Ise Sadamasa

• Born: 1570
• Died: 1641
• Japanese: 伊勢 貞昌 (Ise Sadamasa)

Ise Sadamasa was an early Edo period karô (House Elder) in service to the Shimazu clan of Satsuma han.

He was named karô in 1611, and in 1624 was appointed to be based in Edo and to be responsible for negotiations with the various daimyô houses on behalf of the Shimazu.

Documents composed by Sadamasa in the 1630s are the earliest known surviving records indicating that Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori granted the Shimazu authority over the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1441. On account of the absence of any records of this prior to the 17th century, most historians today consider this Ashikaga granting of authority over Ryukyu to the Shimazu to be aprocryphal.

References

• Kido Hironari, Kinsei Nichiryû kankei no keisei, Nagoya University Press (2023), pp33, 250-253.