270px, Ikeda Akimasa 270px, Auditorium of the Shizutani School 270px, Kōraku-en was a feudal domain under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan, in what is now eastern

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

on the island of

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

. It controlled all of

Bizen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is eastern Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of western Japan.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mimasaka no Kuni''" in . Bizen bordered Bitchū Province, ...

and a small portion of Bitchū Province was centered around Okayama Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by a branch of the

Ikeda clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first to ...

. Okayama Domain was dissolved in the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

in 1871 and is now part of

. Okayama Domain had two sub-domains, and . In addition, six of the clans who served as hereditary ''

karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

'' of the domain had ''kokudaka'' equivalents to that of ''daimyō''.

History

During the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, Okayama was held by

Ukita Hideie was the ''daimyō'' of Bizen and Mimasaka Provinces (modern Okayama Prefecture), and one of the council of Five Elders appointed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Son of Ukita Naoie, he married Gōhime, a daughter of Maeda Toshiie. Having fought a ...

. However, as he sided with the Western Army at the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

in 1600, he was dispossessed by the victorious

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

and his domains given to

Kobayakawa Hideaki (1577 – December 1, 1602) was the fifth son of Kinoshita Iesada and a nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was gained the rank of ''Saemon no Kami'' (左衛門督) or in China ''Shikkingo'' (執金吾) at genpuku and held the court title of ...

. Kobayakawa Hideaki died without heir in 1602. In 1603, Ikeda Tadatsugu, the second son of

Ikeda Terumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. His court title was ''Kokushi (officials), Musashi no Kami''. Terumasa was also known by the nickname ''saigoku no shōgun'', or, "The ''Shōgun'' of Western Japan". Terumasa fought in many ...

Himeji Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Himeji Castle, which is located in what ...

was awarded Okayama with a ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 5 ...

'' of 280,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

''. This was increased in 1613 with an additional 100,000 ''koku''. However, he died in 1615 without heir and the domain was transferred to his younger brother, Ikeda Tadao castellan of Yura Castle on Awaji Island, albeit with a reduction from 380,000 to 315.000 ''koku''. After Ikeda Tadao's death in 1632, his heir, Ikeda Mitsunaka was regarded by the Tokugawa shogunate as being too young to be entrusted with the critically-important Okayama Castle, with its strategic location on the

San'yōdō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. The San'yōdō corresponds for the most part with the modern conception of the San'yō region. This name derives from the i ...

highway and reassigned him to

Tottori Domain 270px, Ikeda Yoshinori 270px, Front gate of the Tottori Domain residence in Edo was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now Tottori Prefecture on the island of Honshu. It controlled all of Inaba Prov ...

. Okayama went to his cousin,

Ikeda Mitsumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)">DF 18 of 80">"Ikeda" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 14 DF 18 of 80/nowiki> r ...

, formerly of Tottori Domain. His descendants would continue to rule Okayama until the Meiji restoration. In 1644, Ikeda Mitsumasa was authorized to construct the Tamaigū Tōshō-gū, which was the first Tōshōgū authorized to be constructed outside of territories under direct control of the Tokugawa clan. The reason why the Ikeda clan was given such preferential treatment was because Tokuhime, the daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, had married

and thus both Tadatsugu and Tadao were Ieyasu's grandsons. Ikeda Mitsumasa along with

Tokugawa Mitsukuni , also known as , was a Japanese daimyō, daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa (who in turn was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and succeeded him, becoming ...

and

Hoshina Masayuki was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who was the founder of what became the Matsudaira clan, Matsudaira house of Aizu. He was an important figure in the politics and philosophy of the early Tokugawa shogunate. Biography Hoshina ...

is regarded as one of the three great ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of the early Edo Period. In 1669, he opened the

Okayama Domain Han School The was a han school located in the Banzan neighborhood of Kita-ku, Okayama, Kita-ku, in Okayama, Okayama, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. One of the oldest han schools to have been established, it was designated a Monuments of Japan, National Histo ...

, the first

han school The ''han'' school was a type of educational institution in the Edo period of Japan. They taught samurai etiquette, the classical Confucian books, calligraphy, rhetoric, fighting with swords and other weapons; some also added subjects such as m ...

to be constructed in Japan. He also opened the

Shizutani School The was a school for the common people opened by the Okayama Domain in the early Edo period. It is located in Bizen, Okayama, Bizen in the Okayama Prefecture of Japan. The has been designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienc ...

in 1670, the oldest school for commoners. He was also active in

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

and

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

projects throughout his domain. In 1700, his son Ikeda Tsurumasa completed the

Kōraku-en is a Japanese garden located in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. It is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, along with Kenroku-en and Kairaku-en. Korakuen was built in 1700 by Ikeda Tsunamasa, lord of Okayama. The garden reached its modern ...

, one of the

Three Great Gardens of Japan The , also known as "the three most famous gardens in Japan" are considered to include Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Kōraku-en in Okayama and Kairaku-en in Mito. The conception of gardens in a group of three is found elsewhere, for example, in the ...

, along with

Kenroku-en , located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, is a strolling style garden constructed during the Edo period by the Maeda clan. Along with Kairaku-en and Kōraku-en, Kenroku-en is considered one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan and is noted fo ...

and

Kairaku-en is a Japanese garden located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Along with Kenroku-en and Koraku-en, it is considered one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. Overview Kairaku-en was built in the year 1842 by Tokugawa Nariaki, ''daimyō'' o ...

. In the

Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...

, Ikeda Shigemasa, the 9th ''daimyō'', was the ninth son of

Tokugawa Nariaki Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川斉昭, April 4, 1800 – September 29, 1860) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' who ruled the Mito Domain (now Ibaraki Prefecture) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji Restoration. Biography Clan leader ...

and thus the younger brother of the last

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Kazoku, Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867, while ai ...

. He was a strong proponent of the ''

Kōbu gattai was a policy in the Bakumatsu era of Japanese history aiming to strengthen Japan against the perceived "foreign threat" by obtaining a political coordination between the Tokugawa shogunate, certain major feudal domains and the Japanese Imperi ...

'' policy of uniting the shogunate with the Imperial family; however, he was forced into retirement at the start of the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

. In the immediate aftermath of the Meiji restoration, the domain was involved in the Kobe Incident of 1868, a major crisis in Franco–Japanese relations, and the first major international affairs challenge for the fledgling

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

. In 1871, with the

, the domain became part of Okayama Prefecture. then Ikeda clan was ennobled with the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (''Daimyo, daimyō'') and court nobles (''kuge'') into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distin ...

'' peerage title of

marquis A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or wido ...

in 1884.

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

As with most domains in the

han system (, "domain") is a Japanese historical term for the Estate (land), estate of a daimyo in the Edo period (1603–1868) and early Meiji (era), Meiji period (1868–1912).Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Han"in ''Japan Encycloped ...

, Tottori Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned ''

'', based on periodic

cadastral A cadastre or cadaster ( ) is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes and bounds, metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represente ...

surveys and projected agricultural yields, g. *

(entire province) **108 villages in Shōtō District **94 villages in Akasaka District **62 villages in Mino District **91 villages in Kojima District **79 villages in Oku District **89 villages in Wake District **64 villages in Iwanashi District **93 villages in Tsudaka District * Bitchū Province **18 villages in Kuboya District **11 villages in Asakuchi District **3 villages in Kaya District **9 villages in Katō District

List of daimyō

Kamogata Domain

In 1672, Ikeda Mitsumasa gave 25,000 ''koku'' of new rice lands in Asakuchi and Kuboya Districts, Bitchū Province, to his second son, Ikeda Masamoto, and established a cadet branch of the clan. A ''

jin'ya A was a type of administrative headquarters in the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period of Japanese history. ''Jin'ya'' served as the seat of the administration for a small domain, a province, or additional parcels of land. ''Jin'ya'' ho ...

'' was established in what is now then Kamagata neighborhood of the city of

Asakuchi, Okayama 270px, Konkokyo Headquarters Central Worship Hall 270px, Aerial view of Asakuchi city center is a city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 33,322 in 14,409 households and a population density of 500 pe ...

; however, its nominal ''daimyō'' lived within the ''

jōkamachi The were centres of the domains of the feudal lords in medieval Japan. The ''jōkamachi'' represented the new, concentrated military power of the daimyo in which the formerly decentralized defence resources were concentrated around a single, cent ...

'' of Okayama. The domain existed primarily as "insurance" to prevent attainder of the parent domain should the ruling ''daimyō'' die without a successor. Throughout its history, it was known as , becoming "Kamogata Domain" only after the Meiji restoration.

Ikusaka Domain

In 1672, Ikeda Mitsumasa gave 15,000 ''koku'' of new rice lands in Kuboya District, Bitchū Province, to his third son, Ikeda Terutoshi, and established a cadet branch of the clan. It existed as a "paper domain" throughout most of the Edo period with its revenues coming from the treasury of the parent domain, and its nominal ''daimyō'' lived within the ''

'' of Okayama. Domain administration was non-existent, with officials dispatched from Okayama Domain in charge of domain affairs. The domain existed primarily as "insurance" to prevent attainder of the parent domain should the ruling ''daimyō'' die without a successor. Throughout its history, it was known as , becoming "Ikusaka Domain" only after the Meiji restoration.

Genealogy (simplified; Ikeda clan – Okayama)

*Ikeda Tsuneoki (1536–1584) **Terumasa, 1st ''daimyō'' of Himeji (1565–1613) ***Toshitaka, 2nd ''daimyō'' of Himeji (1584–1616) **** I. Mitsumasa, 1st ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation. cr. 1632) (1609–1682; r. 1632–1672) ***** II. Tsunamasa, 2nd ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1638–1714; r. 1672–1714) ****** III. Tsugumasa, 3rd ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1702–1776; r. 1714–1752) ******* IV. Munemasa, 4th ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1727–1764; r. 1752–1764) ******** V. Harumasa, 5th ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1750–1819; r. 1764–1794) ********* VI. Narimasa, 6th ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1773–1833; r. 1794–1829) ********Sagara Nagahiro, 12th ''daimyō'' of Hitoyoshi (1752–1813) *********Sagara Yorinori, 13th ''daimyō'' of Hitoyoshi (1774–1856) **********Sagara Yoriyuki, 14th ''daimyō'' of Hitoyoshi (1798–1850) *********** X. Akimasa, 10th ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) 1st Marquess (1836–1903; r. 1868–1869, Governor of Okayama: 1869–1871, Marquess: 1884) ************Norimasa, 13th family head and 2nd Marquess (1865–1909; 11th family head and 2nd Marquess: 1903–1909) ************* Tadamasa, 14th family head and 3rd Marquess (1895–1920; 12th family head and 3rd Marquess: 1909–1920). *************Nobumasa, 15th family head and 4th Marquess (1904–1988; 13th family head and 4th Marquess: 1920–1947, 13th family head: 1947–1988) ************** Takamasa, 16th family head (1926–2012; 14th family head: 1988–2012). m. Princess Atsuko of the Imperial House of Japan (b. 1931). No issue; the family became extinct after his death. *** I. Tadatsugu, 1st ''daimyō'' of Okayama (1st creation. cr. 1603) (1599–1615; r. 1603–1615) *** II. Tadakatsu, 2nd ''daimyō'' of Okayama (1st creation) (1602–1632; r. 1615–1632) **** III. Mitsunaka, 3rd ''daimyō'' of Okayama (1st creation), 1st ''daimyō'' of Tottori (3rd creation) (1630–1693; r. 1632) *****Nakazumi, 1st ''daimyō'' of Tottori-Shinden (1650–1722) ******Yoshiyasu, 3rd ''daimyō'' of Tottori (3rd creation) (1687–1739) *******Muneyasu, 4th ''daimyō'' of Tottori (3rd creation) (1717–1747) ********Shigenobu, 5th ''daimyō'' of Tottori (3rd creation) (1746–1783) *********Harumichi, 6th ''daimyō'' of Tottori (3rd creation) (1768–1798) **********Iyohime Chikako (1792–1824) m. Shimazu Narioki, 10th ''daimyō'' of Satsuma (1791–1859) *********** VII. Naritoshi, 7th ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1811–1842; r. 1829–1842) **Motosuke (1559–1584) ***Yoshiyuki (1577–1618) ****Yoshinari (1605–1676) *****Yoshitaka (1641–1696) ******Yoshimichi (1681–1743) *******Masamichi, 3rd ''daimyō'' of Kamogata (1714–1792) ********Masanao, 5th ''daimyō'' of Kamogata (1746–1818) *********Masami, 6th ''daimyō'' of Kamogata (1772–1819) **********Masayoshi, 8th ''daimyō'' of Kamogata (1811–1847) ***********Utako (1830–1877) m. VIII. Yoshimasa, 8th ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1823–1893; r. 1842–1863. Son of the 5th ''daimyō'' of Nakatsu.) ************ Hisako (1848-1868) m. IX. Mochimasa, 9th ''daimyō'' of Okayama (2nd creation) (1839–1899; r. 1863–1868. Son of

, ''daimyō'' of Mito.) Genealogy
/ref>

References

External links

"Okayama" at Edo 300
{{Authority control Domains of Japan History of Okayama Prefecture Bizen Province Bitchū Province Chūgoku region Ikeda clan 1600 establishments in Japan States and territories established in 1600 1871 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1871