Ii Naokatsu

Who They Were

Ii Naokatsu (井伊直勝) was a samurai and daimyō — a territorial lord — who served the Tokugawa clan during the closing years of the Azuchi–Momoyama period and the first decades of the Edo period. He was born in 1590, the eldest son of Ii Naomasa, one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's most celebrated commanders, and Tobai-in. Through his father he inherited headship of the Ii family, one of the houses most closely bound to the Tokugawa rise to power.

Naokatsu is also recorded under the name Ii Naotsugu, and his childhood name was Manchiyo (万千代). He held the position of daimyō and is remembered less for battlefield command than for the administrative and dynastic turns of his career: completing Hikone Castle, governing Annaka Domain, and eventually yielding the Ii family headship to his younger brother.

Life and Career

Naokatsu succeeded to headship of the Ii family following his father's death in 1602, when he was still a boy of about twelve. Under orders from Tokugawa Ieyasu, he completed construction of Hikone Castle in 1606 and then moved there from Sawayama Castle once the new stronghold was largely finished. The transfer fixed the Ii family's seat at Hikone, in Ōmi Province, where it would remain for the rest of the Edo period.

In 1614, illness kept Naokatsu from taking the field. He sent his younger brother Ii Naotaka to fight in the Siege of Osaka, the campaign that destroyed the Toyotomi house and ended the last serious military challenge to Tokugawa rule. Naokatsu himself was assigned to Annaka Domain, where he carried out security duty in the Kantō region.

After the siege, Tokugawa Ieyasu rewarded Naotaka with the headship of the Ii family and permitted Naokatsu to establish a branch family with holdings at Annaka in Kōzuke Province, assessed at 30,000 koku — a measure of rice yield that served as the standard gauge of a domain's wealth and rank. Naokatsu retired in 1632, passing headship of the branch to his son Naoshige. He died in Ōmi Province on August 24, 1662.

Why They Matter

Naokatsu's career sits at the hinge between the Ii family's military heyday and its long institutional role under the Tokugawa shogunate. His father, Naomasa, had been one of the so-called Four Heavenly Kings of Tokugawa Ieyasu; Naokatsu inherited that prestige but not the same scope of command. The 1606 completion of Hikone Castle gave the family a permanent administrative and military centre, and Hikone became one of the most important castles of the Edo order.

The 1614 reassignment is the decisive episode. By sending Naotaka to Osaka in his place and remaining behind on security duty, Naokatsu effectively watched the family's senior line pass to his younger brother. The Ii house continued under Naotaka's descendants as lords of Hikone, while Naokatsu founded a cadet branch at Annaka. That split shaped the family's structure for the remainder of the Tokugawa period.

The Name in Japanese

The name is written 井伊直勝. It is read in kana as いい なおかつ, and romanised as Ii Naokatsu. The family name comes first, as is standard in Japanese.

• 井 — read i here. The character depicts a well, the kind dug for water. It is the first element of the surname.
• 伊 — read i here. Originally a character used to transcribe foreign sounds; in this surname it pairs with 井 to form the two-character family name 井伊.
• 直 — read nao here. It carries senses of straightness, honesty, and directness, and it is a common element in samurai personal names.
• 勝 — read katsu here. It means victory or to win.

Together, 井伊 is the surname and 直勝 is the given name. The reading of the given name, Naokatsu, combines the nao of 直 with the katsu of 勝. Japanese personal names of this period frequently drew on such auspicious or virtuous characters, and 勝 — victory — was a natural choice in a warrior house.

Two further names belong to the same person. The alternative adult name Ii Naotsugu shares the 直 of Naokatsu but replaces 勝 with a different final character. The childhood name Manchiyo (万千代) follows the customary pattern of a name used before a boy's coming-of-age ceremony, when he would receive his adult name.

Legacy

Naokatsu's direct legacy was the branch family he founded at Annaka in Kōzuke Province, holding 30,000 koku. He led it until his retirement in 1632, when his son Naoshige took over. His descendants were moved several times before their holdings settled at Itoigawa, in Echigo Province.

The senior Ii line, meanwhile, passed through Naotaka and remained at Hikone. Naokatsu's place in the record therefore rests on two things: the castle he finished at Hikone in 1606, which became the seat of one of the great Tokugawa-era domains, and the 1614 division of the family that separated the Hikone main line from the Annaka branch. He died in Ōmi Province on August 24, 1662.