Okabe Nagayasu (岡部長泰)
Nagayasu OKABE (May 8, 1650, to Sept. 5, 1724) was the third lord of Kishiwada Domain in Izumi Province.
the fourth head of Okabe family of Kishiwada Domain
Eldest son of Yukitaka OKABE, the second lord of Kishiwada Domain
His mother was a daughter of Naoyori HORI. His lawful wife was a daughter of Yorinaga NAITO. His children include Nagataka OKABE (second son), Naganori OKABE (third son), Munemitsu YAGYU (fifth son), and Nagaaki OKABE (sixth son). He was awarded Jushiinoge (Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade) and appointed as Governor of Bingo Province and Governor of Mino Province.
Nagayasu was born in Edo on April 8, 1650. His first name was Nobunari. He inherited the family on August 25, 1686, when his father retired. Kishiwada Domain was financially abundant and had its goden days under the reign of his grandfather and father, while Nagayasu established ordinances that encouraged frugality and discouraged extravagance. He promoted academic education and physical training, and particularly Confucianism, which he himself was interested in, learning from Daigaku HAYASHI, and lectured to hanshi (retainers) on his own. He was a man of academic and physical excellence, who enjoyed waka poetry and martial arts. He was praised as a "respectable lord" because of his wise governance in civil administration.
He conducted kanjo (ceremonial transfer of a divided tutelary deity to a new location) for Fushimi inari Taisha Shrine of Kyoto to set up its branch shrine in Sannomaru (outer part of the castle) of Kishiwada Castle and held Inari Festival to pray for bumper crops. This fest became the origin of the nationally famous Kishiwada Danjiri Festival.
He was known to be a good ruler excellent in various administrative aspects including water control and flood control, and one of evidences that proves this is that he was ordered to take over the rechanneling of Yamato River from Himeji Domain by the Tokugawa Shogunate following the death of Himeji Domain's lord Tadakuni HONDA in 1704 and successfully completed the work.
On November 11, 1721, he transferred the head of the family to his second son Nagataka to retire, and later he died on September 5, 1724. He died at the age of 75.
Tomb: Senko-ji Temple in Kishiwada City, Osaka Prefecture