, Japanese daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

of the early Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 who was a key figure in the early decades of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

.

Origins

The rise of Hotta Masamori through the ranks of the Tokugawa shogunate is a rather miraculous one; his family had a very short history with the Tokugawa family prior to his father Masayoshi's generation. Masayoshi was granted a 700 koku stipend and his house instituted as a hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

 family, following his and his ancestors' service with a variety of other clans, among them the Oda

Oda clan

The was a family of Japanese daimyo who were to become an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they had the climax of their fame under Oda Nobunaga and fell from the spotlight soon after, several branches of the family would continue on as daimyo...

, Toyotomi

Toyotomi clan

Originating in Owari Province, the served as retainers to the Oda clan throughout 16th-century Japan's Sengoku period. -Unity and Conflict:The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan." Oda Nobunaga was another primary unifier and the...

, Maeda

Maeda clan

The was a branch of the Sugawara clan who descended from Sugawara no Kiyotomo and Sugawara no Michizane in the eighth and ninth centuries. It was one of the most powerful samurai families in Japan and they were second only to the Tokugawa clan in rice production and fief size...

, and Kobayakawa

Kobayakawa clan

The Kobayakawa clan was a samurai clan of Japan's Sengoku period, whose holdings were in Kyūshū, the southernmost of Japan's main islands. Members of the Kobayakawa family served under the Mōri clan, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi...

. Thanks to his distinction at the Osaka Winter Campaign

Siege of Osaka

The was a series of battles undertaken by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages , and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment...

, Masayoshi was granted an increase in stipend to 1000 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

, and the family was at this level of income when Masamori succeeded his father as the family head.

Service in the Shogunate

The early period of Masamori's rise in the ranks can be ascribed to his relation to Kasuga no Tsubone, the Shogun Iemitsu

Tokugawa Iemitsu

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651.-Early life :...

's wetnurse. Because of this connection, he was close to the Shogun, and this was to open the doors wide for his future success. In Kan'ei 3, he received his first posting, as a captain of the page corps (koshōgumi-bangashira). His income subsequently rose to the range of 5000 koku, and an additional 5000 koku granted that year, he entered the ranks of the fudai daimyo with the income of 10,000 koku.

On the 23rd day of the 3rd month of Kan'ei 10 (1633), he was appointed a member of the rokunin-shu (what became the wakadoshiyori

Wakadoshiyori

The ', or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in 17th century Tokugawa Japan. The position was established around 1631, but appointments were irregular until 1662....

 council) together with Matsudaira Nobutsuna, and was granted another 5000 koku, together with the ranking that came with being a castle lord.

Masamori was subsequently shown great favor by Iemitsu, who promoted him to Rōjū

Roju

The ', usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Rōjū...

 on the 1st day of the 3rd month of Kan'ei 12 (1635). His income rose to 1000,000 koku, and he was granted the fief of Matsumoto han, in Shinano Province

Shinano Province

or is an old province of Japan that is now present day Nagano Prefecture.Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces...

. In 1642 he was moved to Sakura han in Shimotsuke Province

Shimotsuke Province

is an old province of Japan in the area of Tochigi Prefecture in the Kanto region. It was sometimes called or .The ancient capital of the province was near the city of Tochigi, but in feudal times the main center of the province was near the modern capital, Utsunomiya.-History:Different parts of...

, where his family remained enfeoffed at 110,000 koku for the remainder of the Edo period. Masamori committed junshi

Junshi

, refers to the medieval Japanese act of vassals committing seppuku upon the death of their lord...

(suicide after the death of one's lord) in 1651, at the age of 44.
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