was a '' fudai'' feudal domain under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was located in

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviated fo ...

, in the

Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is ...

of central

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

. The domain was centered at Ōgaki Castle, in what is now the city of

Ōgaki is a city located in Gifu, Japan. As of October 31, 2018, the city had an estimated population of 161,539, and a population density of 782 persons per km2 in 65,931 households. The total area of the city was . Ōgaki was the final destination fo ...

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,910,511 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture ...

. It was ruled for most of its existence by the Toda clan.

History

Ōgaki is located at a strategic point on the road from

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

and was hotly contested in the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

between

Saitō Dōsan , also known as Saitō Toshimasa (斎藤利政), was a Japanese samurai lord and daimyo during the Sengoku period.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Saitō Dōsan"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 809. He was also known as the f ...

and

Oda Nobuhide was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and magistrate of the Sengoku period known as "Tiger of Owari" and also the father of Oda Nobunaga, the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobuhide was a deputy ''shugo'' (Shugodai) of lower Owari Province and head of t ...

. Under

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

Ujiie Naotomo , also known as , was a Japanese samurai warrior. served the Saitō clan of Mino province. Later, he become a retainer of Oda Nobunaga. Naomoto was considered one of the , along with Inaba Yoshimichi and Andō Morinari. In 1567, they agreed t ...

followed by his son Ujiie Naomasa ruled the area. Under

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

, the area was entrusted to

Ikeda Tsuneoki , also known as Ikeda Nobuteru (池田信輝), was an Ikeda clan ''daimyō'' and military commander under Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama periods of 16th-century Japan. He was a retainer of the famous warlords Oda No ...

Toyotomi Hidetsugu was a during the Sengoku period of Japan. He was the nephew and retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier and ruler of Japan from 1590 to 1598. Despite being Hideyoshi's closest adult, male relative, Hidetsugu was accused of atrocities and at ...

Toyotomi Hidenaga , formerly known as or . He was a half-brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the most powerful and significant warlords of Japan's Sengoku period and regarded as 'Hideyoshi's brain and right-arm'. Life Hidenaga was also known by his court tit ...

, Katō Mitsuyasu, Hitotsuyanagi Naosuke,

Toyotomi Hidekatsu Toyotomi Hidekatsu (豊臣秀勝, 1569 – October 14, 1592)Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991). ''The Cambridge History of Japan'' was Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew (later adopted) and a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period. He was the lord ...

and finally to Itō Morimasa. In 1600, Itō Morimasa was ''daimyō'' of a 30,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' domain, which was a problem for

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

since Itō was a staunch supporter of

Ishida Mitsunari 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 Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

and Ōgaki was a very short distance from Sekigahara. However, Itō also proved to be an inept commander and failed to attack the Tokugawa armies when they were the most vulnerable, and as a result was dispossessed after the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

. In 1601, Tokugawa Ieyasu established Ōgaki Domain, installing Ishikawa Yasumichi as ''daimyō'' 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. 5 ...

'' of 50,000 ''koku''. The Ishikawa clan were transferred to Hita Domain in

Bungo Province was a province of Japan in the area of eastern Kyūshū, corresponding to most of modern Ōita Prefecture, except what is now the cities of Nakatsu and Usa. Bungo bordered on Hyūga to the south, Higo and Chikugo to the west, and Chikuze ...

in 1616 as a reward for their services at the

Battle of Osaka A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

. They were replaced by a cadet branch of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira from 1616 to 1624, followed by the Okabe clan from 1624 to 1633, and then by another cadet branch of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira from 1633 to 1635. In 1635, Toda Ujikane was transferred to Ōgaki from Amagasaki Domain in

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...

, and the ''kokudaka'' of the domain was increased to 100,000 ''koku''. The Toda clan would continue to rule Ōgaki 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. Toda Ujikane was instrumental in opening new rice fields, irrigation and flood control measures, planting of forests and reforming the remuneration system for his retainers. He also maintained Ōgaki Castle. under the 3rd ''daimyō'' , Toda Ujisada, 3000 ''koku'' of new rice fields were given to his brother, Toda Ujishige, which when combined with the 7000 ''koku'' already under his name, placed him over the threshold to become ''daimyō'' of a cadet domain, the Ōgaki Shinden Domain. This sub-domain would also endure to the Meiji restoration. The 6th ''daimyō'', Toda Ujihide, attempted to implement fiscal reforms, which failed due to a peasant's revolt in 1766. The 7th ''daimyō'', Toda Ujinori, served as a ''

rōjū The , usually translated as ''Elder (administrative title), Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a wh ...

'' under

Tokugawa Ienari Tokugawa Ienari (, 18 November 1773 – 22 March 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991) ''Early Modern Japan'', p. 21./ref> ...

during a time of increasing Russian incursions into Japanese northern waters. The 8th ''daimyō'', Toda Ujitsune, founded the

han school The ''han'' school was a type of educational institution in the Edo period of Japan. They taught samurai etiquette, the classical Confucian books, calligraphy, rhetoric, fighting with swords and other weapons; some also added subjects such as m ...

, "Chidokan" in 1840. The 9th ''daimyō'', Toda Ujimasa reformed the domain's military in 1856. The 10th ''daimyō'', Toda Ujiakira attempted further reforms, but was frustrated by the Ansei Purge. The final ''daimyō'', Toda Ujitaka was branded an "enemy of the crown" after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi 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 coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

, but was able to defect to the imperial side and served as messenger of the court to other domains along the

Tōsandō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. It is part of the ''Gokishichidō'' system. It was situated along the central mountains of northern Honshu, specifically th ...

to urge them to submit. He was later awarded a 30,000 ''koku'' increase 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 ...

, but soon afterwards Ōgaki Domain became Ōgaki Prefecture due to 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) ...

, and was then absorbed into the new

Bakumatsu period holdings

As with most domains in the

han system (, "domain") is a Japanese historical term for the Estate (land), estate of a daimyo in the Edo period (1603–1868) and early Meiji (era), Meiji period (1868–1912).Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Han"in ''Japan Encycloped ...

, Ōgaki 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, metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represente ...

surveys and projected agricultural yields.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987)
''Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century,'' p. 18
*

** 12 villages in Ishizu District ** 24 villages in Tagi District ** 10 villages in Fuwa District ** 90 villages in Anpachi District ** 53 villages in Ikeda District ** 45 villages in Ōno District ** 31 villages in Motosu District ** 2 villages in Katagata District

List of ''daimyō''

References

*''The content of this article was largely derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' * *

Notes

{{Reflist Domains of Japan 1601 establishments in Japan History of Gifu Prefecture Mino Province

History

Bakumatsu period holdings

List of ''daimyō''

See also

References

Notes