was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

kin group from Mutsu and Dewa Provinces who ruled 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 Shinjō Domain under 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 ...

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 ...

. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
"Nishio," ''Nobiliare du Japon''
retrieved 2013-5-5. The Tozawa clan residence in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

was located near the temple of Zōjō-ji.

History

The Tozawa clan claimed descent from Taira no Tadamasa (d.1156), of the Kammu Heike lineage who had estates near

Mount Miwa or is a mountain located in the city of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It has been an important religious and historical mountain in Japan, especially during its early history, and serves as a holy site in Shinto. The entire mountain is co ...

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, the ...

. He opposed

Kiso Yoshinaka , , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late Heian period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Yoshinaka was born in Musas ...

and fled to his ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'' in what is now part of

Shizukuishi, Iwate is a town located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 16,263 in 6354 households, and a population density of 27 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Shizukuishi is located in the Ōu Mou ...

. He later pledged fealty to Minamoto no Yoritomo and fought at the Battle of Yashima and the campaign against the

Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan during the 12th century as their own realm.

, for which he was awarded an estate in

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 ...

from which he adopted the family name of "Tozawa". The clan was forced across the Ōu Mountains into Dewa Province due to attacks by the

Nanbu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

and occupied estates in what is now Semboku, Akita from the 13th century. However, there is little historical documentation to back these claims of Taira ancestry, and in all probability the clan was descended a local ''

gōzoku , in Japanese, refers to powerful regional families. In historical context, it can refer to powerful non-royal families regardless of their area of influence, in contrast to the Imperial Family. The most powerful ''gōzoku'' families of the Yamat ...

'' clan, possibly of

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...

descent in the service of the Northern Fujiwara, who adopted a story of a Taira lineage for the sake of prestige. The Tozawa supported the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors (Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitively ...

during the Nanboku-cho period and maintained control of their estates around what is now

Kakunodate, Akita is a town located in Senboku District, Akita Prefecture, Japan. In 2003, the town had an estimated population of 14,138 and a density of 90.26 persons per km². The total area was 156.63 km². On September 20, 2005, Kakunodate, along with ...

through the

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 ...

and into 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 ...

. faced with powerful and aggressive neighbors, the Tozawa clan was quick to pledge support to

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 was confirmed in their holdings of 45,000 ''

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 ...

''. After Hideoyoshi's death,

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 ...

married a daughter of Torii Tadamasa and quickly attempted to forge a close relationship 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 time of 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 ...

, he was assigned with the Mogami clan to attack the forces of the

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

; however, realizing that the destruction of the Uesugi would open the door to invasion of his lands by his hereditary enemies, the

Akita clan The was a Japanese samurai clan of northern Honshū that claimed descent from Abe no Sadato of the Abe clan. The Akita clan was originally known as the . In the Kamakura period, they were installed in the Tsugaru district of Mutsu Province to ...

, his actions were only lukewarm. After the battle and Ieyasu punished him by seizing his domain and transferring him to Hitachi Province on a portion of the lands which had been recently seized from 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 ...

. However, he was allowed to maintain the status of ''daimyō'' of

Matsuoka Domain , also known as was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Hitachi Province (modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Matsuoka Castle in what is now the city of Takahagi, Ibaraki. With the e ...

and his ''

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 ...

'' was set at 40,000 ''koku''. During the Winter Campaign of 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 ...

in 1614, he was assigned to guard Odawara Castle and during the Summer Campaign was ordered to guard

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established the ...

. Through the efforts of his father-in-law, the clan was numbered as one of the '' fudai daimyō'' instead of the ''

tozama daimyō was a class of powerful magnates or ''daimyō'' (大名) considered to be outsiders by the ruler of Japan.Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, ''Tozama daimyō'' were classified in the Tokugawa Shogunate (江戸幕府) as ''daimyō'' w ...

''. In 1622, the Mogami clan was destroyed by the shogunate, and the Tozawa clan was allowed to relocate to a portion of the former Mogami lands, near their ancestral homeland in Dewa Province. This marked the start of Shinjō Domain, a 60,000 ''koku'' holding, which they ruled 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 ...

. 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 ...

, 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 an ...

, but later became a member of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei. However, after Kubota Domain 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 which destroyed Shinjō Castle and much of the surrounding castle town. The 11th ''daimyō'', Tozawa Masazane was later awarded an increase in revenues to 83,000 ''koku'' shortly before 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) ...

. under the

, he became a

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 ...

(''shishaku'') 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. His son, Viscount Tozawa Masaoto (1888-1960) served in the House of Peers and post-World War II, was mayor of the city of Shinjō.

Notes

References

* Edmond Papinot: ''Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan.'' Nachdruck der Ausgabe von 1910. Tuttle, 1972, . * Mizoguchu, Akihiro: ''Shinjo-jo'' in: Miura, Masayuki (Eds.): Shiro to jinya. Tokoku-hen. Gakken, 2006. . * Tetsuo Owada, ''Sengoku Daimyo Kashin-dan Jiten'', Shinjinbutsuōraisha, 1989. {{ISBN, 9784404015365 Japanese clans