Tadahiro Kato

Japanese: 加藤忠広 - かとう・ただひろ

Year of death: 1653.8.1
Year of birth: 1601
A feudal lord in the early Edo period. Lord of the Kumamoto domain. The third son of Kato Kiyomasa (the eldest and second sons died young). His childhood name was Toranosuke, and he later became known as Higo no Kami. In 1611, when Kiyomasa died suddenly, Kato inherited the 540,000 koku Kumamoto domain in Higo Province at the age of 11. During the Siege of Osaka in 1619 and 1620, Kato was kept in his home province because he was a feudal lord under the patronage of Toyotomi. However, there were those who supported Osaka, and rifts arose within the Kato family, which developed into factional conflicts within the family, leading to a situation where the shogunate had to make a ruling in 1618. In this incident, the senior retainers were punished, but Tadahiro was pardoned because he was young. In June 1632, Tadahiro was declared deprived of his title by the shogunate and exiled to Dewa Shonai, and his eldest son Mitsuhiro was also exiled to Hida Province. This is based on the idea that Mitsuhiro wrote a secret letter during the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu's visit to Nikko, stating that he was plotting to assassinate Iemitsu with the senior councilor Doi Toshikatsu as the mastermind. This incident was believed to have been a plot by the Shogunate to eliminate outside daimyo, but recent research has led to a positive acceptance of the existence of Mitsuhiro's secret letter. <References>Kasatani Kazuhiko, "Political Structure of Early Modern Samurai Society"

(Kazuhiko Kasaya)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：承応2.閏6.8(1653.8.1)
生年：慶長6(1601)
江戸前期の大名。熊本藩主。加藤清正の3男(長男,次男は早世)。幼名虎之助,のち肥後守を称す。慶長16(1611)年に清正が急死したために,11歳の幼少で肥後国熊本藩54万石を継いだ。同19,20年の大坂の陣では加藤が豊臣恩顧の大名であることから国元に止めおかれた。しかし大坂方に心を寄せる者などもあって加藤家内部に亀裂が生じ,これが家中の派閥抗争に発展して,元和4(1618)年には幕府の裁定を受ける事態となった。この事件では老臣たちが処分を受けたが,忠広は年少のゆえをもって許された。寛永9(1632)年6月,忠広は幕府から改易の宣告を受けて出羽庄内に流され,嫡子光広も飛騨国へ配流となった。これは将軍徳川家光の日光社参のおりに,老中土井利勝を首謀者として家光暗殺を企てる旨の密書を,光広が発したとされることに基づくものである。この事件は,幕府が外様大名取り潰しの謀略に出たものであると信じられてきたが,近年の研究では光広の密書の実在性が肯定的に受け止められるに至っている。<参考文献>笠谷和比古『近世武家社会の政治構造』

(笠谷和比古)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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