was a feudal domain under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

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 ...

Japan, located in Tsuga District of Shimotsuke Province (modern-day Tochigi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Mibu Castle in what is now part of the town of Mibu, Tochigi. Mibu was ruled through much of its history by a branch of the '' fudai'' Torii clan.

History

The Mibu clan, which had ruled this area since the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

was destroyed at the Battle of Odawara in 1590, and their lands came under the control of the Yūki clan. After the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara ( Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 ( Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fel ...

assigned a 19,000 ''koku'' holding in this area to Hineno Yoshiaki, formerly of Takashima Domain in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo Province, Echigo, Etchū Province, Etchū, Hida Province, Hida, Kai Province, Kai, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Mikawa Province, Mikawa, Mino Province, Mi ...

in 1602. Hineno was instrumental in the construction of the Nikkō Tōshō-gū complex, and was rewarded for his efforts in 1634 by a transfer to Funai Domain (20,000 ''koku''). Mibu was assigned to Abe Tadaaki, who has served as a ''

Rōjū The , usually translated as ''Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two '' sh� ...

'' to ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Tokugawa Iemitsu Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光, August 12, 1604 – June 8, 1651) was the third '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, ...

, with revenues raised to 25,000 ''koku''. He was reassigned in 1639 to Oishi Domain in

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

. Mibu then came under the control of the

Miura clan Miura may refer to: Places * Miura, Kanagawa *Miurakaigan Station * Miura District, Kanagawa *Miura Peninsula * Ganadería Miura, the home of the Miura fighting bull line People * Miura (surname) * Miura clan, Japanese descended clan of the Ta ...

, for three generations, until the transfer of '' wakadoshiyori'' Miura Akihiro to Nobeoka Domain in 1692. ''Shōgun''

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, as well as the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.Nussbaum, Louis-F ...

then assigned the domain to Matsudaira Terusada, with an increase in size to 32,000 ''koku'', and then 42,000 ''koku''; however, he remained for only 3 years until his reassignment to Takasaki Domain. The domain was then reduced back to 25,000 ''koku'' and given to Katō Akihide, also a former ''wakadoshiyori'', who made many attempts to reform the domain’s finances and administration. After his son, Katō Yoshinori was transferred to

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

in 1712, Mibu came under the control of the Torii clan, who then ruled 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 ...

. The 6th ''daimyō'', Torii Tadatomi, sided with the Satchō Alliance in the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, and fought in the Battle of Aizu, despite considerable opposition within the ranks of his samurai. The final ''daimyō'', Torii Tadafumi was later raised to the rank of

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...

in the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...

'' peerage system, and served as the Japanese consul to the Kingdom of Hawaii. After 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 July 1871, Mibu Domain became part of Tochigi Prefecture. The domain had a samurai-class population of 1693 people in 437 households, per a census in 1870.

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

As with most domains 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) ...

, Mibu 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. ...

'', 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.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987)
''Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century'', p. 18
* Shimotsuke Province **38 villages in Tsuga District * Shimōsa Province **1 village in Katsushika District **4 villages in Sashima District **15 villages in Yuki District *

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, ...

**4 villages in Katsuge District * Harima Province **25 villages in Mino District **4 villages in Kato District

List of ''daimyōs''

References

* * Bolitho, Harold. (1974). ''Treasures among men; the fudai daimyo in Tokugawa Japan''. New Haven: Yale University Press. *Kodama Kōta 児玉幸多, Kitajima Masamoto 北島正元 (1966). ''Kantō no shohan'' 関東の諸藩. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha.

External links

"Mibu" at Edo 300

Notes

{{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 Shimotsuke Province History of Tochigi Prefecture Abe clan Ōkōchi-Matsudaira clan Torii clan