his father's bravery, but he suffered from a disease when ordered to send troops to the Winter Siege of Osaka in the Siege of Osaka on November 7, 1614, so he did not participate in the expedition. While exempted from dispatching the troops three days later on the 9th, he was ordered to serve as rusuiyaku (a person representing the master during his absence) at Honmaru (the keep of a castle) of Edo-jo Castle with Tadamasa TORII. However, he died at the young age of 38 before his parents the next day on the 10th. His posthumous Buddhist name was Rokutsu inden tengan doko daizenjomon. He was buried at Kozen-ji Temple (Utsunomiya City) in the Utsunomiya Domain. It is said that he enjoyed playing the Kotsuzumi (a small hand drum).