300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of

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 Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was ruled throughout its history by the

Nanbu clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Ge ...

. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province,

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

, covering the eastern half of what is now

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

and the northern two-thirds of what is now

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

and the Kazuno District of what is now

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

. The domain was centered at Morioka Castle in the city of

Morioka is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 August 2023, the city had an estimated population of 283,981 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of t ...

. For most of its history, Morioka Domain had an official '' kokudaka'' of 100,000 ''

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 ...

'', although its actual revenues were much higher. Towards the end of the Edo period, the domain’s status was raised to 200,000 ''koku''.

History

The Nanbu clan was a branch of the

Seiwa Genji The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto members, including Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Minamoto no Yoritomo, ...

originally from Kai Province, who settled in what is now the town of Nanbu, Aomori after the conquest of the Hiraizumi Fujiwara by

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

. Along with the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

Satsuma Province was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Satsuma" in . Its abbreviation was . History Satsuma's provincial capital was Satsumasendai. Dur ...

, the Nanbu clan has the distinction of being one of the two clans which held onto their territories for over 700 years, from the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

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 ...

. In July 1590, the 26th chieftain of the Nanbu clan, Nanbu Nobunao, made an oath of fealty to

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: ...

at the Siege of Odawara, and was officially confirmed as ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of seven districts of northern Mutsu province (Nukanobu, Hei, Kazuno, Kuji, Iwate, Shiwa and Tōno). Hideyoshi assisted in the suppression of the Kunohe Rebellion of 1591 which secured Nobunao's position as head of all the branches of the Nanbu clan. However, Hideyoshi also recognised the independence of the

Tsugaru clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northwestern half of what is now Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tsugaru were ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain and its semi-subsidiary, ...

, former Nanbu retainers, and their control over the three districts of Tsugaru Peninsula, but gave the Nanbu clan the additional districts of Hienuki and Waga as compensation. Nanbu Nobunao relocated his seat from Sannohe Castle to the more central location of Morioka, and began work on Morioka Castle and its surrounding

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

in 1592. In 1600, 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, ...

, Nanbu Nobunao's son Nanbu Toshinao was confirmed by

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 ...

as ''daimyō'' with an assessed ''kokudaka'' of 100,000 ''koku''. This marks the official start of Morioka 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 ...

. In 1627, in order to strengthen its southern border against the

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 ...

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 ...

, a branch of the Nanbu clan from Ne Castle near Hachinohe was relocated to Tōno, forming a subsidiary line. In 1634, Nukanobu District was divided into the four districts of Sannohe, Ninohe, Kunohe and Kita by order of the ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers 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, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who acted as his political adviser and was at the ...

, giving the Nanbu clan control over a total of 10 districts of Mutsu province. In 1664, the 20,000 ''koku'' Hachinohe Domain was split from Morioka Domain as a nominally subsidiary domain."Hachinohe-han" on Edo 300 HTML
(accessed 15 August 2008) However, relations between Morioka and Hachinohe were often strained and Hachinohe was considered independent, rather than a subsidiary. Morioka Domain was thus reduced to 80,000 ''koku'', but was able to develop new rice lands, and reverted to 100,000 ''koku'' status in 1683. The 5th ''daimyō'', Nanbu Yukinobu, reduced the domain to 92,000 ''koku'' by setting up his two younger brothers as ''

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 ...

'' with 5000 ''koku'' and 3000 ''koku'' each. In 1808, the Tokugawa shogunate assigned the Nanbu clan responsibility for the defence of a portion of southern Ezo. The nominal ''kokudaka'' for Morioka clan was raised to 200,000 ''koku''"Morioka-han" on Edo 300 HTML
(accessed 15 August 2008) and their status from "castle-holding ''daimyō''" to "province-holding ''daimyō''". However, this increase in status came without any actual increase in territory, and the additional actual revenues from trading posts established in Ezo was small. The result was to plunge the domain’s finances, already suffering from repeated crop failures due to inclement weather and reduction in output from its copper mines, into the red. In 1819, the subsidiary Shichinohe Domain was created out of 6000 ''koku'' of new rice land combined with a 5000-''koku'' ''hatamoto'' holding."Shichinohe-han" on Edo 300 HTML
(accessed 15 August 2008) In 1821, the Sōma Daisaku incident, in which a retainer of the Nanbu clan attempted to assassinate the ''daimyō'' of Tsugaru Domain occurred. The Nanbu clan and the Tsugaru clan had been enemies for centuries. This was the same year during which the domain faced its most serious crisis. The 11th ''daimyō'', Nanbu Toshimochi, died at the age of 13 before he could be formally received in audience by ''

Tokugawa Ienari Tokugawa Ienari (, 18 November 1773 – 22 March 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991) ''Early Modern Japan'', p. 21./ref> ...

. Fearing that this could be used by the shogunate as a cause for

attainder In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

, the domain leaders substituted a cousin of similar age and appearance to take his place. In 1840, a han school was established, and began promoting studies in ''

rangaku ''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: , ), and by extension , is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the countr ...

'' (western science), especially western medicine. During the Bakumatsu period, in 1857 the 14th ''daimyō'' of Morioka, Nanbu Toshihisa, married the third daughter of

Tokugawa Nariaki Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川斉昭, April 4, 1800 – September 29, 1860) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' who ruled the Mito Domain (now Ibaraki Prefecture) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji Restoration. Biography Clan leader ...

of Mito Domain. 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 initially attempted to remain neutral, but bowed to pressure from

and joined the

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black ...

. Morioka forces attacked the pro-Imperial Tsugaru Domain and Akita Domain.Onodera, ''Boshin nanboku sensō to Tōhoku seiken'', p. 149. As a result, 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 ...

treated Nanbu clan harshly at the end of the war by seizing the territory and expelling the Nanbu clan to the vacant Shiroishi Castle, where a new 130,000 ''koku'' domain was created out of former Sendai Domain lands in early 1868. Six months later, the Nanbu petitioned to return to Morioka, to which the government agreed provided that they paid a penalty of 700,000 gold ''

ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the '' yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Ja ...

''. Although this sum proved impossible amount to raise, the Nanbu were allowed to return shortly before 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) ...

. The lands of former Morioka Domain became Morioka Prefecture, which subsequently became part of Iwate Prefecture in January 1872.

List of ''daimyōs''

('' tozama'') 1599–1871

Genealogy

* 15px I. Nanbu Toshinao, 1st ''daimyō'' of Morioka (cr. 1599) (1576–1632; r. 1599–1632) ** 15px II. Shigenao, 2nd ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1606–1664; r. 1632–1664) ** 15px III. Shigenobu, 3rd ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1616–1702; r. 1664–1692) *** 15px IV. Yukinobu, 4th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1642–1702; r. 1692–1702) **** 15px V. Nobuoki, 5th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1678–1707; r. 1702–1705) ***** 15px VII. Toshimi, 7th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1708–1752; r. 1725–1752) ****** 15px IX. Toshimasa, 9th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1751–1784; r. 1780–1784) ******* 15px X. Toshitaka, 10th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1782–1820; r. 1784–1820) ******son ******* Nobusuke ******** 15px XI (a). Toshimichi I, 11th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1808–1821; r. 1820–1821) ******son ******* Nobutoro ******** 15px XI (b). Toshimichi II, 12th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1803–1825; r. 1821–1825) **** 15px VI. Toshitomo, 6th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1689–1725; r. 1705–1725) ***** VIII. Toshikatsu, 8th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1724–1780; r. 1752–1779) ****** Toshinori (1746–1814) ******* 15px XII. Toshitada, 12th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1797–1855; r. 1825–1847) ******** 15px XIII. Toshitomo, 13th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1824–1888; r. 1847–1848) ******** 15px XIV. Toshihisa, 14th ''daimyō'' of Morioka (1827–1896; r. 1848–1868) ********* 15px XV. Toshiyuki, 15th ''daimyō'' of Morioka, 41st family head, 1st Count (1855–1903; Lord: 1868–1869; Governor: 1869–1871; 41st family head: 1868–1903; Count: cr. 1884) **********Toshinaga, 2nd Count, 42nd family head (1882 – k.i.a. in Manchuria, 1905; 42nd family head and 2nd Count: 1903–1905) ********** Toshiatsu, 3rd Count, 43rd family head (1884–1930; 43rd family head and 3rd Count: 1905–1930) *********** Mizuko (1908–1980), m. Nanbu (Ichijō) Toshihide, 4th Count, 44th family head (1907–1980; 44th family head: 1930–1980; 4th Count: 1930–1947) ************Toshihisa (1932–1980) ************* Toshifumi, 46th family head (b. 1970; 46th family head: 2009–) ************ Toshiaki, 45th family head (1935–2009; 45th family head: 1980–2009)

Bakumatsu period holdings

Like 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 ...

, Morioka Domain consisted of discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned '' kokudaka'', 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 Tokugawa shogunate, the domain consisted of the following holdings: * Mutsu Province ** 68 villages in Ninohe District ** all of Kita District * Mutsu Province ( Rikuchū Province) ** 85 villages in Iwate District ** 68 villages in Hienuki District ** 69 villages in Waga District ** 138 villages in Hei District ** 70 villages in Kakuno District ** 71 villages in Shiwa District ** 11 villages in Kunohe District * Mutsu Province ( Iwashiro Province) ** 8 villages in Date District * Ezo (

Iburi Province , also called Ifuri, was a short-lived Provinces of Japan, province located in Hokkaidō. It corresponds to modern-day Iburi Subprefecture, Yamakoshi District, Hokkaidō, Yamakoshi District of Oshima Subprefecture, Oshima, Abuta District, Hokkai ...

) ** southeastern Muroran District ** Horobetsu District **southwest Abuta District

In popular culture

In fiction, the Morioka domain is the setting for sections of the novel '' Mibugishiden'', as well as the film '' The Twilight Samurai''.

Notes

References

*''The content of this article was largely derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' * *Sasaki Suguru 佐々木克 (1977). ''Boshin sensō: haisha no Meiji ishin'' 戊辰戦争: 敗者の明治維新. Tokyo: Chūōkōronsha 中央公論社. *Noguchi, Shin'ichi (2005). ''Aizu-han''. Tokyo: Gendai shaken

External links

Morioka on "Edo 300 HTML"

{{Authority control Domains of Japan History of Aomori Prefecture History of Iwate Prefecture History of Akita Prefecture Nanbu clan Mutsu Province