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, located in

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviated fo ...

in what is now the town of

Iwamura, Gifu was a town located in Ena District, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 5,372 and a density of 156.34 persons per km2. The total area was 34.36 km2. On October 25, 2004, Iwamura, along with the towns of ...

. It was centered around

Iwamura Castle 270px, Edo period layout was located in the southeastern area of Mino Province in Japan. Its ruins can be found in the modern-day municipal subdivision of Iwamura, in Ena, Gifu Prefecture. Along with Takatori Castle in Nara and Bitchu-Matsuyam ...

, and controlled parts of Mino and

Suruga Province was an Provinces of Japan, old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu Province, Izu, Kai Province, Kai, Sagami Province, Sagami, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Province, Tōtōm ...

s. Iwamura Domain was controlled by a number of ''

fudai daimyō was a class of ''daimyō'' (大名) in the Tokugawa Shogunate (徳川幕府) of Japan who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa before the Battle of Sekigahara. ''Fudai daimyō'' and their descendants filled the ranks of the Tokugawa admin ...

'' clans in the course of its history.

History

Following 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, ...

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 ...

transferred Matsudaira Ienari of the Ogyū-Matsudaira clan from Niwa Domain in

Kōzuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered Echigo Province, Echigo, Shinano Province, Shinano, Musashi Province, Musashi and Shimotsuke Province, Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abb ...

to the newly created Iwamura Domain. His son,

Matsudaira Norinaga was a ''daimyō'' during early-Edo period Japan. He was the second head of the Ogyū-Matsudaira clan. Biography Matsudaira Norinaga was the eldest son of Matsudaira Ienori, a Sengoku period samurai and daimyō of Iwamura Domain in Mino Provin ...

, distinguished himself during the

Siege of Osaka A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

and was rewarded with a promotion to

Hamamatsu Domain was a Japanese Han (Japan), domain of the Edo period, located in Tōtōmi Province. It was centered on what is now Hamamatsu Castle in what is now the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Hamamatsu was the residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu for m ...

in 1638. He was replaced by Niwa Ujinobu, formerly of Ibo Domain in

Mikawa Province was an Provinces of Japan, old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari Province, O ...

. He was from the Isshiki-Niwa clan, and was thus no relation to the more famous

Niwa Nagahide , also known as (), his other legal alias was (), was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku through Azuchi-Momoyama periods of the 16th century. He served as senior retainer to the Oda clan, and was eventually a daimyō in his own right. Going o ...

, although both served

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

, and later Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Niwa clan ruled for five generations until 1705. The 5th ''daimyō'', Niwa Ujioto, attempted to revive the domain's financial situation by hiring an outside consultant, Yamamura Seibei. Although the reforms were largely successful, this created an outpouring of resentment and violence from his retainers, to the point where the shogunate was forced to intervene to restore order. Five senior retainers were decapitated for sedition, his wife and 25 others were exiled to remote islands, and Niwa himself was demoted to 10,000 ''

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 ...

'' and reassigned to Takayanagi Domain in

Echigo was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niigata ...

. Matsudaira Noritada, a grandson of Matsudaira Norinaga, became ''daimyō'' in 1702, and his cadet branch of the Ogyū-Matsudaira clan ruled to domain to 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. The domain supplied a number of important officials in the shogunal administration, and was awarded with an increase in ''

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 ...

'' to 30,000 ''koku'' in 1735. While the clan was assigned the office of ''

Osaka-jō dai were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Those appointed to this prominent office were exclusively ''fudai daimyō''.Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868'', p. 326. Conventiona ...

'', they had an additional 10,000 ''koku'' from shogunal estates in

Settsu is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 87,143 in 40,825 households and a population density of 5700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a suburban city of Osaka City and a pa ...

, Izumi and Mimasaki Provinces. The Ogyū-Matsudaira were also noted for their scholarship. Matsudaira Noritada founded the

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 ...

, "Bunbusho", and his third son, Matsudaira Norimoto was adopted by the Hayashi clan of Confucian scholars, becoming

Hayashi Jussai was a Japanese neo-Confucian scholar of the Edo period. He was an hereditary rector of Edo’s Confucian Academy, the ''Shōhei-kō'', also known at the ''Yushima Seidō,'' which was built on land provided by the shōgun. The ''Yushima-Seidō ...

, head of the

Yushima Seidō , is a Confucian temple () in Yushima, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was established in end of the 17th century during the Genroku era of the Edo period. Towards the late Edo period, one of the most important educational institutions of the sh ...

academy. 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 ...

, the samurai of the domain were strongly divided between pro-shogunate and a pro-imperial factions. At the time

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 ...

formerly returned power to the throne, the final ''daimyō'' Matsudaira Noritoshi was residing at the clan's

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

residence. With 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 ...

, many of the pro-Tokugawa samurai departed to Edo intending to rally around the former shogun. This left the pro-imperial faction in the majority within Iwamura, and when the imperial armies advanced along the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

to demand the fealty of the various domains, a council of senior retainers capitulated Iwamura without Matsudaira Noritoshi's participation. The domain was asked to send troops along with Naegi Domain and

Owari Domain The Owari-Han, also known as the Owari Domain, was a significant feudal domain in Tokugawa shogunate, Japan during the Edo period. Situated in the western region of what is now Aichi Prefecture, it covered portions of Owari Province, Owari, Mino ...

to maintain security in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

and later Kai Province. Presented with this

fait accompli Many words in the English vocabulary are of French language, French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman conquest of England, Norman ...

, Matsudaira Noritoshi arrived in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

on August 20, 1868, and pledged alliance to

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

. Iwamura was asked to provide guards for the Kurama entrance to Edo, and Noritoshi was later appointed Imperial governor of Iwamura until 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.

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 ...

, Iwamura 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.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987)
''Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century,'' p. 18
The domain7s holdings in Suruga were managed from Yokouchi ''jin'ya'' in what is now

Fujieda, Shizuoka is a Cities of Japan, city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 145,032 in 59,480 households, and a population density of 750 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Fujieda is a member of th ...

. *

**5 villages in Mugi District **1 village in Anpachi District **7 villages in Yamagata District **1 village in Ōno District *

**5 villages in Udo District **8 villages in Shida District **2 villages in Mashizu District

List of daimyō

References

{{Authority control Domains of Japan Mino Province History of Gifu Prefecture Ogyū-Matsudaira clan

History

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

List of daimyō

See also

References