Tadaaki Abe

Japanese: 阿部忠秋 - あべ・ただあき

Year of death: May 3, 1675 (June 25, 1675)
Year of birth: July 19, 1602 (September 4, 1602)
He was a kinju shutoin (attendant), senior councilor, and lord of Shimotsuke Mibu (Mibu Town, Tochigi Prefecture) and Musashi Shinobu Domain (Gyoda City) in the early Edo period. Bungo no Kami. The eldest son of the hatamoto Abe Tadakichi. His mother was the daughter of Matsudaira Yasutaka. Born in Edo. He served Tokugawa Iemitsu from an early age, and rose through the ranks while serving as a meal attendant and a page group head clerk. In 1626 (Kan'ei 3), he was given 10,000 koku. In 1627 (Kan'ei 6), he was given 15,000 koku. In 1628 (Kan'ei 7), he was appointed to the Rokkuninshu (Six Men) along with Matsudaira Nobutsuna and his cousin Abe Shigetsugu, and participated in the shogunate as a kinju shutoin. After that, he gradually put aside the senior councilors who had been in place since Hidetada, such as Doi Toshikatsu, and worked hard to establish Iemitsu's government, becoming a central figure in the shogunate. In the same year, he was made a senior councilor, and in 1639 (Kan'ei 8), he became the lord of Mibu Domain with a grant of 25,000 koku, and in October of the same year, he was promoted to a senior councilor, a position he held for the next 31 years. In 1640 (Kan'ei 9), he was transferred to Shinobu with a grant of 50,000 koku. Around this time, senior councilors of Iemitsu's government entered castles around Edo, and established a system whereby they supported the shogunate both politically and militarily. In 1647, he was given 60,000 koku. In 1650, he served as tutor to Ietsuna. When Iemitsu died the following year, he supported Matsudaira Nobutsuna and the young Shogun Ietsuna and ran the shogunate. However, Sakai Tadakiyo and other members of the hereditary clan advanced into the shogunate, and he was gradually forced to change the political ideals that had been in place since Iemitsu, and when his ally Matsudaira Nobutsuna died in 1662, he became isolated within the shogunate. The following year, he was given 80,000 koku, but in 1663 he was excused from service due to old age and illness, and in 1664 he resigned as senior councilor. In 1665 he retired from service and handed over the family headship to his adopted son, Masayoshi. After his death, he left a will to have a portion of his bones buried next to Iemitsu's mausoleum in Nikko. He was well-liked for his honest and sincere personality, having raised a foundling child and protected ronin. He is often compared to the brilliant Matsudaira Nobutsuna, and there are many anecdotes in which he scolds Nobutsuna. <Works> "Sekigahara Chronicle" <References> Ryosho Hayashi, "Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Abe Tadaaki" ("Daimyo Retsuden" Volume 6), Naohiro Asao, "The Power Structure of Shogun Politics" ("Iwanami Lecture Series on Japanese History" Volume 10), "History of Saitama Prefecture" General History Volume 3, Joji Fujii, "Research on the Process of Formation of the Elders' System of the Edo Shogunate"

(Negishi Shigeo)

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

Japanese:

没年：延宝3.5.3(1675.6.25)
生年：慶長7.7.19(1602.9.4)
江戸前期の近習出頭人,老中,下野壬生(栃木県壬生町),武蔵忍藩(行田市)藩主。豊後守。旗本阿部忠吉の長男。母は松平康高の娘。江戸生まれ。幼少から徳川家光に仕え,膳番,小姓組番頭などを歴任しながら出世。寛永3(1626)年には1万石。同6年に1万5000石。10年松平信綱や従兄の阿部重次らと六人衆に任命され,近習出頭人として幕政に参画,以後次第に土井利勝ら秀忠以来の老中を棚上げしながら,家光政権の確立に尽力,幕政の中心的存在となる。同年老中並,12年壬生藩主となり2万5000石,同年10月老中に進み後31年間在任。同16年忍に移封5万石。この前後に江戸周辺の城に家光政権の老中らが入城,彼らが政治的にも軍事的にも幕府を支える体制を確立。正保4(1647)年6万石。慶安3(1650)年家綱の傅役。翌年家光が死去すると,松平信綱と幼少の将軍家綱をもり立て幕政を運営。しかし酒井忠清ら門閥譜代層が幕政に進出し,次第に家光以来の政治理念の変更を余儀なくされ,寛文2(1662)年僚友の松平信綱が死去すると幕閣内で孤立。翌年8万石となるが,5年老病との理由から勤務を免除され,翌6年老中を辞職。11年致仕して養子の正能に家督を譲る。死後,遺言して日光の家光廟の脇に分骨を埋葬。捨子を育てたり牢人を保護するなど,清廉篤実な人柄で人望が厚かった。才気走った松平信綱とよく比較され,信綱をたしなめる逸話が多い。<著作>『関ケ原記』<参考文献>林亮勝「松平信綱と阿部忠秋」(『大名列伝』6巻),朝尾直弘「将軍政治の権力構造」(『岩波講座日本歴史』10巻),『埼玉県史』通史編3,藤井譲治『江戸幕府老中制形成過程の研究』

(根岸茂夫)

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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