250px, Reconstructed portion of Kuwana Castle was a Japanese

feudal domain A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

under 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 ...

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 ...

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 north ...

, located in

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

. It was centered on

Kuwana Castle 270px, Foundations of the ''tenshu'' is a Japanese castle located in Kuwana, northern Mie Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Kuwana Castle was home to a branch the Matsudaira clan, ''daimyō'' of Kuwana Domain. The castle was als ...

in what is now the city of

Kuwana is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 141,045 in 60,301 households and a population density of 1000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kuwana is located in northern Mie Pr ...

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

. It was controlled by a ''

fudai daimyō was a class of ''daimyō'' (大名) in the Tokugawa Shogunate (徳川幕府) of Japan who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa before the Battle of Sekigahara. ''Fudai daimyō'' and their descendants filled the ranks of the Tokugawa admini ...

'' clans throughout its history.

History

During the late

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

and

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

, the area of modern Kuwana was known as and was a major seaport on the east coast of Japan, controlled by a guild of merchants. The poet Socho described it in 1515 as a major city with over a thousand houses, temples and inns. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the area came under the control of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

, who assigned it to his retainer,

Takigawa Kazumasu , also known as Sakonshōgen (左近将監), was a samurai retainer and military commander of Oda Nobunaga, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, during Japan's Sengoku period. His biological son, Toshimasu, was adopted by Toshihisa and later Kazumasu ...

. After Nobunaga’s death, the area came under the control 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 ...

, who initially installed Nobunaga’s younger son

Oda Nobukatsu was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the second son of Oda Nobunaga. He survived the decline of the Oda clan from political prominence, becoming a ''daimyō'' in the early Edo period. Though often described as an inco ...

as ruler as all of Ise Province. However, following the 1590 Battle of Odawara, Hideyoshi demoted Oda Nobukatsu, divided Ise Province into several domains, and assigned Hitotsuyanagi Naomori as ruler of Kuwana. In 1595, the area was reassigned to

Ujiie Yukihiro was a samurai and feudal lord in Sengoku period to the beginning of Edo period, also known as . He was the son of Ujiie Naotomo. Biography He was the second son of Ujiie Naotomo, one of the Mino Triumvirate. His eldest brother was Ujiie Naoma ...

as a 22,000 ''

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 ...

'' domain. Ujiie Yukihiro sided with the pro-Toyotomi armies in 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 ...

and was dispossessed by

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 fellow ...

. In January 1601, one of Ieyasu’s main generals,

Honda Tadakatsu , also called Honda Heihachirō (本多平八郎) was a Japanese samurai, general and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings along with Ii ...

was installed 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 n ...

'' of Kuwana Domain, with a ''

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 ...

'' of 100,000 ''koku''. 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 ...

recognized the strategic value of the location as both a seaport, and also as

Kuwana-juku 280px, Map showing the routes between Kuwana-juku and Miya-juku 280px, Shichiri no watashi torii was the forty-second of the fifty-three stations (''shukuba'') of the Tōkaidō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located i ...

, a post station on the vital Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. In 1609, Tadakatsu was succeeded by his son

Honda Tadamasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who ruled the Kuwana Domain and then the Himeji Domain. He was the son of Honda Tadakatsu. Tadamasa's first battle was during the Siege of Odawara, in 1590; he also fought at the Battle of ...

, who distinguished himself at the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

and was rewarded with a transfer to the more lucrative

Himeji 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 Himeji Castle, which is located in what is now the ...

in 1617. The strategic Kuwana Domain was then assigned to Ieyasu’s half-brother,

Hisamatsu Sadakatsu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who served the Tokugawa clan. He was the half-brother of Tokugawa Ieyasu. His father was Hisamatsu Toshikatsu and his mother was Odai no Kata, Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and fir ...

, whose descendants ruled until they were transferred to

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 ...

in Echigo Province in 1710, and their place taken by the Okudaira branch of the

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of th ...

, who ruled to 1823, when a branch of the Hisamatsu returned to Kuwana from

Shirakawa Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in southern Mutsu Province. It was centered on Komine Castle in what is now the city of Shirakawa, Fukushima. Its most famous ruler was Matsudaira Sadanobu, the archit ...

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

. The Hisamatsu continued to rule Kuwana until the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Matsudaira Sadaaki was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Bakumatsu period, who was the last ruler of the Kuwana Domain. Sadaaki was the adopted heir of Matsudaira Sadamichi, the descendant of Matsudaira Sadatsuna, Sadatsuna, the third son of Hisamatsu Sadakatsu (1569� ...

, the next-to-last ''daimyō'' of Kuwana served as the last ''

Kyoto shoshidai The was an important administrative and political office in the Tokugawa shogunate. The office was the personal representative of the military dictators Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, the seat of the Japanese Emperor, and was ado ...

'' and supported his brother,

Matsudaira Katamori Matsudaira Katamori after the Meiji restoration was a samurai who lived in Bakumatsu period and the early to mid Meiji period Japan. He was the 9th ''daimyō'' of the Aizu Domain and the Kyoto Shugoshoku (Military Commissioner of Kyoto). He in ...

, ''daimyō'' of

Aizu Domain was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1601 to 1871.Ravina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 The Aizu Domain was based at Tsuruga Castle in Mutsu Province, the core of the ...

. He fought in 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 ...

, finally surrendering to 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 o ...

after the fall of the

Republic of Ezo The was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the ''Bakumatsu'' period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt t ...

.The final ''daimyō'' of Kuwana, Matsudaira Sadanori, was still a child during the Boshin War. He capitulated Kuwana Castle to 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'' () is ...

forces without a battle. He was later educated in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and joined the Meiji government, serving as Japanese ambassador to Italy. He was later ennobled with 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 title of ''shishaku'' (

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

). 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, Kuwana Domain became “Kuwana Prefecture”, which later became part of Mie Prefecture.

Territory

As with most domains 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 ...

, Nagashima Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned ''

'', 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. At the end of the Edo period, it consisted of numerous villages in Ise Province and also in Echigo Province:

*64 villages in Kuwana District *83 villages in Inabe District *30 villages in Asake District *9 villages in Mie District Echigo Province *4 villages in Koshi District *22 villages in Uonuma District *82 villages in Kariwa District *30 villages in Santō District *7 villages in Kanbara District In addition to the above, Kuwana Domain also administered 212 villages within Echigo Province which were ''

tenryō 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 ...

'' territory on behalf of the shogunate.

List of daimyō

Simplified family tree

I. * 1. Honda Tadakatsu, 1st Lord of Kuwana (1st creation, cr. 1601) (1548-1610; Lord: 1601, r. 1601-1609) ** II. Honda Tadamasa, 2nd Lord of Kuwana (1st creation) (1575-1631; r. 1609-1616) - see below 2. * O-dainokata (1528–1602). She married twice and had issue, including: **

, 1st Tokugawa Shōgun (1543-1616; r. 1603-1605) (by O-dainokata's first husband

Matsudaira Hirotada was the lord of Okazaki Castle in Mikawa province, Japan during the Sengoku Period of the 16th century. He is best known for being the father of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Biography Hirotada was the son of Matsudaira ...

(1526–1549)) ***Matsudaira Nobuyasu (1559-1579) **** Myokoin (1577-1626), m. II. Honda Tadamasa, 2nd Lord of Kuwana (1st creation) - see above ***Kamehime (1560-1625), m. Okudaira Nobumasa, Lord of Kamo, Kyōto Shoshidai (1555-1615) **** Matsudaira Tadaaki, Lord of Ise-Kameyama (1583-1644) ***** Matsudaira Tadahiro, Lord of Himeji (1631-1700) ****** Matsudaira Kiyoteru (1652-1686) ******* I. Matsudaira Tadamasa, 1st Lord of Kuwana (3rd creation, cr. 1710) (1683-1746; Lord: 1710, r. 1710-1746) ******** II. Matsudaira Tadatoki, 2nd Lord of Kuwana (3rd creation) (1718-1783; r. 1746-1771) ********* III. Matsudaira Tadahira, 3rd Lord of Kuwana (3rd creation) (1747-1787; r. 1771-1786) ******** Ii Naoari, 4th Lord of Yoita (1719-1760) ********* Ii Naoakira, 6th Lord of Yoita (1750-1820) ********** VI. Matsudaira Tadasuke, 6th Lord of Kuwana (3rd creation) (1780-1821; r. 1802-1821) *********** VII. Matsudaira Tadataka, 7th Lord of Kuwana (3rd creation) (1801-1864; r. 1821-1823) ***Tokugawa Yorinobu, 1st Lord of Kishū (1602–1671) ****Tokugawa Mitsusada, 2nd Lord of Kishū (1627-1705; r. 1667-1698) *****

Tokugawa Yoshimune was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshimu ...

, 5th Lord of Kishū, 8th Tokugawa Shōgun (1684-1751; Lord of Kishū: 1705-1716; Shōgun: 1716-1745) ****** Tokugawa Munetake, 1st head of the Tayasu-Tokugawa line (1716-1771) ******* Matsudaira Sadanobu, 3rd Lord of Shirakawa (1759-1829) ******** I. Matsudaira Sadanaga, 1st Lord of Kuwana (4th creation, cr. 1823) (1791-1838; Lord: 1823, r. 1823-1838) ********* II. Matsudaira Sadakazu, 2nd Lord of Kuwana (4th creation) (1812-1841; r. 1838-1841) ********** III. Matsudaira Sadamichi, 3rd Lord of Kuwana (4th creation) (1834-1859; r. 1842-1859) *********** V. Matsudaira Sadanori, 5th Lord of Kuwana (4th creation), 5th family head, 1st Viscount (1857-1899; Lord: 1868; Governor:1869-1871; family head:1868-1899; Viscount: cr.1884) **** Matsudaira Yorizumi, 1st Lord of Saijō (1641-1711) ***** Tokugawa Munenao, 6th Lord of Kishū (1682–1757) ****** Tokugawa Munemasa, 7th Lord of Wakayama (1720-1765) ******* IV. Matsudaira Tadakatsu, 4th Lord of Kuwana (3rd creation) (1756-1830; r. 1787-1793) ******* V. Matsudaira Tadatomo, 5th Lord of Kuwana (3rd creation) (1759-1802; r. 1793-1802) ***Tokugawa Yorifusa, 1st Lord of Mito (1603-1661) **** Matsudaira Yorishige, 1st Lord of Takamatsu (1622-1695) ***** Matsudaira Yoritoshi (1661-1687) ****** Matsudaira Yoritoyo, 3rd Lord of Takamatsu (1680-1735) ******* Tokugawa Munetaka, 4th Lord of Mito (1705-1730) ******** Tokugawa Munemoto, 5th Lord of Mito (1728-1766) ********* Tokugawa Harumori, 6th Lord of Mito (1751-1805) ********** Matsudaira Yoshiyori, 9th Lord of Takasu (1776-1832) *********** Matsudaira Yoshitatsu, 10th Lord of Takasu (1800-1862) ************ IV. Matsudaira Sadaaki, 4th Lord of Kuwana (4th creation) (1847-1908; r. 1859-1868) ************* Matsudaira Sadaharu, 6th family head, 2nd Viscount (1885-1953; family head: 1899-1953; 2nd Viscount: 1899-1947) ************** Matsudaira Sadaaki (1910-1945) *************** Matsudaira Sadajun, 7th family head (b. 1940; family head: 1953-) ** I. Hisamatsu Sadakatsu, 1st Lord of Kuwana (2nd creation, cr. 1616) (1560–1624; Lord: 1616; r. 1616-1624) (by O-dainokata's second husband Hisamatsu Toshikatsu (1526-1587) *** II. Matsudaira Sadayuki, 2nd Lord of Kuwana (2nd creation) (1587-1668; r. 1624-1635) **** Matsudaira Sadayori, 2nd Lord of Iyo-Matsuyama (1607-1662) ***** V. Matsudaira Sadashige, 5th Lord of Kuwana (2nd creation) (1644-1717; r. 1657-1710) *** III. Matsudaira Sadatsuna, 3rd Lord of Kuwana (2nd creation) (1592-1652; r. 1635-1651) **** IV. Matsudaira Sadayoshi, 4th Lord of Kuwana (2nd creation) (1632-1657; r. 1652-1657) Genealogy (jp)
/ref>

References

*

{{Authority control 1871 disestablishments in Japan Domains of Japan Domains of Mie Prefecture Hisamatsu-Matsudaira clan Honda clan Okudaira-Matsudaira clan