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 ...

, 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 peri ...

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 ...

and ruled by the Tozawa clan. It was centered on Shinjō Castle in what is now the city of

Shinjō, Yamagata Ruins of Shinjō Castle is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 34,937, and a population density of 160 persons per km2. The total area of the city is 223.08 km2. Geography Shinjō is located in a ...

and occupied all of what is now Mogami District with 86 villages and part of Kitamurayama District with 16 villages in modern-day

Yamagata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Yamagata Prefecture has a population of 1,079,950 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km² (3,600 sq mi). Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the north, ...

History

Much of

was controlled by the powerful

Mogami clan were Japanese '' daimyōs'', and were a branch of the Ashikaga family. In the Sengoku period, they were the Sengoku ''daimyōs'' who ruled Dewa Province which is now Yamagata Prefecture and part of Akita Prefecture. The Mogami clan is deriv ...

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 Mogami established a subsidiary holding centered on Sakanobe Castle in what is now

Mamurogawa 270px, Pond in Nonomura neighborhood of Mamurogawa with Mount Chōkai in the distance is a town located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the town has an estimated population of 6,792 in 2560 households, and a population density of 18 persons per ...

in Yamagata, based on the Sengoku-period foundations of a structure erected by the Onodera clan. However, the Mogami were dispossessed by 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 ...

in 1622, with the majority of their holdings going to the

Satake clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. Its first power base was in Hitachi Province. The clan was subdued by Minamoto no Yoritomo in the late 12th century, but later entered Yoritomo's service as vassals ...

, who were transferred from

Hitachi Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan in the area of Ibaraki Prefecture.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hitachi fudoki''" in . It was sometimes called . Hitachi Province bordered on Shimōsa Province, S ...

to their new (and much smaller) holdings at

Kubota Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governed for the whole of its his ...

. Tozawa Moriyasu, a relatively minor ''daimyō'' originally from Kakunodate in Dewa Province served

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 ...

at the Battle of Odawara in 1590; however, he fell ill and died shortly thereafter. His son,

Tozawa Masamori was the 1st ''daimyō'' of Shinjō Domain in Dewa Province, Japan (part of modern-day Yamagata Prefecture). His courtesy title was ''Ukyō-no-kami'', and his Court rank was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade. Biography Tozawa Masamori was the el ...

sided with

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 ...

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 ...

, and was eventually promoted to the status of a 40,000-''

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 ...

'' ''

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 ...

'' at Hitachi-Matsuoka Domain in

. When the Mogami were dispossessed, the

transferred him from Hitachi to the newly created Shinjō Domain, and increased his revenues to 60,000 ''koku'', where his descendants ruled for 11 generations to 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 ...

. In 1625, due to development of new rice lands, the domain's official revenues were increased to 68,200 ''koku''. Masamori died in 1650, and his son Tozawa Masanobu ruled for the next 60 years, providing the domain with an exceptionally long period of stability and prosperity. Its actual revenues in the

Genroku was a after Jōkyō and before Hōei. The Genroku period spanned the years from the ninth month of 1688 to the third month of 1704. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 415. The period was ...

era were estimated at 132,000 ''koku'', and its population approached 60,000 inhabitants. However, towards the end of Masanobu's era, and under his son Tozawa Masatsune, the domain suffered severely from lax taxation and fiscal policies, and repeated crop shortages in the

Hōei was a after Genroku and before Shōtoku''.'' This period spanned the years from March 1704 through April 1711. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1704 : In reaction to the Great Genroku earthquake in Genroku 16, the era name ...

Tenmei is a Japanese era name (年号, ''nengō'', literally "years name") for the years between the An'ei Era and before the Kansei Era, from April 1781 through January 1789. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1781 : The new era name of Tenme ...

and

Tenpyō was a after '' Jinki'' and before '' Tenpyō-kanpō.'' This period spanned the years from August 729 through April 749. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 729 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The ...

eras. From the 5th ''daimyō'', Tozawa Masanobu through the 10th ''daimyō'', Tozawa Masayoshi, the domain attempted to implement fiscal austerity policies, and to introduce new sources of revenue (such as

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, ''Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively studie ...

), but with little effect in removing the deep debt burden on domain finances. 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 ...

of the

, Shinjō Domain was initially in favor of 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 ...

, but later became a member of 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 i ...

. However, after

switched sides to favor 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 ...

, Shinjō Domain soon followed. Neighboring

Shōnai Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Tsuruoka Castle in what is now the city of Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture, and was thus also known as the . It was gov ...

, outraged by the betrayal, sent its army to invade Shinjō Domain, and after a fierce battle, destroyed Shinjō Castle and much of the surrounding castle town. The 11th ''daimyō'', Tozawa Masazane escaped to

Kubota Castle is a Japanese castle in the city Akita, Akita Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Kubota Castle was home to the Satake clan, ''daimyō'' of Kubota Domain, rulers of northern Dewa Province. The castle was also known as or . In the offici ...

, where he remained in exile for 70 days until his domain was liberated by forces loyal to the new Meiji government. On June 2, 1869, the new government awarded Shinjō Domain with an increase in revenues of 15,000 ''koku''. However, later the same month, the government issued a decree abolishing the domain system. The former domain was absorbed into

in July 1871.

List of ''daimyōs''

* Tozawa clan (''fudai'') 1622–1871

External links

Shinjō on "Edo 300 HTML" {{DEFAULTSORT:Shinjo Domain Domains of Japan 1871 disestablishments in Japan History of Yamagata Prefecture

History

List of ''daimyōs''

Further reading

External links