The was a Japanese

domain Domain may refer to: Mathematics *Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined ** Domain of definition of a partial function **Natural domain of a partial function **Domain of holomorphy of a function *Do ...

of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

. It was associated with Higo Province in modern-day

Kumamoto Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to the northeast, Miyaza ...

."Higo Province" at JapaneseCastleExplorer.com
retrieved 2013-5-28. In the

han system ( ja, 藩, "domain") is a Japanese historical term for the estate of a daimyo in the Edo period (1603–1868) and early Meiji period (1868–1912). Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Han"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 283. or (daimyo domain) ...

, Hitoyoshi was a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

and

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with t ...

abstraction 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 represented gra ...

surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of ''

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. ...

'', not land area.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987)
''Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century,'' p. 18
This was different from the

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

of the West.

History

The

Sagara clan The Sagara clan (相良氏, ''Sagara-shi'') was a Japanese samurai clan of daimyos. They were a tactical ally of the Shimazu clan. In the Edo period, they became the daimyo of the Hitoyoshi Domain and ruled until the Meiji Restoration. After t ...

was established at Hitoyoshi in the 13th century; and they stayed in the same place until the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
"Hosokawa" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 50
retrieved 2013-5-28.

List of ''daimyōs''

The hereditary ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

s'' were head of the clan and head of the domain. *

('' tozama''; 22,000 '' koku'') #Yorifusa #Yorihiro #Yoritaka #Yoritomi #Nagaoki #Nagaari #Yorimine #Yorihisa #Akinaga #Yorisada #Tomimochi #Nagahiro #Yorinori #Yoriyuki #Nagatomi #Yorimoto

References

External links

"Hitoyoshi" at Edo 300
Domains of Japan {{japan-hist-stub

History

List of ''daimyōs''

See also

References

External links