Date Munemichi, 8th ''daimyō'' of Iyo-Yoshida, photographed post-Meiji restoration 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, controlling all of

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syst ...

in what is now western

Ehime Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. It was centered around Yoshida ''

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 ...

'', located in what is now part of the city of

Uwajima, Ehime 270px, Uwajma City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Uwajma city center 270px, Japan National Route 320 in Uwajma city center is a city located in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 70,440 in 35429 households and a pop ...

, and was ruled throughout its history by a cadet branch of the ''

tozama daimyō was a class of powerful magnates or ''daimyō'' (大名) considered to be outsiders by the ruler of Japan during the Edo period (江戸時代). ''Tozama daimyō'' were classified in the Tokugawa shogunate (江戸幕府) as ''daimyō'' who becam ...

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date fam ...

. Iyo-Yoshida 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

History

In 1614,

Date Hidemune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. He was the eldest son of Date Masamune, born in 1591 by Shinzo no Kata (a concubine). Coming of age while living with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he received a character from Hideyoshi's name and took ...

was awarded the 100,000 ''koku''

Uwajima Domain file:Date Munenari coloured.jpg, 270px, Date Munenari file:Uwajima Date Museum 1.jpg, 270px, Uwajima Date Museum was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now western Ehime Prefecture on the is ...

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 Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was born to Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Lady Saigō on May ...

, and moved into

Uwajima Castle 270px, Aerial view of Uwajima Castle is a ''hirayama-jiro'' Japanese castle located in the city of Uwajima, Ehime, Japan. An alternate name for this castle is Tsurushima-jō. The castle is one of twelve Japanese castles to still have its histor ...

the following year. In 1658, Hidemune died, making his third son Munetoshi his successor; however, Hidemune's will split the domain. Munetoshi received only 70,000 ''koku'', and his younger brother Date Munezumi was given 30,000 ''koku'' and allowed to establish a cadet branch of the clan and subsidiary domain called Iyo-Yoshida Domain. The will was received with consternation by Uwajima Domain, which evidently had no prior knowledge of it, and led to decades of conflict between the two houses. It is unknown why Hidemune took this action, and the most common theory is that Munezumi was Hidemune's favorite and was bequeathed the portion of the estate that Hidemune had intended to set aside for his own retirement revenues. However, another theory is that Munezumi envied his older brother, and therefore plotted with his uncle Date Munekatsu (the tenth son of

Date Masamune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama period through the early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful feudal lords in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he w ...

) of Ichinoseki Domain to falsify the will. Munetoshi wrote a letter to Date Tadamune asserting that the will had to have been a forgery, as Hidemune's condition at the time it was dated was so bad that be could not even hold a brush to write with. The issue was settled through the mediation of Ii Naotaka of

Hikone Domain was a '' fudai'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in eastern Ōmi Province, in the Kansai region of central Honshu. The domain was centered at Hikone Castle, located in what is now the city of H ...

. In any event, Munezumi maintained close relations with

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of ...

and his northern relations, and after the

Date Sōdō The Date Sōdō (伊達騒動), or Date Disturbance, was a O-Ie Sōdō, noble family dispute within the Date clan, Date samurai clan, which occurred in 1671. History In 1660, the ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the Sendai Domain, and clan head, Dat ...

, he offered refuge to Munekatsu's daughter-in-law and her children. During his tenure, Munezumi fell ill and was attended to by a wandering physician from

Tosa Domain The was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its ...

named Yamada Chūzaemon. He was well-versed in literary and military arts and was awarded a fief of 100 ''

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 persuaded to stay in Yoshida as Munezumi's advisor. Yamada persuaded Munezumi that he should reduce the domain's expenditures by demoting senior retainers who had held their posts for multi-generations and who were receiving high levels of compensation. This understandably made many retainers upset, leading to an armed uprising known as the "Yamada Disturbance"and an appeal directly to Sendai Domain. Ultimately, Yamada was expelled to Sendai, and Uwajima was asked to mediate a resolution to the conflict. This event enforced the position of Iyo-Yamada as a subsidiary domain to Uwajima. In 1701, the 3rd ''daimyō'', Date Munetoyo was one of two ''daimyō'' appointed to entertain imperial envoys to the Shogun's court in Edo. The other ''daimyō'' was

Asano Naganori was the ''daimyō'' of the Akō Domain in Japan (1675–1701). His title was ''Takumi no Kami'' (). He is known as the person who triggered a series of incidents retold in a story known as ''Chūshingura'' (involving the forty-seven rōnin), ...

of Ako Domain. He was thus an eyewitness to the incident which led to the famed Akō vendetta. The domain suffered greatly from the

Kyōhō famine , also pronounced Kyōho, was a after ''Shōtoku (era), Shōtoku'' and before ''Genbun.'' This period spanned the years from July 1716 through April 1736. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1716 : The era name of ''Kyōhō'' (m ...

of 1732-1733, and the domain imposed heavy taxes an monopolized on cash products, such as the production of paper. This led to a massive uprising. In November 1794, a

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 ...

was established. The 7th ''daimyō'' of Iyo-Yoshida, was the son of the ''daimyō'' of Uwajima, Date Muranaga, and the 8th ''daimyō'' of Iyo-Yoshida, was the younger brother of the ''daimyō'' of Uwajima, Date Munenari. During 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 ...

, Iyo-Yoshida was a supporter of the shogunate, but was restrained from any active participation 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 ...

by Uwajima Domain, and thus escaped punishment by 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 ...

. After the

in July 1871, Iyo-Yoshida Domain became "Yoshida Prefecture" which was merged with "Uwajima Prefecture" "Ozu Prefecture" and "Niiya Prefecture" to form the new "Uwajima Prefecture, which later became part of Ehime Prefecture.

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 ...

, Iyo-Yoshida Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned ''

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 ...

'', 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
At the end of the 16th century, the Chōsokabe family's ''kokudaka'' of Tosa Province was only 98,000 ''koku'' per the Taiko land survey. The Yamauchi clan had an official ''kokudaka'' of 202,600 ''koku'', but when the rival

Tokushima Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Awa Province and Awaji Province in what is now Tokushima Prefecture and Awaji Island of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Tokushima ...

gained

Awaji Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan covering Awaji Island, between Honshū and Shikoku.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Awaji''" in . Today it is part of Hyōgo Prefecture. It is sometimes called . Awaj ...

in 1615 and raised its ''kokudaka'' from 170,000 to 257,000 ''koku'', Tosa Domain also demanded that its kokudaka be reassess as 257,000 ''koku'', so that it would not lose prestige and be considered inferior to Tokushima. The shogunate refused the demand and Tosa Domain remained at 202,600 ''koku''. However, this was an official, nominal, value, and the actual ''kokudaka'' of the domain is estimated to have been at least 494,000 ''koku''. *

Iyo Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa Province (Tokushima), Awa to the east ...

**87 villages in Uwa District

List of daimyō

References

{{Domains of Shikoku Domains of Japan History of Ehime Prefecture Iyo Province Shikoku region Date clan 1657 establishments in Japan States and territories established in 1657 1871 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1871

History

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

List of daimyō

See also

References