The , also known as the , was a

domain Domain may refer to: Mathematics *Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined ** Domain of definition of a partial function ** Natural domain of a partial function **Domain of holomorphy of a function * ...

(''han'') of the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

during the

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 ...

from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005)
''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81
The Chōshū Domain was based at

Hagi Castle , also known as Shizuki Castle, was a Japanese castle located in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Hagi Castle was built in 1604 at the beginning of the Edo period as the main castle of the Mōri clan, and served as the seat of the Chōshū Domain for ...

in Nagato Province, in the modern city of Hagi, located in the

Chūgoku region The , also known as the region, is the westernmost region of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, and Yamaguchi. In 2010, it had a population of 7,563,428. History ''Ch ...

of the island of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...

. The Chōshū Domain was ruled for its existence by the '' tozama'' ''

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 ...

'' of the Mōri, whose branches also ruled the neighboring

Chōfu is a city in the western side of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 238,087, and a population density of 11,000 per km². the total area of the city is . Geography Chōfu is approximately in the south-center o ...

and Kiyosue domains, and was assessed under the '' Kokudaka'' system with peak value of 369,000 '' koku''. The Chōshū Domain was the most prominent anti-Tokugawa domain and formed the

Satchō Alliance The , or was a powerful military alliance between the feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. History The name ''Satchō'' () i ...

with the rival Satsuma Domain during 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 ...

, becoming instrumental in the establishment of the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent form ...

and the Meiji oligarchy. The Chōshū Domain was dissolved in the abolition of the han system in 1871 by the

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 ...

and its territory was absorbed into

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture t ...

History

The rulers of Chōshū were the descendants of the great Sengoku warlord Mōri Motonari. Motonari was able to extend his power over all of the

of Japan and occupied a territory worth 1,200,000 koku. After he died, his grandson and heir Mōri Terumoto became ''

'' and implemented a strategy of alliance with

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

. This would later prove to be a great mistake. After Hideyoshi's death, the ''daimyō''

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 fello ...

challenged the Toyotomi power and battled with Hideyoshi's trusted advisor

Ishida Mitsunari Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the ...

at 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 ...

. Mōri Terumoto was the most powerful ally of the Toyotomi and was elected by a council of Toyotomi loyalists to be the titulary head of the Toyotomi force. However the Toyotomi forces lost the battle due to several factors tied to Mōri Terumoto: * His cousin Kikkawa Hiroie secretly made a deal with Tokugawa Ieyasu resulting in the inactivity of 15,000 Mōri soldiers during the battle. * His adopted cousin Kobayakawa Hideaki and his 15,600 soldiers betrayed Ishida and joined the Tokugawa side. * After assurances from Tokugawa Ieyasu, Terumoto gave up the formidable Osaka castle without a fight. Despite its inactivity, the

Mōri clan The Mōri clan (毛利氏 ''Mōri-shi'') was a Japanese samurai clan descended from Ōe no Hiromoto. Ōe no Hiromoto was descended from the Fujiwara clan. The family's most illustrious member, Mōri Motonari, greatly expanded the clan's power ...

was removed from its ancestral home in Aki to Nagato Province (also known as Chōshū), and its holdings were drastically reduced from 1,200,000 to 369,000 koku. This was seen as a great act of betrayal to the Mōri clan, and Chōshū later became a hotbed of anti-Tokugawa activities. The origins of this were evident in the tradition of the clan's New Year's meeting. Every year during the meeting, the elders and the administrators would ask the daimyo whether the time to overthrow the shogunate had come, to which the daimyo would reply: "Not yet, the shogunate is still too powerful." This dream would eventually be realized some 260 years later, when the domain joined forces with the Satsuma Domain and sympathetic court nobles to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1865, the domain bought a war-ship ''Union'' ( ja) from Glover and Co., an agency of Jardine Matheson established in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

, in the name of Satsuma Domain. They led the fight against the armies of the former shōgun, which included the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei,

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princi ...

, and the Ezo Republic, during 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 clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

. The domains' military forces of 1867 through 1869 also formed the foundation for the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

. Thanks to this alliance, Chōshū and Satsuma natives enjoyed political and societal prominence well into the Meiji and even Taishō eras.

Economics

The initial reduction of 1.2 million to 369,000 '' koku'' resulted in a large shortfall in terms of military upkeep and infrastructure maintenance, despite which the domain remained the seventh-largest in Japan outside the shogunate-controlled domains. In order to bring the domain's finances out of debt, strict policies were enforced on the retainers: * All retainers' fiefs were drastically reduced. * Some retainers who were paid in land began to be paid in rice. * Some retainers were laid off and encouraged to engage in agriculture. Previously, as a result of high taxation, farmers secretly developed farms far inside the mountains as a private food source. A new land survey was conducted within the domain in which many hidden farms were discovered and taxed. The domain also began a strict policy with regard to trade. Laws were also passed through which the profitable trade of the "four whites" was controlled by the domain: paper, rice, salt, and wax. Some of the profits, and a large amount of the tax revenue from this trade, went into the domain coffers. These policies greatly strengthened the domain's finances and allowed the daimyo more effective control over his territory. However, these policies angered peasants and displaced samurai alike, resulting in frequent revolts.

Politics

The capital of the domain was the castle town of Hagi, which was the source of Chōshū's alternate name of Hagi han (萩藩). The domain remained under the rule of the Mōri family for the duration of the

. Because the shogunate frequently confiscated domains whose daimyo were unable to produce heirs, the Mōri daimyo created four subordinate han ruled by branches of the family: * Iwakuni han: 60,000 ''koku'', ruled by descendants of Kikkawa Hiroie. * Chōfū han: 50,000 ''koku'', ruled by descendants of Mōri Hidemoto. * Tokuyama han: 40,000 ''koku'', ruled by descendants of Mōri Naritaka. * Kiyosue han: 10,000 ''koku'', ruled by descendants of Mōri Mototomo. During the Edo period, the main branch died out in 1707, after which heirs were adopted from the Chōfu branch, which also became extinct in 1751. The family then continued through the Kiyosue branch. The Mōri daimyo, as with many of his counterparts throughout Japan, was assisted in the government of his domain by a group of karō, or domain elders. There were two kinds of karō in Chōshū: hereditary ''karō'' (whose families retained the rank in perpetuity) and the "lifetime ''karō''", whose rank was granted to an individual but could not be inherited by his son. The hereditary karō were either members of minor branches of the Mōri family, or members of related families such as the Shishido and the Fukuhara, or descendants of Mōri Motonari's most trusted generals and advisors such as the Mazuda, the Kuchiba and the Kunishi. The lifetime ''karō'' were middle or lower samurai who displayed great talent in economics or politics and were promoted to ''karō'' by the ''daimyō''. One such person was the great reformer Murata Seifu.

List of ''daimyōs''

('' Tozama'', 369,000 '' koku''), 1600–1871

Simplified family tree of the main Mōri line (Lords of Chōshū)

*Mōri Motonari (1497–1571) **Takamoto (1523–1563) *** I. Terumoto, 1st Lord of Chōshū (cr. 1600) (1553–1625; r. 1600–1623) **** II. Hidenari, 2nd Lord of Chōshū (1595–1651; r. 1623–1651) ***** III. Tsunahiro, 3rd Lord of Chōshū (1639–1689; r. 1651–1682) ****** IV. Yoshinari, 4th Lord of Chōshū (1668–1694; r. 1682–1694). ****** V. Yoshihiro, 5th Lord of Chōshū (1673–1707; r. 1694–1707) ****Naritaka, 1st Lord of Tokuyama (1602–1679) *****Mototsugu, 3rd Lord of Tokuyama (1667–1719) ******Hirotoyo, 5th Lord of Tokuyama (1705–1773) *******Nariyoshi, 7th Lord of Tokuyama (1750–1828) ********Hiroshige, 8th Lord of Tokuyama (1777–1866) ********* XV. Motonori, 15th Lord of Chōshū, 1st Prince (1839–1896; r. 1869, Governor of Hagi 1869–1871, family head 1871–1896, created 1st Prince 1884) **********Motoaki, 29th family head, 2nd Prince (1865–1938; 29th family head and 2nd Prince 1896–1938) ***********Motomichi, 30th family head, 3rd Prince (1903–1976; 30th family head 1938–1976, 3rd Prince to 1947) ************Motoyoshi, 31st family head (1930– ; 31st family head 1976–) ************* Motoei (born 1967) ** Motokiyo (1551–1597) ***Hidemoto, 1st Lord of Chōfū (1579–1650) ****Mitsuhiro, 2nd Lord of Chōfū (1616–1653) *****Tsunamoto, 3rd Lord of Chōfū (1650–1709) ****** VI. Yoshimoto, 6th Lord of Chōshū (1677–1731; r. 1707–1731) ******* VII. Munehiro, 7th Lord of Chōshū (1715–1751; r. 1731–1751) ****Mototomo, 1st Lord of Kiyosue (1631–1683) *****Masahiro, 6th Lord of Chōfū, 2nd Lord of Kiyosue (1675–1729) ****** VIII. Shigetaka, 8th Lord of Chōshū (1725–1789; r. 1751–1782) ******* IX. Haruchika, 9th Lord of Chōshū (1754–1791; r. 1782–1791) ******** X. Narifusa, 10th Lord of Chōshū (1779–1809; r. 1791–1809) ******** XI. Narihiro, 11th Lord of Chōshū (1784–1836; r. 1809–1824) ********* XIII. Naritō, 13th Lord of Chōshū (1815–1836; r. 1836). *******Chikaaki (1766–1800) ******** XII. Narimoto, 12th Lord of Chōshū (1794–1836; r. 1824–1836) ********* XIV. Takachika, 14th Lord of Chōshū (1819–1871; r. 1836–1869) Genealogy
/ref>

Famous people

; Middle Edo period * Murata Seifū (1783–1855), conducted the Tempō reforms in Chōshū ; Bakumatsu period * Yoshida Shōin (1830–1859), educator and teacher of many reformers * Takasugi Shinsaku (1839–1867), significant contributor to

, founder of the

Kiheitai The was a volunteer militia raised by Takasugi Shinsaku of the Chōshū domain during the Bakumatsu period of Japan. Background Formed in 1863 by Takasugi Shinsaku in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the Kiheitai militia consisted of 300 men ...

* Kijima Matabei (1817–1864), swordsman, took part in the

Kinmon Incident The , also known as the , was a rebellion against the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan that took place on August 20 unar calendar: 19th day, 7th month 1864, near the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. History Starting with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1 ...

* Kunishi Shinano (1842–1864), committed seppuku to take responsibility for the

Kido Takayoshi , also known as , was a Japanese statesman, samurai and '' shishi'' who is considered one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. Early life Born Wada Kogorō in Hagi, Chōshū Domain (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture) as ...

(Kido Kōin) (1833–1877), Bakumatsu reformer, one of Three Great Nobles of the Restoration ; Meiji statesmen *

Chōshū Five The were members of the Chōshū han of western Japan who travelled to England in 1863 to study at University College London. The five students were the first of many successive groups of Japanese students who travelled overseas in the late Baku ...

** Itō Shunsuke, later

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated sa ...

(1841–1909), first Prime Minister of Japan ** Inoue Monta, later Inoue Kaoru (1836–1915), Meiji statesman **

Yamao Yōzō Viscount was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period who became an influential member of the Meiji era government of Japan. Early life Yamao was born in Aio-Futajima, a village in Chōshū domain (present day Yamaguchi prefecture), and re ...

(1837–1917), later studied engineering at the

Andersonian Institute The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

, Glasgow, 1866–68, Meiji statesman **

Endō Kinsuke was a Japanese statesman in the early Meiji period. Endō was born to a ''samurai'' family in Hagi, Chōshū Domain (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture. He was selected by the domain to be a member of the Chōshū Five who were smuggled out of ...

(1836–1893), Meiji statesman ** Nomura Yakichi, later Inoue Masaru (1843–1910), "father of the Japanese railways" * Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922), prime minister and field marshal of the Imperial Japanese Army *

Yamagata Isaburō Prince was a Japanese politician, cabinet minister, and Japanese Inspector-General of Korea. His wife was the daughter of Katō Hiroyuki. Biography Katsu Isaburō was born in Nagato Province in Chōshū Domain (present-day Yamaguchi prefecture ...

(1858–1927), nephew of Yamagata Aritomo, Minister of Communications, and first Japanese Inspector-General of Korea. *

Katsura Tarō Prince was a Japanese politician and general of the Imperial Japanese Army who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1901 to 1906, from 1908 to 1911, and from 1912 to 1913. Katsura was a distinguished general of the First Sino-Japanes ...

(1848–1913), general in the Imperial Japanese Army and three-time prime minister of Japan * Terauchi Masatake (1852–1919), Field Marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army and 18th prime minister of Japan *

Tanaka Giichi Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, politician, cabinet minister, and the Prime Minister of Japan from 1927 to 1929. Early life and military career Tanaka was born as the third son of a low-ranking ''samurai'' family in the se ...

(1864–1929), general in the Imperial Japanese Army and 26th prime minister of Japan * Aoki Shūzō (1844–1914), diplomat and

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

in Meiji Japan * Shinagawa Yajirō (1843–1900), Home Minister in early Meiji Japan * Sone Arasuke (1849–1910), politician, diplomat, cabinet minister, and second Japanese Resident-General of Korea. ;

personnel *

Ōmura Masujirō was a Japanese military leader and theorist in Bakumatsu period Japan. He was the "Father" of the Imperial Japanese Army, launching a modern military force closely patterned after the French system of the day. Early life and education Ōmura ...

(1824–1869), "Father of the modern Japanese Army" *

Ōshima Yoshimasa Viscount was a general in the early Imperial Japanese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. His great-great-grandson, Shinzō Abe was Prime Minister of Japan. Biography Ōshima was born as the eldest son to a samur ...

(1850–1926), general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the p ...

* Nogi Maresuke (1849–1912), general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and a prominent figure in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

Miura Gorō Viscount was a lieutenant general in the early Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Miura was born in Hagi in Chōshū Domain (modern Yamaguchi Prefecture), to a '' samurai'' family with the name of Andō, but was adopted by the Miura that w ...

(1847–1926), lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army *

Sakuma Samata General Count was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and 5th Governor-General of Taiwan from 11 April 1906 to May 1915. Biography Sakuma was born in Abu District, Nagato Province (present day Hagi, Yamaguchi), as the younger son of Ok ...

(1844–1915), general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and 5th Governor-General of Taiwan (1906–1915) * Kodama Gentarō (1852–1906), general in the Imperial Japanese Army and government minister in Meiji Japan * Oka Ichinosuke (1860–1916), general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Minister of War during World War I *

Arisaka Nariakira was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. The inventor of the Arisaka Rifle, he is regarded as one of the leading arms designers in Japanese history, alongside Kijirō Nambu. Biography Arisaka was born in Iwakuni, Suo province ( ...

(1852–1915), lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army, inventor of the

Arisaka The Arisaka rifle ( ja, 有坂銃, Arisaka-jū) is a family of Japanese military bolt-action service rifles, which were produced and used since approximately 1897, when it replaced the Murata rifle (, ) family, until the end of World War II ...

Rifle ;

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

personnel *

Tsuboi Kōzō Baron was an admiral of the early modern Imperial Japanese Navy, known primarily for his role in the First Sino-Japanese War. Biography Tsuboi Kōzō was born as Hara Kōzō, the second son of a doctor in what is now part of Hōfu, Yamaguchi ...

(1843–1898), admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy * Nashiba Tokioki (1850–1924), admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy * Arichi Shinanojō (1843–1919), admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff ; Writers * Inoue Koichi (pen-name: Inoue Kenkabō) (1870–1934), journalist and writer of '' senryū'' (short, humorous verse) ; Historians * Inoue Mitsusada (1917–1983), Historian of Ancient Japan, Professor of The University of Tokyo, first director of

National Museum of Japanese History The , commonly known in Japanese as Rekihaku, is a history museum in Sakura, Chiba, Japan. The museum was founded in 1981 as an inter-university research consortium, and opened in 1983. The collections of museum focus on the history, archaeology ...

, Grandson of Inoue Kaoru and

Katsura Taro Katsura or Katsuura may refer to: Architecture *The Katsura imperial villa, one of Japan's most important architectural treasures, and a World Heritage Site Botany *Katsura, the common name for Cercidiphyllum, a genus of two species of trees nativ ...

; Entrepreneurs * Aikawa Yoshisuke (1880–1967) Japanese entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, founder and first president of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' (1931–1945)

History

Economics

Politics

List of ''daimyōs''

Simplified family tree of the main Mōri line (Lords of Chōshū)

Famous people

See also

Notes

References

Further reading