was a feudal domain 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

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

(modern-day

Akita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its geographic area is 1 ...

), Japan. It was centered on Yashima

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'' hous ...

in the former town of

Yashima, Akita was a List of towns in Japan, town located in Yuri District, Akita, Yuri District, Akita Prefecture, Japan. In 2003, the town had an estimated population of 5,880 and a population density, density of 47.56 persons per km². The total area was 123. ...

, in what is now part of the city of Yurihonjō, Akita.

History

The Ikoma clan was originally a powerful 171,800-'' koku'' ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' clan ruling

Takamatsu Domain 270px, Matsudaira Yoritoshi. pre-1903 270px, Takamatsu Castle Tsukimi Yagura was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Takamatsu C ...

Sanuki Province was a province of Japan in the area of northeastern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Sanuki''" in . Sanuki bordered on Awa to the south, and Iyo to the west. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system ...

. However, the Ikoma were dispossessed in 1640 due to gross mismanagement by

Ikoma Takatoshi was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who ruled the Takamatsu Domain. He was the son-in-law of Doi Toshikatsu. Takatoshi lost rulership of the Takamatsu domain due to an uprising within the fief. The shogunate attaindered his dom ...

which resulted in an ''

O-Ie Sōdō O-Ie Sōdō (, "house strife") were noble family disputes within the samurai and aristocratic classes of Japan, particularly during the early Edo period (17th century). The most famous is the '' Date Sōdō'', which broke out among the Date family ...

'' by his retainers. 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 ...

reassigned the clan to the newly created 10,000 ''koku'' Yashima Domain in the inhospitable foothills of Mount Chōkai in central

, where Ikoma Takatoshi was ordered to remain under house arrest for over 20 years. Furthermore, in 1659 his son and heir Ikoma Takakiyo was forced to divide 2000 ''koku'' of his inheritance to a younger brother, and thus the clan lost its status as a ''

'' clan, and was reduced to the ranks of the ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' Howev ...

.'' Forced to reside in Edo, the Ikoma administered their territory as absentee landlords through local administrator; however, the high taxation and tyranny of the administrators led to repeated peasant uprisings and eventually a direct appeal by the peasants to the government, especially in 1677. In 1780, ''

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 Ieharu Tokugawa Ieharu (徳川家治) (June 20, 1737 – September 17, 1786) was the tenth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office from 1760 to 1786. His childhood name was Takechiyo (竹千代). Ieharu died in 1786 and given ...

allowed the head of the clan to visit his holdings under the ''

sankin-kōtai ''Sankin-kōtai'' ( ja, 参覲交代/参覲交替, now commonly written as ja, 参勤交代/参勤交替, lit=alternate attendance, label=none) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history.Jansen, M ...

'' system. During the Boshin War, the Ikoma clan initially signed 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 ...

agreement, but quickly switched sides on the approach of the forces of pro-Imperial Shinjō Domain. 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 ...

rewarded the Ikoma for their quick defection from the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei in 1868 with an increase in revenues to 15,200 ''koku'', restoring the clan to the ranks of the daimyo after 250 years. The new Yashima Domain was rewarded a further 1,000 ''koku'' in 1869, with control of 47 villages in what became

Yuri District, Akita was a rural district located in southern Akita Prefecture, Japan. On October 1, 2005, the towns of Kisakata, Konoura and Nikaho were merged to create the city of Nikaho. Therefore, Yuri District was dissolved as a result of this merger. His ...

. However, 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) ...

in July 1871, Yashima Domain was absorbed into Akita Prefecture. In 1884, the adopted son of the final daimyo was granted the title of baron (''danshaku'') 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.

List of ''daimyōs''

Ikoma clan ('' tozama'') 1640–1658; 1868–1871

History

List of ''daimyōs''

Further reading