1. Matsudaira Sadanobu was a Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief senior councilor of the Tokugawa shogunate, from 1787 to 1793.
Matsudaira Sadanobu was the seventh son of Tokugawa Munetake, of the Tayasu branch of the Tokugawa clan.
Matsudaira Sadanobu's education was very thorough, being done along Confucian lines, and by his teens Sadanobu had already read and memorized much of the Confucian canon.
Matsudaira Sadanobu was immediately faced with his domain's economically disastrous position: of 110,000 koku that it was supposed to be able to produce, 108,600 had been reported "lost".
Matsudaira Sadanobu worked ceaselessly to fix the economic situation in Shirakawa, finally saving it and bringing its finances and agriculture back to stability.
Matsudaira Sadanobu was faced with issues caused by the Great Tenmei famine from 1782 to 1788.
Matsudaira Sadanobu prevented famine in Shirakawa by obtaining rice from Echigo Province and from Aizu Domain, which had been little affected by the crop failures, and earned great praise for his famine relief measures.
Matsudaira Sadanobu immediately started to use his position to overturn all of Tanuma Okitsugu's policies, and to revert to a system based on his grandfather's Kyoho Reforms.
Tanuma had attempted to stimulate the economy through mercantilist and capitalist policies, which Matsudaira Sadanobu felt had corrupted the samurai through the use of money and connections.
In terms of foreign policy, Matsudaira Sadanobu understood that the threat to Japan's national isolation was increasing, especially from Imperial Russia.
Matsudaira Sadanobu began steps to bolster Japan's coastal defenses by establishing a gunnery training school in Nagasaki in 1791 and in Edo in 1792.
Aware of the changing political situation in Europe, Matsudaira Sadanobu took the politically risky step of allowing Laxman to proceed to Matsumae and was prepared to negotiate with him should he reach Nagasaki, but Laxman departed from Matsumae without achieving his stated objectives.
The shogunate responded by ordering Matsudaira Sadanobu to redouble coastal defenses, and he devised a network of coastal artillery sites around Edo Bay, visiting numerous locations in Sagami and Izu to investigate sites firsthand.
Matsudaira Sadanobu ordered the construction of a western-style warship to be based at Uraga.
However, while Matsudaira Sadanobu was making apparent progress in terms of national defense and foreign affairs, criticism over the harsh and largely unpopular policies of the Kansei Reforms were steadily gaining strength.
Matsudaira Sadanobu had gathered many powerful enemies, including Emperor Kokaku, who was angered by his opposition to a plan to grant an honorific title to his deceased father, and Shogun Tokugawa Ienari, who once reportedly demanded that a page fetch a sword so that he could cut down Matsudaira Sadanobu for his "insolence".
Matsudaira Sadanobu recovered the finances of the Shogunate to some extent, and had some success in rescuing its reputation, his credibility and popularity in the Tokugawa bureaucracy became overtaxed.
Matsudaira Sadanobu turned his attention to the administration of his own domain of Shirakawa.
Matsudaira Sadanobu encouraged horse production and reforms of the domain's finances.
Matsudaira Sadanobu created the Nanko Park near Shirakawa Castle by building a reservoir with a vast garden which, most unusually for the time, he insisted be open to the common people, regardless of social status.
Matsudaira Sadanobu retired from the family headship in 1819, and was succeeded by his son Sadanaga, but continued to influence domain affairs from behind-the-scenes.
Matsudaira Sadanobu successfully petitioned for a change in territory from Shirakawa to Kuwana Domain in Ise Province.
Matsudaira Sadanobu came down with a cold in early 1829, which soon deteriorated into a high fever lasting for weeks.
Matsudaira Sadanobu initially sheltered at the kamiyashiki of the Iyo-Matsuyama Domain, but due to lack of room, relocated to the nakayashiki of Matsuyama Domain in Mita.
Matsudaira Sadanobu's grave is located at the temple of Reigan-ji in Koto, Tokyo, and was designated a National Historic Site in 1928.
Matsudaira Sadanobu was enshrined together with the Hisamatsu founder Sadatsuna, Sugawara no Michizane, and two other figures, in the Chinkoku-Shukoku shrine.