Shimotsuma Domain

Shimotsuma Domain (下妻藩, Shimotsuma-han) 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 Shimotsuma Jin'ya in what is now the city of Shimotsuma, Ibaraki. It was ruled for much of its history by a junior branch of the Inoue clan; however, it suffered from frequent changes of rules due to the tendency of the Inoue daimyō to die at young ages.

During the Sengoku period, the area around Shimotsuma was controlled by the Tagaya clan, retainers of the Yūki clan. Although the Tagaya clan pledged allegiance to Tokugawa Ieyasu following the Battle of Odawara in 1590, their support of the Tokugawa was less than lukewarm, and during the Battle of Sekigahara, the clan defected to the Uesugi clan, and were therefore stripped of their 60,000 koku holdings.

The domain was then awarded to the 11th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tokugawa Yorifusa, who later went on to become founder of the Mito Domain. He was replaced at Shimotsuma by Matsudaira Tadamasa, the son of Yūki Hideyasu, followed by Matsudaira Sadatsuna. After his transfer to Kakegawa Domain in 1619, the domain became tenryō territory controlled directly by the shogunate until 1712.

In 1712, Inoue Tadanaga, a confidant and retainer of Tokugawa Ienobu from the time before he became Shōgun, had risen through the government hierarchy and through merit and inheritance, has achieved the 10,000 koku necessary for daimyō status. Shimotsuma Domain was revived to become his fiefdom, and remained in the hands of the Inoue clan until the Meiji restoration. However, ten of the 14 Inoue daimyō were adopted into the clan from other families due to the tendency of the rulers to die young and without heir.

Durante la Guerra Boshin , el último daimyō Inoue, Inoue Masaoto, inicialmente se alió con las fuerzas pro-Tokugawa, pero luego cambió de bando y se unió a la causa imperial . Sin embargo, muchos de sus samuráis se opusieron a este cambio y desertaron para luchar del lado del Dominio de Aizu durante la Batalla de Aizu . Debido a esto, el gobierno Meiji inicialmente lo declaró traidor y le confiscó su dominio, pero debido a los sólidos argumentos de su karō y al seppuku de los principales vasallos pro-Tokugawa, la decisión fue revocada. Posteriormente, fue elevado a la nobleza kazoku con el título de vizconde ( shishaku ) durante el período Meiji .

El dominio tenía una población de 2055 personas en 329 hogares según un censo de 1855. ^{[ 1 ]}

Como la mayoría de los dominios en el sistema han , el dominio de Shimotsuma constaba de varios territorios discontinuos calculados para proporcionar el kokudaka asignado , basándose en levantamientos catastrales periódicos y rendimientos agrícolas proyectados. ^{[ 2 ] [ 3 ]}

• Provincia de Hitachi
  • 23 aldeas en el distrito de Makabe
• Provincia de Shimotsuke
  • 12 aldeas en el distrito de Tsuga
• Provincia de Musashi
  • 5 aldeas en el distrito de Saitama
  • 2 pueblos en el distrito de Ōsato

• Papinot, E (1910). Diccionario histórico y geográfico de Japón . Tuttle (reimpresión) 1972.

• (en japonés) Shimotsuma sobre "Edo 300 HTML"
• Kikuchi, Akira (2000). Shinsengumi Hyakuichi no Nazo. Tokio: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha.