Matsudaira Shigetomi

was the 12th daimyō of Fukui Domain under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate in Echizen Province. He ruled Fukui for 41 years, the longest of any daimyō of Fukui Domain. Biography Shigetomi was born in Edo as the third son of Tokugawa Munetada, founder of the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa family, one of the Gosankyō, the three lesser branches of the Tokugawa clan. His childhood name was Senchiyō (仙千代) later become Sennosuke (仙之助). On the death of his elder half-brother, Matsudaira Shigemasa of Fukui Domain in 1758, he was posthumously adopted as heir and became daimyō. In 1760 he underwent the genpuku ceremony and received a character from Shōgun Tokugawa Ieshige’s name to become Matsudaira Shigetomi. During his tenure, he attempted to make fiscal reforms; however, damage caused by heavy snow, fires, windstorms, flood and epidemics in consecutive years thwarted his efforts, and the domain’s finances continued to deteriorate. Shigetomi was also accustomed to a luxurious lifestyle from his youth in the Hitotsubashi household. As revenues ran out, he imposed special taxes on the rice merchants to maintain these luxuries. This resulted in higher rice prices and great public dissatisfaction, cumulating in a massive riot in Fukui in 1768. Unable to suppress the rebellion, the domain officials were forced to agree to public demands, and to dispose of corrupt officials and merchants.