Honda Masazumi

Japanese: 本多正純 - ほんだ・まさずみ

Year of death: March 10, 1637 (April 5, 1637)
Year of birth: 1565
A Shogunate elder in the early Edo period. Masanobu's eldest son. Known as Yahachiro. From an early age, he worked day and night alongside Tokugawa Ieyasu. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he was entrusted with Ishida Mitsunari. In May 1617, he was appointed Kozuke no Suke. When Ieyasu moved to Sunpu in 1619, Masazumi followed him and, as the brains behind the Sunpu administration, he was involved in all areas from foreign affairs to domestic affairs, and worked with his father, who was a elder under Hidetada, to wield great influence. Around 1720, he was given 33,000 koku in Koyama, Shimotsuke, and other areas. In 1736, Okubo Tadachika, a member of the clan's clan, was stripped of his title, apparently because he had lost a power struggle with the Honda father and son. After the peace treaty following the Winter Siege, he was in charge of filling in the outer moat of Osaka Castle, even filling in the inner moat, and when an emissary from Osaka came to protest, he claimed to be ill and did not meet them. When Ieyasu died in 1616, he worked with Todo Takatora to build Nikko Toshogu Shrine. He also served as a elder under Hidetada's administration. He was given an additional five years' stipend and became the lord of Utsunomiya Domain in Shimotsuke Province (Tochigi Prefecture) with a fief of 155,000 koku. In October of the 8th year, when Mogami Yoshitoshi's fief was confiscated, he was dispatched to Yamagata, Dewa Province, to receive the castle, but was informed at his post that he too would be stripped of his title and exiled to Yuri, Dewa Province. He was offered a bribe of 55,000 koku at this time, but refused. According to Hidetada, Masazumi's behavior was "badly in service," and he was criticized for threatening Hidetada by saying, "If Masazumi is demoted, about 10 of the outside feudal lords will have to shave their heads," in order to dissuade him from demoting Fukushima Masanori, the lord of Aki-Hiroshima Domain, in relation to castle repairs in 1620. The "Utsunomiya Tsuri Tenjo Incident," a plot to assassinate Hidetada, is a myth, but Hidetada hurried through Utsunomiya on his way back from a pilgrimage to Nikko that year and had his aides inspect Utsunomiya Castle, which is a fact that he aroused suspicion. In 1624, he was given a stipend of 1,000 koku and moved to Osawa in the same province, and in 1624, he was entrusted to Satake Yoshinobu and lived in Yokote, where he died. He was buried at Shoheiji Temple. His wife was the daughter of Sakai Shigetada. <References> Tamotsu Fujino, "Research on the revised history of the shogunate-han system," Shosaku Takagi, "Research on the history of the Japanese early modern state"

(Hirofumi Yamamoto)

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

Japanese:

没年：寛永14.3.10(1637.4.5)
生年：永禄8(1565)
江戸初期の幕府年寄。正信の長男。通称弥八郎。幼少時から徳川家康のそばに日夜勤仕。慶長5(1600)年関ケ原の戦後,石田三成を預けられる。6年5月上野介に叙任。12年家康が駿府に移ると,正純も従い,いわゆる駿府政権のブレーンとして外交から内政まであらゆる分野に関与し,秀忠付きの年寄である父と連携して権勢をふるった。10年ごろ,下野小山などで3万3000石。19年門閥譜代の大久保忠隣の改易は,本多父子との権力抗争に敗れたためといわれる。冬の陣の講和後,大坂城の総堀の埋め立てを奉行し,内堀までをも埋めさせ,大坂方の使者が抗議にきても病気と称して会わなかったという。元和2(1616)年家康が死ぬと,藤堂高虎と共に日光東照宮の造営を奉行した。秀忠政権下でも年寄として活動。5年加増され,下野国(栃木県)宇都宮藩主となり,15万5000石を領す。 8年10月,最上義俊が領地を没収されたとき,城受取りのため出羽山形に派遣され,任地において自身も改易の処分を伝えられ,出羽由利に配流された。このとき5万5000石の賄料を与えるとの内示があったが固辞。秀忠の言によれば,正純の行動は「日頃御奉公悪しく」とのことで,元和5年の城修築をめぐる安芸広島藩主福島正則の処分に当たり,「正則を改易に処すると,外様大名のうち10人ばかりが頭を剃ることになる」と秀忠を脅迫して改易を思いとどめさせようとしたことなどが咎められた。秀忠暗殺計画である「宇都宮釣り天井事件」は俗説であるが,秀忠はこの年の日光社参の帰途,宇都宮を急ぎ通過し,側近に宇都宮城の検分をさせており,疑いを持たれたことは事実である。9年1000石の賄料を与えられ,同国大沢に移り,寛永1(1624)年,佐竹義宣に預けられ横手に住し,同地にて死去。正平寺に葬られる。室は酒井重忠の娘。<参考文献>藤野保『新訂幕藩体制史の研究』,高木昭作『日本近世国家史の研究』

(山本博文)

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