Nobeoka Domain

270px, Naito Masataka, final ''daimyō'' of Nobeoka Domain

was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now central Miyazaki Prefecture. It was centered around Nobeoka Castle in what is now the city of Nobeoka, Miyazaki and was ruled by the ''fudai daimyō'' Naitō clan for much of its later of its history. In its early history, it was called

History

The start of Nabeoka Domain can be traced to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's conquest of Kyūshū, when Takahashi Mototane of Buzen Province conquered a 50,000 ''koku'' territory centered around Matsuo Castle in southern Nobeoka. In the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara, he defected with a coalition of smaller feudal lords in southern Kyushu to the Eastern Army, and as a result was confirmed in his holdings under the new Tokugawa shogunate. In 1601 he constructed Agata Castle, which was later renamed Nobeoka Castle. However, he fell afoul of the shogunate's politics in 1613 and was relieved of his territory. In his place, the shogunate transferred Arima Naozumi from Hinoe Domain in Hizen Province. Under the rule of his son Arima Yasuzumi, the castle town was redeveloped into its present layout and the castle was repaired. In June 1656 he donated a bell to the Imayama Hachimangu Shrine, which is the first written inscription of the name "Nobeoka" in place of "Agata". He also reduced the domain by 3000 ''koku'' by establishing his younger brother as head of a cadet house. The third Arima ''daimyō'', Kiyozumi, further reduced the domain by 1800 ''koku'' to his younger brother and another 1000 ''koku'' to his third brother. In 1690, there was a massive peasant uprising caused by the tyrannical practices of one of his local magistrates. The uprising lasted 11 months and was only resolved through direct intervention by the shogunate. As a result, Kiyozumi was demoted and transferred to Itoigawa Domain in Echigo Province with a reduction in status to 50,000 ''koku''.

In 1692, the ''fudai daimyō'' Miura Akitaka was transferred to Nobeoka from Mibu Domain in Shimotsuke Province, but with a ''kokudaka'' of only 23,000 ''koku''. He was the southernmost of the ''fudai daimyō'' . Despite his low ''kokudaka'', he worked hard to settle the aftermath of the peasant uprisings, and to resolve boundary disputes with Takanabe Domain and Bungo Province that had continued for decades. he also appears to have resolved the problem of the large differential between the official ''kokudaka'' of the domain and its actual ''kokudaka''. In 1712, he was transferred to Kariya Domain in Mikawa Province.

In his place, Makino Narinaka was transferred from Yoshida Domain in Mikawa Province with a ''kokudaka'' of 80,000 ''koku''. His domain extended into Ōita District, Kunisaki District, and Hayami District in Bungo Province. His son, Makino Sadamichi, rose through the ranks of the shogunal administration to become ''Kyoto Shoshidai'' in 1742, and some 30,000 ''koku'' of his holdings were widely scattered across Kawachi, Ōmi, Tanba, and Mino Provinces. However, with the promotions to high office came high expenses and the domain was in constant fiscal arrears. In 1747, the Makino clan was transferred to Kasama Domain in Hitachi Province.

Nobeoka was then assigned to Naitō Masaki, who had been demoted from Iwakidaira Domain in Mutsu Province over a peasant revolt. His former holdings were 130,000 ''koku'', but in Nobeoka he was allowed only 70,000 ''koku''. The Naitō would continue to rule Nobeoka for eight generations and 124 years to the Meiji restoration. The Naitō clan's reign was plagued by financial difficulties and resulting uprisings, and the clan had a rare record of inheritance through adopted children as no male heirs lived to maturity. Successive feudal lords worked hard to reform the domain's administration, and in particular, the sixth ''daimyō'', Masayori, forcibly confiscated the business privileges of merchants and strengthened the monopoly system. He focused his efforts on producing wax, Japanese paper, and rapeseed. The seventh ''daimyō'', Masayoshi, was Ii Naosuke's half-brother, and was adopted from Hikone Domain. He rebuilt the han school Kōgyōkan.

During the Bakumatsu period, the domain had troops stationed in Osaka and was assigned security duties under orders from the shogunate due to their the domain's position as a ''fudai'' domain. This resulted in the domain being declared an "enemy of the court" after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, although its was the official position of the domain was to side with the new Meiji government. Satsuma Domain and Kumamoto Domain were asked to intercede on the domain's behalf, and Nobeoka received a pardon; albeit the Meiji government still did not fully trust Nobeoka and the domain forces were assigned only to rear guard duties for the rest of the Boshin War.

In 1871, Nobeoka Domain became Nobeoka Prefecture due to the abolition of the han system. Later, it was incorporated into Miyazaki Prefecture via "Mimitsu Prefecture", "Miyazaki Prefecture", and Kagoshima Prefecture. In 1884, the Naitō family was elevated to the ''kazoku'' peerage and became a viscount in 1884.

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

As with most domains in the han system, Nobeoka Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned ''kokudaka'', based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987)
''Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century,'' p. 18

*Hyūga Province
**63 villages in Usuki District
**24 villages in Miyazaki District
*Bungo Province
**32 villages in Kunisaki District
**16 villages in Hayami District
**36 villages in Oita District

List of daimyō

:

See also

* List of Han
* Abolition of the han system

References

{{Authority control

Domains of Japan
History of Miyazaki Prefecture
Kyushu region
Hyūga Province