Fudai Daimyo (譜代大名)
Fudai daimyo were a class of daimyo (Japanese feudal lords) in the Edo period defined according to their ancestry.
Originally called 'fudai-no-shin (hereditary vassals),' fudai daimyo were daimyo who had been vassals of the Tokugawa clan for generations (the reason these daimyo were given this name was that a fudai, which can be written as 譜第 or 譜代 in Japanese, is a written genealogy proving one's ancestry), and were involved in all aspects of managing their master's affairs, from running his household to the supervision of estates and commerce within his territory. Fudai daimyo had a strong vassal relationship with their master, so they were often reproached if they switched allegiance to a new master in the event of their master losing power.
Summary
The origin of fudai daimyo comes from the fact that Ieyasu TOKUGAWA, when transferred to Kanto region under the TOYOTOMI regime, granted land to build a castle and a position of daimyo to his major military commanders in the hereditary vassalage, thus making them serve as hanpei (the guarding wall of the sovereign) to support the TOKUGAWA clan. On the other hand, the other vassals were regrouped to be the direct controlled army of the TOKUGAWA clan, thus becoming the roots of the later-established hatamoto (bannermen, or direct retainers of the Shogun, with the privilege to have an audience with the Shogun), gokenin (housemen, or direct retainers of the shogun, without the privilege to have an audience with the Shogun) and early-modern gokenin.
Definition of Fudai Daimyo
Fudai daimyo were the daimyo, whom the TOKUGAWA clan had promoted, except shinpan (TOKUGAWA's blood relatives), tozama daimyo and their branch domains (branch families).
Fudai daimyo were the daimyo, whom the TOKUGAWA clan had promoted from among the TOKUGAWA vassals at the service from before the Battle of Sekigahara (Sekigahara no Kassen).
Fudai daimyo were those who were eligible for a key post of the shogunate.
For hatamoto who were granted a larger stipend to become daimyo or those who were newly promoted by the Shogunate to become daimyo—such as the leaders of the HOTTA, INABA and YANAGISAWA clans and Ujinori ARIMA, all of whom were born baishin (indirect vassals)—the first definition above applies, so they were classified as fudai daimyo. On the other hand, daimyo who belonged to a branch family of tozama daimyo or those who had originally been tozama daimyo but had been stripped of their position, privileges, and property due to a sanction called kaieki and then regained power later, such as Muneshige TACHIBANA and Naoyori SHINJO, were classified as tozama. Families founded by Ieyasu's patrilineal descendants were in principle called shinpan, but not fudai.
Another example shows that, as in the case of the Aizu-Matsudaiara family and the Takatsukasa-Matsudaira family, some families which should have been classified as fudai daimyo could irregularly be classified as shinpan because of being the TOKUGAWA's blood relatives. By contrast, Narihiro HACHISUKA, a biological son of the shogun, was adopted by tozama, and so remained his status. When illegitimate children of Gosanke (the three privileged branches of the TOKUGAWA family including the OWARI, KII and MITO families) and Gosankyo (the three privileged branches of the TOKUGAWA family including the TAYASU, HITOTSUBASHI and SHIMIZU families) were adopted by fudai daimyo, they did not become shinpan in terms of status, but they were often treated as equally well as shinpan.
Besides, some families which were originally tozama daimyo could irregularly be treated as fudai because of blood relationship or great achievements for the shogunate. They were called "negai-fudai (jun-fudai daimyo or quasi fudai daimyo)." Examples of the negai-fudai included the WAKISAKA clan, Naeki domain, the TOZAWA clan, the ARIMA clan, the HORI clan, the SOMA clan, the KATO clan in Yoshiakira KATO's line, and the AKITA clan.
At Edo-jo castle, the aforementioned daimyo attended shikoseki (anteroom seats for feudal lords and direct retainers of the shogun at Edo-jo castle) which were selected in accordance with kakaku (family status), including "tamari-no-ma" chamber, "teikan-no-ma" chamber, "kari-no-ma" chamber, and "kiku-no-ma hiro-en (kiku no ma enkyo)" chamber.
Narrowly-Defined TOKUGAWA Fudai
Narrowly-defined TOKUGAWA fudai consisted of the families that had been in hereditary vassalage to the MATSUDAIRA family, and the families that were promoted by Ieyasu TOKUGAWA.
Those families were further divided according to the length of vassalage period into the 'Anjo fudai (fudai daimyo who had been serving Ieyasu since he was in Anjo castle),' the 'Okazaki-jo fudai (fudai daimyo who had been serving Ieyasu since he was in Okazaki-jo castle)' and the 'Sunpu-jo fudai (fudai daimyo who had been serving Ieyasu since he was in Sunpu-jo castle.'
As the longest-serving fudai, the Anjo fudai were favorably treated at the shikoseki, and in case they should have been sanctioned, their family names were in many cases restored in some form soon. However, Yasunaga ISHIKAWA and Yasukatsu ISHIKAWA of the Anjo-fudai born ISHIKAWA clan ended in tozama daimyo due to their background that they had betrayed Ieyasu once and switched the sides before finally joining the Ieyasu's Eastern Army.
Various Theories of Classifying Fudai
"Ryuei hikan" (a series of books giving an account of political annual events, custom, bylaw, formality, historical events, precedent and ritual complied in the mid-eighteenth century) divided the TOKUGAWA fudai into three groups of the Anjo fudai (consisting of seven families), the Okazaki fudai (consisting of sixteen families) and the Suruga fudai, and later, into four groups with an additional family.
"Mikawa Monogatari (Mikawa Stories)" written by Hikozaemon OKUBO referred to the classification of the fudai into three groups of the Anjo fudai, the Yamanaka fudai and the Okazaki fudai, wherein as with the "Ryuei hikan," the longest-serving Anjo fudai was said to have served Nobumitsu MATSUDAIRA, Chikatada MATSUDAIRA, Nobutada MATSUDAIRA, Kiyoyasu MATSUDAIRA and Hirotada MATSUDAIRA. In addition, the Yamanaka fudai and the Okazaki fudai had entered vassal relationship to the MATSUDAIRA since the time Kiyoyasu had captured Yamanaka-jo Castle and Okazaki-jo Castle to be made his honryo (the main domain).
"Mikawa Go Fudoki (The Topographical Records of Mikawa Province)" had an article under the heading of Kiyoyasu MATSUDAIRA with the description of the 'seven Anjo fudai families or the fudai of Okazaki and Yamanaka.'
Incidentally, other than the above, some studies by the scholars of the later generations occasionally used the terms 'Matsudaira-go (Matsudaira village) fudai' and 'Iwatsu fudai,' but these were not found in either "Ryuei hikan" or "Mikawa Monogatari." Since the parent of the TOKUGAWA family was the ANJO-MATSUDAIRA family, vassals having served the ANJO-MATSUDAIRA family were historically regarded as the longest-serving, who were followed by vassals having served the other cadet branches of the house of MATSUDAIRA. The terms 'Matsudaira-go fudai' and 'Iwatsu fudai' were both newly created by a scholar taking into consideration of the whole Matsudaira clan including the Anjo-Matsudaira family, thereby failing to be a historical term.
The Role of Fudai Daimyo
First, fudai daimyo are characterized by being eligible to an important post of the cabinet officials of the shogunate including the posts of roju (senior councilors in the Edo bakufu) and wakadoshiyori (a managerial position in the Edo bakufu). As the shogunate was supposedly the household manager of the shogun family, there was such a strictly abided unwritten rule that all important posts of the shogunate went to fudai daimyo, except for the cases of the bakumatsu period (the last days of the shogunate) and the Ochi-Matsudaira family. It is a major characteristic of the TOKUGAWA regime to appoint members from shinpan to the posts of the shogunate, and to avoid some powerful tozama daimyo with a large domain from joining the politics of the shogunate as a political adviser.
Some points out that it was an exception that Masayuki HOSHINA served the fourth shogun Ietsuna TOKUGAWA as his koken (the guardian), but this guardianship was unofficial because Masayuki was not appointed to any post of the shogunate.
(A likely explanation is that Masayuki was appointed to the post of tairo or the official post of the shogun's guardian, but this is not applicable to the case of shinpan daimyo becoming a cabinet official of the shogunate, because the Hoshina family, which became the Aizu-Matsudaira family later, was not a shinpan yet at that time.)
Another role of fudai daimyo was to keep a close watch on tozama daimyo. When tozama daimyo and fudai daimyo were stationed in the same province, the fudai daimyo were not required to stay in Edo under the sankin kotai system (the alternate residence system), but instead had to remain at their residence (in their hometown). However, if a tozama daimyo was the 'lord of the province' and possessed the entire province as his fiefdom, a neighboring fudai daimyo or shinpan would perform his role during his absence.
The Eighteen Matsudaira families and the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira
According to the Edo bakufu, when a member from the eighteen Matsudaira families which were Ieyasu TOKUGAWA's patrilineal relatives became daimyo, he was not a 'shinpan' but 'fudai daimyo.'
The eighteen Matsudaira families had had the same roots and split into branches by the time of Kiyoyasu MATSUDAIRA, who was Ieyasu's grandfather.
The Hisamatsu-Matsudaira family of Ieyasu's younger maternal half-brother was, needless to say, a fudai daimyo but not a shinpan. Sadanobu MATSUDAIRA, who was a grandchild of Yoshimune TOKUGAWA, was adopted by the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira family of Shirakawa Domain of Mutsu Province, and therefore, Sadanobu carried out the Kansei Reform as a roju from fudai daimyo.
Among the members of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira family, the family line including the dominant lord of Iyo-Matsuyama Domain of Iyo Province and the lord of Kuwana Domain of Ise Province (who was transferred from Takada han to Shirakawa han temporarily) was fudai daimyo, but treated as shinpan because the both lord's families adopted sons from Munetake TAYASU as their lords, respectively. The other domains related to the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira family (<1. Ogaki Domain of Mino Province => Komoro Domain of Shinano Province => Nasu Domain of Shimotsuke Province=> Nagashima Domain of Ise Province; transfer due to kaieki> 2. Imabari Domain of Iyo Province; 3. Tako Domain of Shimofusa Province had fudai daimyo as their lords.
A List of Fudai Daimyo
The following ordering other than that of the MATSUDAIRA clan complies with "Ryuei hikan":
(See above for a description of Jun-fudai daimyo [not distinguished from fudai in the Edo period].)
Anjo fudai (seven families) - the Sakai clan, the Okubo clan, the Honda clan, the Abe clan (Tokugawa fudai), the Ishikawa clan, the Aoyama clan and the Uemura clan; however, the Osuga, Sakakibara and Hiraiwa clans are occasionally included instead of the Abe, Ishikawa and Aoyama clans. Okazaki fudai (sixteen families) - the Ii clan, the Sakakibara clan, the Torii clan, the Toda clan, the Nagai clan, the Mizuno clan, the Naito clan, the Mikawa-Ando clan, the Kuze clan, the Osuga clan (extinguished), the Inoue clan, the Mikawa-Inoue clan, the Abe clan, the Akimoto clan, the Watanabe clan (Hakata Domain), the Itami clan and the Yashiro clan. Suruga fudai - the Itakura clan, the Ota clan, the Nishio clan, the Tsuchiya clan, the Morikawa clan (Oyumi Domain), the Inaba clan (Masanari INABA's line; Usuki Domain is a tozama), the Todo clan, the Takagi clan (Tannan Domain), the Hotta clan (it seems inappropriate to have this clan listed here as they were originally from Mikawa-shu, i.e. the samurai warriors of Mikawa origin, but the reason is unknown), the Mikawa-Makino clan, the Makino clan to have become fudai daimyo, the Okudaira clan, the Okabe clan (the Southern House of the Fujiwara clan), the Ogasawara clan, the Kutsuki clan, the Suwa clan, the Hoshina clan, the Toki clan, the Toki clan as the lord of Numata Domain, the Mikawa-Inagaki clan, the Niwa clan, the Isshiki-Niwa clan, the Miura clan, the Toyama clan (Naegi Domain), the Kaga clan, the Uchida clan, the Kobori clan, the Saigo clan, the Mikawa-Saigo clan, the Okuda clan, the Mori clan (the Naizen family, extinguished), the Yamaguchi clan (Ushiku Domain), the Yagyu clan, the Hachisuka clan (a branch domain family of Tokushima Domain; an abolished domain) and the Masuyama clan.
Fudai, as from December, 1684 - the Mizutani clan (concurrently appointed so as the Akita, Arima and Soma clans of jun-fudai)
Fudai, in and after the era of Tsunayoshi TOKUGAWA - the Honjo clan
Fudai, in and after the Kyoho era - the Kano clan
Unmentioned in "Ryueihikan" - the Tanuma clan, the Manabe clan, Mikawa-Matsui clan and Yanagisawa clan
The Matsudaira ichimon (family) - the Ogyu-Matsudaira family, the Katahara-Matsudaira family, the Sakurai-Matsudaira family, the Takiwaki-Matsudaira family, the Taketani-Matsudaira family, the Nagasawa-Matsudaira family (the Okochi-Matsudaira family), the Nomi-Matsudaira family, the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira family (except for Iyo-Matsuyama Domain and Ise-Kuwana Domain), the Fukozo-Matsudaira family and the Fujii-Matsudaira family