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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
Nabeshima, from a 1956 magazine
Born15 July 1886
Japan
Died8 May 1969(1969-05-08) (aged 82)
Other names
  • Nobuko Nabeshima Matsudaira
  • Nobu Matsudaira
SpouseTsuneo Matsudaira
Children3, including Setsuko, Princess Chichibu
Parents
Relatives

Early life

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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

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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]

 
The Matsudaira family in 1925; Nobuko Nabeshima is seated holding her son; her husband and two daughters stand behind them

Personal life

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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

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  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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Nish, Ian (2007-01-01). "16. MATSUDAIRA TSUNEO (1877-1949). Diplomat and Courtier London, 1929-35". Matsudaira Tsuneo (1877-1949). Diplomat and Courtier (London, 1929-35). Brill. pp. 153–162. 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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