Matsudaira Katataka was born to
Matsudaira Yoshikazu, the
daimyō of
Takasu Domain, in
Mino Province, and was the grandson of
Tokugawa Harumori of
Mito Domain. His youth name was Keizaburō (慶三郎). With the unexpected death of
Matsudaira Katahiro without heir following so soon after
Matsudaira Kataoki, the domain was in danger of
attainder. To prevent this, the
rōjū of the domain renamed Keizaburō as "Katataka" and passed him off to the Shogunal authorities as a posthumous son of Matsudaira Kataoki, and thus a younger brother to Katahiro. The ruse worked, and he officially became
daimyō in 1822 with the courtesy title of
Higo-no-kami. This was changed to
Sakonoe-gon-shōshō in 1825 and to
Sakonoe-gon-chūshō in 1827. He was wed to a daughter of
Satake Yoshimasa of
Kubota Domain, and re-wed after her death to a daughter of
Maeda Narinaga of
Kaga Domain, but he had three daughters and no male heir. Though Matsudaira Katataka was praised by
Ii Naosuke as a loyal servant of the
Tokugawa shogunate, his fame was to be ultimately eclipsed by his adopted son
Matsudaira Katamori (the son of his birth brother
Matsudaira Yoshitatsu). ==See also==