was a '' fudai'' 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 Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was located in eastern

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

, in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

of central

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 ...

. The domain was centered at

Hikone Castle is an Edo-period Japanese castle located in the city of Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It is considered the most significant historical site in Shiga. The site has been protected as a National Historic Site since 1951. Hikone is one of only ...

, located in what is now the city of Hikone in

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

. It was ruled throughout its history by the

Ii clan is a Japanese clan which originates in Tōtōmi Province. It was a retainer clan of the Imagawa clan, Imagawa family, and then switched sides to the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province at the reign of Ii Naotora. A famed 16th-century clan membe ...

History

Ii Naomasa was a general under the Sengoku period ''daimyō'', and later ''shōgun'', Tokugawa Ieyasu.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 ...

's closest advisors and most capable generals, was ''

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 Takasaki Domain with a '' kokudaka'' of 120,000 ''

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 to 180,000 ''koku'' after 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, ...

, and he was transferred to

Sawayama Castle was a castle in the city of Hikone, Shiga, Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This castle was an important military stronghold of Ōmi Province. The Azai clan held this castle in the Sengoku Period. Niwa Nagahide held it after the ruin of the Az ...

, on the shores of

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. It is located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13 ...

, which was the former home domain of

Ishida Mitsunari was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

. The domain was thus originally named . Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Ii Naomasa" in Ii Naomasa disliked living at Sawayama as it had been the home of his enemy, and planned the construction of a new castle,

, but died before it could be completed. His successor, Ii Naokatsu, completed the project in 1606. The

continued to rule from Hikone Castle until the end of the

, serving in many important posts. Under Ii Naotaka, an internal conflict between vassals of the Ii clan, and former ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

'' who had been transferred to become vassals of the Ii clan by Tokugawa Ieyasu was resolved, and the ''kokudaka'' of the domain was increased by 50,000 ''koku'' on three occasions (1615, 1617 and 1633), increasing its total to 300,000 ''koku''. In addition, the domain was entrusted with administering an additional 50,000 ''koku'' of ''

tenryō 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 war ...

'' territory in Ōmi Province, bringing its actual nominal ''kokudaka'' to 350,000 koku. During the Bakumatsu period, the domain was ruled by Ii Naosuke, who rose to the position of '' tairō'' within the shogunate administration and was virtual ruler of the country during the succession between Tokugawa Iesada and

Tokugawa Iemochi (17 July 1846 – 29 August 1866) was the 14th '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office from 1858 to 1866. During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of the "re-opening" of Japan to western nations. I ...

. His purge of political opponents and support of the ending of Japan's national isolation with the signing of the Harris Treaty drew the wrath of the pro-''

Sonnō Jōi was a '' yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s, during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement sou ...

'' factions of ''samurai'', and he was assassinated in 1860 in the Sakuradamon Incident. One consequence of this assassination was that the domain was reduced by 100,000 ''koku'' in 1862. Through the actions of its final ''daimyō'',

Ii Naonori was the 16th (and final) ''daimyō'' of Hikone Domain in Bakumatsu period Japan and was the 35th hereditary chieftain of the Ii clan. Before the Meiji Restoration, his courtesy title was ''Kamon-no-kami'', and his List of Japanese court ranks ...

in the Kinmon incident of 1864, the domain was able to recover 30,000 ''koku''. He also participated in the Chōshū expedition, the suppression of ''Tenchūgumi'' and the Mito Rebellion. However, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with the hostile treatment still accorded Hikone Domain by the shogunal administration, which was dominated by the Hitotsubashi faction which had been hostile to Ii Naosuke. He also came to the realization that shogunate's military system and equipment was now obsolete compared with the

Satchō Alliance The , or was a powerful military alliance between the southwestern feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. History The name ''Satc ...

. Thus, although Hikone Domain had been one of the strongest supporters of the Tokugawa shogunate and was regarded as first among the ''fudai daimyō'', was among the first to change sides and support the imperial cause in 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 ...

. During the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, although Hikone forces were stationed at

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Layout Th ...

, they did not join the shogunal army, but simply marched home. The domain later took part in combat against the pro-shogunate Ogaki Domain, and in other locations, including the capture of

Kondō Isami was a Japanese swordsman and samurai of the late Edo period. He was the fourth generation master of Tennen Rishin-ryū and was famed for his role as commander of the Shinsengumi. Background He was born Miyagawa Katsugorō to a farmer Miyagawa ...

and suppression of the ''

Shinsengumi The was a small secret police organization, elite group of swordsmen that was organized by commoners and low rank samurai, commissioned by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was ac ...

''. The new

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 ...

awarded Hikone an additional 20,000 ''koku'' shortly before 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) ...

. Hikone Domain became Hikone Prefecture, which was later transferred to Shiga Prefecture via Nagahama and Inukami prefectures. Ii Naonori 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 ...

'' title of Count in 1884.

Bakumatsu period holdings

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 ...

, Hikone Domain consisted of a discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned '' kokudaka'', 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.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987)
''Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century,'' p. 18
*

**53 villages in Echi District **122 villages in Inukami District **130 villages in Sakata District (whole district) **18 villages in Azai District **26 villages in Ika District *

Shimotsuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Hitachi Province, ...

**15 villages in Aso District *

Musashi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Kawasaki and Yokohama. ...

**10 villages in Ebara District **9 villages in Tama District

List of daimyō

★ = Served as ''tairō''

References

*''The content of this article was largely derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' * * Bolitho, Harold. (1974). ''Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan.'' New Haven: Yale University Press.
OCLC 185685588
**

External links

Hikone Castle Museum

Notes