was a Japanese

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 * Do ...

of 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 characteriz ...

. It is associated with

Bungo Province was a province of Japan in eastern Kyūshū in the area of Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Buzen Province. Bungo bordered Buzen, Hyūga, Higo, Chikugo, and Chikuzen Provinces. History At the end of the 7th century, Toyo ...

in modern-day

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kumam ...

on the island of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

. 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) s ...

, Kitsuki was a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

abstraction based on periodic

cadastral A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of ''

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. 54 ...

'', not land area.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987)
''Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century,'' p. 18
This was different from the

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

of the West.

History

At the start of the

, the territory which became Kitsuki (then spelled 木付) was part of the Nakatsu domain (later called Kokura), the 399,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' territory ruled by

Hosokawa Tadaoki was a Japanese samurai warrior of the late Sengoku period and early Edo period. He was the son of Hosokawa Fujitaka with Numata Jakō, and he was the husband of a famous Christian convert (Kirishitan), Hosokawa Gracia. For most of his life, he ...

. The territory's name came from the family, the relatives of the

Ōtomo clan was a Japanese samurai family whose power stretched from the Kamakura period through the Sengoku period, spanning over 400 years. The clan's hereditary lands lay in Kyūshū. Origins The first family head, Ōtomo Yoshinao (1172–1223), took ...

, who had once resided there. However, in 1593,

Ōtomo Yoshimune Ōtomo Yoshimune (大友義統, 15581610) was a Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period, heir of Otomo Sōrin at the head of the Ōtomo clan. He was the eldest son and successor of Otomo Sōrin as lord of the Bungo Province. His mother was an ant ...

incurred the disfavor of

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 ...

, and had his territory confiscated; the Kitsuki lost their lands at the same time. The land was then passed to Sugiwara Nagafusa, Hayakawa Nagamasa, and finally to Hosokawa Tadaoki in 1599, upon his move from the 120,000 ''koku'' fief of Miyazu, in

Tango Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Kyoto Prefecture. Tango bordered on Tanba to the south, Tajima to the west, and Wakasa to the east. Its abbreviated form name was . It was also referred to as or . In terms of the Gokishichi ...

. The Kitsuki region, valued at 60,000

, was ruled on Tadaoki's behalf by castle wardens (Matsui Yasuyuki, Ariyoshi Tatsuyuki, and others) posted to its central castle. For his distinguished service 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 ...

in 1600, Tadaoki was granted the entire province of Bizen, and moved his seat of government first to Nakatsu Castle, then to

Kokura Castle is a castle in Kitakyushu, Japan. It was built by Hosokawa Tadaoki starting in 1602, with construction completed in 1608. History Construction of Kokura Castle began in 1602 and was completed in 1608. It was the property of the Ogasawara clan ...

. The Hosokawa remained in Bizen until 1632, when Tadaoki's son

Hosokawa Tadatoshi was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Hosokawa Tadatoshi"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 359 細川忠利at ''Nihon jinmei daijiten''; retrieved 2013-5-29. He was the head of Kumamoto Domain ...

was transferred to the

Kumamoto Domain The , also known as , was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Higo Province in modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture.

in neighboring Higo Province. The former Hosokawa landholding in Bizen was partitioned;

Ogasawara Tadazane was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Early life Tadazane was the son of (1569–1615) with Toku-hime, daughter of Matsudaira Nobuyasu and granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He married Kamehime, daughter of Honda Tadamasa ...

, who had ruled the

Akashi Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Akashi Castle, which is located in what is now the cit ...

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During the ...

, was granted 150,000 ''koku'' of land in northern Bizen, with the territory's seat of government being placed at

. The secondary castle of Nakatsu became the center of the new

Nakatsu Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Buzen Province in modern-day Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. The domain was centered at Nakatsu Castle in what is now Nakatsu, Ōita. In the han system, Nakatsu was a po ...

, which was granted to Tadazane's nephew Ogasawara Nagatsugu. Simultaneously, Tadazane's younger brother

Ogasawara Tadatomo Ogasawara (written: 小笠原) is a Japanese surname. It may also refer to: Locations * Ogasawara Islands, also known as the Bonin Islands, an archipelago of over 30 islands about 1000 km south of Tokyo, Japan * Ogasawara National Park, an is ...

, who had been a

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.'' However ...

, was given Kitsuki Castle and the surrounding 40,000 ''koku'' worth of territory, making him a ''

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 n ...

''. Tadatomo retained rulership of Kitsuki until 1645, when he was moved to the

Yoshida Domain was a Japanese feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Mikawa Province located in eastern Mikawa Province (modern-day eastern Aichi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Yoshida Castle in what is now the cit ...

Mikawa Province was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mik ...

. Matsudaira Hidechika, the lord of the

Takada Domain , was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in Echigo Province, in the Hokuriku region of Honshū. The domain was centered at Takada Castle, located in what is now part of the city of Jōetsu in ...

replaced Ogasawara Tadatomo as lord of Kitsuki, being given a slightly reduced domain of 32,000 ''koku''. His descendants ruled Kitsuki 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 ...

. As flatland was scarce in Kitsuki,

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

and industrial arts were encouraged; Hidechika brought around 100 peasants with him from Mikawa; they formed what became commonly known as the ''Mikawa-shinden'' farmland. The domain's name spelling was changed in 1711, during the tenure of the third lord, Matsudaira Shigeyasu. Since then, it has been spelled 杵築. Kitsuki domain finances deteriorated due to the major famine in the Kyōho era;

Miura Baien In Japanese names here, surname is first. "Baien" was a pen-name, "plum garden". was a Japanese philosopher and scholar of the Tokugawa era. Life Born as Miura Susumu into the family of a village physician in the present Ōita Prefecture (at that ...

, a scholar then residing in the domain, was commissioned to solve the crisis. Among his reforms was the opening of the domain school, the Gakushūkan, in the Tenmei era (1781–1789). Kitsuki was abolished along with the other Japanese domains in 1871, when it became . It was later absorbed into

, and the territory remains part of Ōita to the present day. The former ruling family were made ''shishaku'' (子爵) (viscounts) in the new

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 ' ...

nobility system in 1884.

List of daimyō

The hereditary ''

s'' were head of the clan and head of the domain. *

Ogasawara clan The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji.Papinot, Jacques. (2003)''Nobiliare du Japon'' – Ogasawara, pp. 44–45 Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon.'' (in Fren ...

, (1632–1645) ( Fudai; 40,000 ''

'') #Tadatomo * Matsudaira (Nomi) clan, (1645–1871) ( Fudai; 32,000 ''koku'') #Hidechika #Shigeyoshi #Shigeyasu #Chikazumi #Chikamitsu #Chikasada #Chikakata #Chikaakira #Chikayoshi #Chikataka

References

External links

Kitsuki Domain on "Edo 300 HTML"
(16 Sept. 2007)

{{Authority control Domains of Japan

History

List of daimyō

See also

References

External links