was a Japanese samurai of the mid-Sengoku period. Longtime retainer of Matsudaira Hirotada

Matsudaira Hirotada

was the lord of Okazaki Castle in Mikawa province, Japan during the Sengoku Period of the 16th century. He is best known for being the father of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate....

 and later, his son Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

. When Ieyasu was sent to Sunpu to be a hostage to the Imagawa clan, Tadayoshi served alongside Matsudaira Shigeyoshi

Matsudaira Shigeyoshi

Also known as Jirōzaemon . Head of the Nōmi-Matsudaira , a branch of the main Matsudaira house which later became the Tokugawa shogunal family. Shigeyoshi served three successive generations of the main Matsudaira line: Kiyoyasu, Hirotada, and Ieyasu. Served as Okazaki-sōbugyō with Torii...

 as castle warden of Okazaki Castle

Okazaki Castle

is a Japanese castle located in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Okazaki Castle was home to the Honda clan, daimyō of Okazaki Domain, but the castle is better known for its association with Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Tokugawa clan...

. He was renowned as a model of frugality, eventually saving up enough money by the time Ieyasu returned, in order to rearm the Matsudaira (Tokugawa) clan. In later years, he was held up as the model Mikawa-era Tokugawa vassal.