was a high-ranking government official in Japan under

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who acted as his political adviser and was at the ...

and Ietsuna, the third and fourth Tokugawa Shōgun. As the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of the Oshi Domain in modern-day

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

, with an income of 80,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' (earlier 50,000), Abe was appointed '' wakadoshiyori'' (junior councillor) in 1633,Though Frederic gives 1663 as the date for this event, Sansom gives 1633, which seems more likely given the context and the other events and actions of his life. and '' rōjū'' (Elder Councillor) shortly afterwards. Iemitsu died in 1651 and was succeeded by his ten-year-old son Ietsuna. In accordance with the custom of '' junshi'', a number of Iemitsu's closest retainers and advisors committed suicide so as to follow their lord in death; Abe did not engage in this practice, and was left, along with a handful of other high-ranking officials and advisors, to handle the affairs of government. Especially remembered for his integrity, high morals, and practical sense of good government, Abe Tadaaki is known for his attempts to find employment for a number of samurai who became ''

rōnin In feudal Japan to early modern Japan (1185–1868), a ''rōnin'' ( ; , , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a ''rō ...

'' in the wake of the Keian Uprising, a ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

'' which failed to be executed that same year, just after Iemitsu's death. While other government ministers reacted to the uprising with the instinctive desire to expel all ''rōnin'' from Edo (the shogunal capital; today

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

), Abe thought it more pertinent to take a somewhat softer tack, aiding the rōnin in seeking legitimate employment, and thus drastically reducing the number who would have reason to take up arms against the shogunate. Several years before Tadaaki's death in 1671, Sakai Tadakiyo was appointed head of the council of ''rōjū''; Tadaaki constantly rebuked Sakai for his poor sense of proper policy, and his laidback nature. He accused Sakai of taking bribes, and of handling situations on a case-by-case basis, without any sense of overall policy or progress towards a goal. Nevertheless, after thirty-eight years of loyal service to the shogunate, Tadaaki died aged 69, leaving the government in the hands of the likes of those whose policies (or dire lack thereof) would lead over the course of several decades to the Genroku period (1688–1704), which saw a peak in corruption, hedonism, and wastefulness.

Notes

References

*Frederic, Louis (2002). ''Japan Encyclopedia''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. *Sansom, George (1963). ''A History of Japan: 1615–1867''. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Abe, Tadaaki Rōjū Daimyo 1602 births 1671 deaths Nobility from Tokyo