Kishiwada Castle Kishiwada Osaka pref Japan02s5

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

Izumi Province :''The characters ''泉州'' are also used for the name of the Chinese city of Quanzhou''. was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of southern Osaka Prefecture. It bordered on Kii Province, Kii to the south, Yamato Province, Ya ...

in what is now the southern portion of modern-day

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

. It was centered around Kishiwada Castle and was controlled by the ''

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 ...

'' Okabe clan throughout much of its history.

History

Kishiwada Domain was founded in 1585, when

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

installed his maternal uncle, Koide Hidemasa as castellan of Kishiwada Castle. At first, he was allotted 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 only 4,000 ''

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 ...

'', but this was increased to 10,000 ''koku'' in 1594 and 30,000 ''koku'' in 1595. In 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, ...

, Koide Hidemasa and his eldest son Koida Yoshimasa were with the defeated Western Army loyal to the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

. However, Koide hedged his bets by having his second son, Koide Hideie, side with the Eastern Army under

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 as a result, Koide Hideie inherited the domain in 1601 under the new

and received an increase to 50,000 ''koku'' in 1613. He was transferred to

Izushi Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Tajima Province in what is now the northern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered initially around Izushi Castle in what is now the Izushi n ...

Tajima Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northern Hyōgo Prefecture. Tajima bordered on Tango Province, Tango and Tanba Province, Tanba to the east, Harima Province, Harima to the south, and Inaba Province, Inaba to the west. ...

in 1619. The Koide were replaced by Matsudaira Yasushige, formerly of Shinoyama Domain in

Tamba Province was a province of Japan in the area of central Kyoto and east-central Hyōgo Prefectures. Tanba bordered on Harima, Ōmi, Settsu, Tajima. Tango, Wakasa, and Yamashiro provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichid ...

. As he was from the Matsui-Matsudaira clan, the domain changed from a ''tozama'' to a ''fudai'' domain at this time. As the lands of Kishiwada Domain were very fertile and flat, and due to advances in

rice cultivation The history of rice cultivation is an interdisciplinary subject that studies archaeological and documentary evidence to explain how rice was first domesticated and cultivated by humans, the spread of cultivation to different regions of the planet ...

, Matsunaga petitioned the shogunate to raise his official ''kokudaka'' from 50,000 to 60,000 ''koku''. In 1640, his son Matsudaira Yasuteru used this extra ''kokudaka'' to provide a 5000 ''koku'' ''

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 ...

'' holding for his nephew Yasuaki and 3000 and 2000 ''koku'' holdings for his younger brothers Yasunori and Yasunori. However, the same year, he was transferred to Yamasaki Domain in

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During th ...

. The domain was then awarded to Okabe Nobukatsu, Matsudaira Yasuteru's father-in-law, who was transferred from Takatsuki Domain in

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...

. The domain would remain in the hands of the Okabe clan 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. Okabe Nobukatsu's first task was to take steps to avoid a peasant revolt, created by the extra taxes which had been imposed due to Matsudaira Yasushige's increase in ''kokudaka''. He also renovated Kishiwada Castle and sponsored the repair or construction of many shrines and temples. In 1661, his son and successor Okabe Yukitaka gave 5000 ''koku'' to his younger brother Takanari and 2,000 ''koku'' to his brother Toyoake. This reduced the domain from 60,000 ''koku'' to 53,000 ''koku''. During the tenure of the 3rd ''daimyō'' Okabe Nagayasu, the ''

Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri The , held in Kishiwada, Osaka, is one of the most famous Danjiri Matsuri festivals in Japan. The festival is a parade involving large wooden shrine Matsuri float, floats that are pulled at a high speed by a large team of men. History The festi ...

'' festival was established at Kishiwada in celebration of a good harvest and then installation of a branch of the Fushimi Inari Taisha from Kyoto to the Sannomaru of Kishiwada Castle. The 4th ''daimyō'' Okabe Nagataka reformed the clan's military system and established a military training school from 1722. As the domain had significant sources of income from

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

cultivation and the production of cotton and cotton cloth in addition to its rice cultivation, the domain survived the 1675 famine and

1707 Hōei earthquake The struck south-central Japan at around 13:45 local time on 28 October. It was the largest earthquake in Japanese history until it was surpassed by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. It caused moderate-to-severe damage throughout southwestern Hons ...

without much difficulties; however, the clan's finances began to deteriorate and despite efforts by successive ''daimyō'' at reforms, the domain entered 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 ...

without noticeable improvement in its fiscal position. During the 1837 Oshio Heihachiro Rebellion, troops from Kishiwada were called upon to protect

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 ...

. The 11th ''daimyō'' Okabe Nagayuki, opened 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 ...

in 1852, and this was expanded under his successor, Okabe Nagahiro in 1866. The

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

of the domain were divided into pro-shogunate and 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; however, 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 ...

the domain sided with 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 ...

. In 1871, the domain became Kishiwada Prefecture with 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) ...

, and subsequently was merged into Sakai Prefecture and then Osaka Prefecture. The final ''daimyō'' of Kishiwada, Okabe Nagatomo served in key positions in the

, including Secretary-General of the House of Peers Deputy Foreign Minister,

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Governor of Tokyo The is the head of government of Tokyo. In 1943, upon the unification of Tokyo City and Tokyo Prefecture (1868–1943), Tokyo Prefecture into Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the position of Governor was created. Previously, the prefecture had a ...

, member of the Privy Council. He received 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

Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

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 ...

, Kishiwada 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
*

**3 villages in Ōtori District **2 villages in Izumi District **55 villages in Minami District **40 villages in Hine District

List of daimyō

References

{{Authority control Domains of Japan 1601 establishments in Japan States and territories established in 1601 1871 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1871 Izumi Province History of Osaka Prefecture

History

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

List of daimyō

See also

Further reading

References