Matsudaira Masachika

Matsudaira Masachika (松平 昌親, 31 May 1640 – 23 October 1711) was a Japanese daimyō of the Edo period. He was the head of the Fukui Domain from 1674 to 1676 and also from 1686 to 1711.

Masachika was born on May 31, 1640, the 5th son of Matsudaira Tadamasa. In 1645, when his brother Mitsumichi succeeded their father as lord of Fukui, Masachika received 25,000 koku of land and became the lord of the new Yoshie Domain. After his brother's suicide in 1674, he became lord of Fukui. His brother had left a written will stating that Masachika was to be heir; however, Mitsumichi had an illegitimate son by the name of Matsudaira Masakatsu, and so a succession dispute arose. It was only settled when the Karō Ashida Zusho produced Mitsumichi's will and submitted it to the shogunate for its mediation. The shogunate ruled that Masachika was to be heir. At this time, the Yoshie Domain was terminated, and its territory reabsorbed into the main Fukui landholdings.

However, despite this settlement, there were many in the domain who remained unhappy with Masachika's succession, and so, after only two years as lord, he resigned in favor of Masakatsu's son Tsunamasa.

Tsunemasa was the sixth daimyō of Fukui Domain.

Tsunamasa proved to be a cruel lord, going on rampages and even killing retainers. Consequently, the shogunate confiscated the Fukui landholdings and terminated the domain. However, as Fukui was a famed domain founded by Yūki Hideyasu, special consideration was given. The domain was restored, and Masachika, the previous lord, was allowed to resume headship. Upon his return to headship, he changed his name Yoshinori (吉品).

In 1686, the han was reduced from 475,000 koku to 250,000 koku.

As Matsudaira Yoshinori, he is famous for having been the man who formally gave his domain the name "Fukui." Though the domain is retroactively called "Fukui" from Hideyasu's time on, its name was actually Kitanoshō (the same domain ruled by Shibata Katsuie a century before) until Yoshinori's tenure.

Though Yoshinori had initially adopted an heir from the Mōri clan of Chōshū by the name of Matsudaira Masakata, there was opposition from the retainers, and so he "divorced" Masakata and instead adopted Matsudaira Yoshikuni, Masakatsu's 6th son, as his heir.

Masachika died in 1711 at age 72, and has two graves; one in Fukui and one in Edo (Tokyo).