Portrait of Tachibana Tadashige

Tachibana Tadashige (1612-1675) was the 3rd Head of the Tachibana Family and the 2nd lord of the Yanagawa domain.
He was the 4th son of Takahashi Naotsugu, the younger brother of Tachibana Muneshige, the first lord of the Yanagawa domain. He was adopted by Muneshige in order for him to become the successor of the Tachibana family.
In 1637, he went to his first battle with Muneshige to suppress the Shimabara Rebellion. During this battle, Tadashige was 26 years old and Muneshige was 72. This was the first and only battle that Tadashige participated in.
At the recommendation of the 3rd Tokugawa shogun, he married a daughter of the Date family, the rulars of the Sendai domain.
Tadashige was deeply interested in the Obaku Sect of Buddhism. He invited a priest of the Obaku Sect to his family temple Baigaku-ji. He then converted the sect of the temple from Soto to Obaku, and renamed the temple “Baigaku-zan Fukugon-ji.