Nobuko Nabeshima

Nobuko Nabeshima (15 July 1886 – 8 May 1969) (In Japanese 松平信子, or まつだいら のぶこ), later known as Madame Matsudaira, was a Japanese socialite. As wife of a Japanese ambassador based in Washington and London, she was well known as a political hostess in the West in the 1920s and 1930s.

Nobuko Nabeshima
An older Japanese woman, seated indoors, wearing a kimono, hands clasped in her lap
Nobuko Nabeshima Matsudaira, from a 1956 magazine
Born15 July 1886
Japan
Died8 May 1969 (age 82)
Other namesNobuko Nabeshima Matsudaira, Nobu Matsudaira
SpouseTsuneo Matsudaira
Children3, including Setsuko, Princess Chichibu
Parent(s)Nabeshima Naohiro (Saga), Nabeshima Nagako
RelativesNabeshima clan, Prince Nashimoto Morimasa (brother-in-law), Morio Matsudaira (brother-in-law), Tsunenari Tokugawa (grandson)

Early life

Nabeshima was born in 1886, the daughter of politician and college president Nabeshima Naohiro and Nabeshima Nagako, who was president of the Oriental Women's Association (東洋婦人会). She was a member of the powerful Nabeshima family. Nabeshima attended the Gakushuin Women's School, and was later president of the school's alumnae association.

Career

Nabeshima was an aide and translator to Empress Teimei,[1] whose son later married Nabeshima's daughter.[2] She lived in Washington, D.C. as a political hostess,[3][4] and traveled with her daughters from 1925 to 1928, while her husband was the Japanese Ambassador to the United States.[5][6][7] She gave a public speech of gratitude in Boston in 1927.[8] Her gowns were described in newspaper accounts of state dinners and other events.[9][10] The family lived in London in 1909 (when daughter Setsuko was born)[11] and from 1929 to 1935,[12] when her husband was the Japanese Ambassador to the Court of St. James.[13][14] She welcomed and promoted an international touring display of Japanese ceremonial dolls.[15][16][17]

Madame Matsudaira wrote poetry.[4] She assisted American writer Elizabeth Gray Vining, who described her as "grey-haired, serene, humorous, and wise."[18] She was mentioned in two of Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" columns in May 1953, when Roosevelt was traveling in Japan.[19][20]

A Japanese family of five, posed outdoors together: the father is standing, wearing and glasses; the two daughters are standing, wearing hats and coats; the mother is seated, wearing a dark hat, holding a baby boy
The Matsudaira family in 1925; Nobuko Nabeshima is seated holding her son; her husband and two daughters stand behind them

Personal life

In 1906, Nabeshima married diplomat Tsuneo Matsudaira.[13] Their son was Ichiro Matsudaira. One of their daughters was Setsuko, who became a princess in the Imperial House of Japan.[11][21][22] One of the Matsudairas' grandchildren is Tsunenari Tokugawa, current head of the Tokugawa clan (as of 2022), and one of their great-grandchildren is writer and translator Iehiro Tokugawa. Her husband died in 1949, and she lived with her widowed daughter after 1953; she died in 1969, at the age of 82.

References
  1. Gleaves, Albert (1985). The Admiral: The Memoirs of Albert Gleaves, USN. Hope Publishing House. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-932727-02-2.
  2. Vaughn, Miles W. (1928-03-29). "Japanese Heir's Nuptials Marks Second in his Family". The Danville Morning News. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Washington Sees New Additions to its Society". Worcester Democrat and the Ledger-Enterprise. 1925-01-17. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Jarvis, Jean (1925-04-05). "Washington Society Greets New Envoy from Japan Beneath Cherry Blossoms". Sunday News. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Japan's New Ambassador Welcomed". Japan Society: 1. April 1925.
  6. "Notes from Boston: Distinguished Guests Feted". Japan: Overseas Travel Magazine. 15: 36–37. August 1927.
  7. Diplomatic List. Department of State. 1925. p. 10.
  8. "Welcome Japanese Ambassador Here". The Boston Globe. 1927-06-10. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Dresses at the First Court". Western Mail. 1934-05-16. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Oriental Women Adopt European Clothes--but Have Their Looks Improved?". The San Francisco Examiner. 1928-07-01. p. 107. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Yoshitarō, Takenobu (1887). The Japan Year Book. Japan Year Book Office. p. 22.
  12. "Ambassador Forgets Care in Mountains". The Edmonton Bulletin. 1935-07-19. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Nish, Ian (2007-01-01). Matsudaira Tsuneo (1877-1949). Diplomat and Courtier (London, 1929-35). Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004213456_017. ISBN 978-90-04-21345-6.
  14. Nish, Ian (2007-05-10). Japanese Envoys in Britain, 1862-1964. Global Oriental. pp. 4, 157–158. ISBN 978-90-04-21345-6.
  15. Murray, Nell (1932-11-29). "Japanese Ceremonial Dolls". Herald. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Trove.
  16. "Hails Japanese Dolls as Goodwill Envoys; Ambassador Matsudaira Is Honor Guest at Luncheon Given by S.W. Reyburn to Greet Them". The New York Times. 1928-01-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  17. Gordon, Bill. "1927 Doll Exchange - Receipt of Dolls in US". Friendship Dolls. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  18. Elizabeth Gray Vining (1952). Windows For The Crown Prince. Universal Digital Library. J.B.Lippincott Company. p. 27.
  19. "My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 27, 1953". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  20. "My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, May 28, 1953". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  21. Hart, Margaret Poe (1928-06-02). "Mlle. Matsudaira Will Take American Ideas to Japan". Evening Star. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. Frantz, Harry W. (1928-04-08). "Miss Matsudaira WIll Gain Great International Prestige When She Weds Prince Chichibu". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
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