Wada Masanobu (和田正信)
Masanobu WADA (date of birth unknown - 1616) was a samurai (warrior) who lived from the Azuchi-momoyama period to the early Edo period. His father was Nobutada WADA, and his younger brother was Shobei WADA.
His common name was Fuhyoe, and his official rank was Iki no kami (governor of Iki Province.)
The lineage of the Wada family included in "Inpuroku" (local history record of Inpu) represents his name as Nobunari.
Career
Masanobu succeeded to the WADA family headship in 1592 upon the death of his father Nobutada. He served Terumasa IKEDA, and in August 1600, he joined the troops to attack Gifu-jo Castle and achieved a feat in the battle. When his lord Terumasa IKEDA was awarded the territory of 520,000 koku (crop yields of rice per year of the estate) and became the castellan of Himeji-jo Castle located in Harima Province after the Battle of Sekigahara, Masanobu was given karoku (hereditary stipend) of 4,600 koku. In 1603, he accompanied a still young Tadatsugu IKEDA to Okayama Domain, Bizen Province as Tadatsugu was assigned to become the lord of Okayama feudal clan; he was promoted to Karo (chief retainer) of the Okayama feudal clan and administered the affairs. He died in 1616, and his homyo (a posthumous Buddhist name) is Sokoin. His year of death is referred to "Inpunenpyo" (Timeline of Inaba Province); however, there is a different description retarding his year of death that he died in the first year of Kanei era according to the Chakuzakaden (hereditary records of deputy of chief retainer) included in "Tottori han shi" (the history of Tottori Domain). Since Masanobu did not have any biological child, he adopted Tadamasa WADA, the third son of Narifusa ARAO, and handed over the headship of the family to Tadamasa.