was a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Iori was an adopted son of legendary ronin

Miyamoto Musashi , was a Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist, and writer who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 62 duels. Miyamoto is considered a ''Kensei (honorary title), kensei'' (swo ...

Early life

Iori was the adopted son of

. He was adopted at the age of 11 by the master swordsman in 1623, when his adoptive father was 39 and living in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

. The genealogy of Iori's grandson states that Iori was Musashi's nephew from his eldest brother.

Career

Iori was a vassal of Ogasawara Tadazane, a Japanese samurai ''

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 early

. Iori's rise under Ogasawara's service was exceptionally fast. Iori entered at age 15 as a page and soon after, he became an official vassal. By 1632, Iori received 2500 koku and became one of Ogasawara's principal vassals. By 1638, his salary was increased by 1500 koku because of his efforts during the siege of Shimabara. At only 26, he had become Ogasawara's highest ranked vassal.

Early life

Career

References

Further reading