Shimazu Tadatsune

First Japanese to rule over the Ryūkyū Kingdom

Shimazu Tadatsune (?? ??, November 27, 1576 – April 7, 1638) was a tozama daimyo of Satsuma, the first to hold it as a formal fief (han) under the Tokugawa shogunate, and the first Japanese to rule over the Ryukyu Kingdom.

As lord of Satsuma, he was among the most powerful lords in Japan at the time, and formally submitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1602, to prove his loyalty, being rewarded as a result with the name Matsudaira Iehisa;

Matsudaira being a branch family of the Tokugawa, and "Ie" of "Iehisa" being taken from "Ieyasu", this was a great honor.

As of 1603, his holdings amounted to 605,000 koku.