Shimazu Tadayuki (Sadowara)

• Born: 1797
• Died: 1839/4/7
• Japanese: 島津 忠徹 (Shimazu Tadayuki)

Shimazu Tadayuki was a late Edo period lord of Sadowara han.

Born in 1797 the eldest son of Shimazu Tadamochi, he became lord of Sadowara following his father's retirement in 1816.

He died at Kusatsu-juku (a post-town near Lake Biwa, along the Tôkaidô) in 1839 while on his way to Edo on sankin kôtai. He arrived at the honjin on 4/7 already ill, and despite the attentions of one of his own court physicians, he passed away shortly afterward. Tadayuki had not formally named an heir, however, at this time, since Sakae 左嘉江 - his son with his wife Yori-hime 随姫 (later Zuishin-in 随真院) was only twelve years old and was not yet old enough to be formally named heir. Since shogunate regulations required that an heir be determined while the current lord (i.e. Tadayuki) was still living, his death was hidden from official record for some time, until approval for the designation of the heir was received from the shogunate; this was not uncommon in the Edo period. In the end, Tadayuki was officially recorded as spending 77 nights at the honjin at Kusatsu, though the honjin's internal daifukuchô records describe the reality in detail.

In the end, the young Sakae took over as lord of the domain, taking on the name Shimazu Tadahiro.

References

• Kokushitei shiseki Kusatsu-juku honjin, Kusatsu, Shiga: Shiseki Kusatsujuku honjin (2014), 43.
• Honjin shoku ha tsurai yo, exhibit pamphlet, Kusatsu: Shiseki Kusatsujuku honjin (2020).