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Matsudaira Sadanobu




Sadanobu, grandson of the famous Tokugawa Yoshimune , was born into the Tayasu house, one of the "Three Lords" houses of the Tokugawa house whose sole purpose was to provide an heir should the main shogunal line fail. His family's efforts to place Sadanobu as the next heir were thwarted at every turn by the political clique of Tanuma Okitsugu , who was then in power. Sadanobu was then adopted by the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira, ruling house of Shirakawa han. After several years which saw him work ceaselessly to fix the economic situation in Shirakawa, he was named chief councilor of the Shogunate. This period of Sadanobu's strengthening of the already faltering Tokugawa regime is known as the Kansei Reforms.

Sadanobu was also known as a writer and a moralist. For more information on Matsudaira Sadanobu, see the book "Charismatic Bureaucrat," by Herman Ooms.