270px, Katō Yasuaki, final daimyō of Ōzu Domain was a 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, in what is now western

Ehime Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. It was centered around Ōzu Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by the '' tozama daimyō'' Katō clan. Ōzu Domain was dissolved in 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 1871 and is now part of

History

In the early Edo period, Ōzu was part of the territory of Tōdō Takatora, who had rebuilt Ōzu Castle. In 1608, the

promoted him to Tsu Domain 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 ...

and created the 53,000 ''

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 ...

'' Ōzu Domain for

Wakisaka Yasuharu (1554 – September 26, 1626), sometimes referred to as Wakizaka Yasuharu, was a ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of Awaji Island who fought under a number of warlords over the course of Japan's Sengoku period. Biography Wakisaka originally serv ...

from Sumoto Domain on Awaji island. In 1617, his son Yasumoto was transferred to Iida Domain in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

and Ōzu was reassigned to Katō Sadayasu from Yonago Domain, with an increased '' kokudaka'' to 66,000 ''koku''. Sadayasu died suddenly in 1623 without formally having appointed an heir, which would normally be cause for

attainder In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

; however, his eldest son Katō Yasuaki managed to secure an audience with

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

Tokugawa Hidetada and was accepted as heir. However, the shogunate also allowed his younger brother, Katō Naoyasu, to carve out a 10,000 ''koku'' portion of the estate and to establish Niiya Domain and a cadet branch of the clan. This move was vehemently opposed by Ōzu Domain, and relations between the two branches of the clan was hostile for the next two centuries. Niiya Domain was left in the ambitious position of both being a subsidiary domain of Ōzu and a direct domain under the shogunate. The Katō clan cultivated a reputation for scholarship. The noted

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

scholar Nakae Tōju spent his early career as a retainer of the Katō. The domain was also a sponsor of nascent ''

kokugaku was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Edo period. scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of ...

'' studies and expressed strong loyalty to the Imperial house, even from the early

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 ...

. In the Bakumatsu period, the domain fought on the imperial side in the 1868 Battle of Toba-Fushimi. Although relatively small domain, it played a large role in Bakumatsu period events. The steamship used by Sakamoto Ryoma's '' Kaientai'', the ''Iroha-maru'', was owned by Ōzu Domain. With the 1871

Ōzu Domain became "Ōzu Prefecture" and merged with "Uwajima Prefecture" before becoming part of Ehime Prefecture. The Kato clan was awarded the title of

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

user the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (''Daimyo, daimyō'') and court nobles (''kuge'') into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distin ...

'' peerage system in 1884.『官報』第308号、明治17年7月9日 (Official Gazette, No. 308, 9 July, Meiji 17)。

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

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 ...

, Ōzu Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned '' kokudaka'', 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
*

Iyo Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa Province (Tokushima), Awa to the east ...

**5 villages in Kazahaya District **49 villages in Ukena District **17 villages in Iyo District **80 villages in Kita District

List of daimyō

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozu Domain Domains of Japan History of Ehime Prefecture Iyo Province Shikoku region 1608 establishments in Japan States and territories established in 1608 1871 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1871

History

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

List of daimyō

See also

References