Numata Domain Explained

Native Name:沼田藩
Conventional Long Name:Numata Domain
Common Name:Numata Domain
Subdivision:Han
Status Text:under Tokugawa shogunate Japan
Government Type:Daimyō
Capital:Numata Castle
Today:part of Gunma Prefecture
Year Start:1656
Year End:1871
Era:Edo period

was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kōzuke Province (modern-day Gunma Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Numata Castle in what is now the city of Numata, Gunma.

History

Following the Battle of Odawara in 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi awarded a 27,000 koku area of Numata to Sanada Masayuki. However, Masayuki was based at Ueda Castle in Shinano Province, and thus entrusted the lands to his son, Sanada Nobuyuki. In the subsequent conflict between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa, the Sanada clan hedged its bets with Sanada Nobuyuki siding with Tokugawa Ieyasu and fighting against his brother, Sanada Yukimura at the Battle of Sekigahara. As a reward for his services, Sanada Nobuyuki was subsequently confirmed by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1600 as daimyō over the combined Ueda and Numata territories and his revenues were increased to 95,000 koku. In 1616, Nobuyuki relocated from Numata to Ueda, entrusting Numata to his son, Sanada Nobuyoshi, but Numata was not officially recognized as a separate domain until 1656. The final Sanada daimyō, Sanada Nobutoshi, profited tremendously by under-representing his income to the shogunate and with the lumber trade. This enabled him to rebuild Numata Castle on a large scale with a 5-story donjon, and rebuilt the clan's residences in Edo on a large scale. The financial irregularities were eventually discovered, and the shogunate seized the domain in 1681.

In 1703, the domain was revived when a branch of the Honda clan was transferred from Shimosa Province, and ruled for three generations until they were transferred to Tanaka Domain in Suruga Province in 1730. In 1732, a branch of the Kuroda clan was transferred from Hitachi Province to Numata, and ruled over two generations to 1742.The Kuroda clan was replaced by Toki Yoritoshi in 1742, formerly from Tanaka Domain and a former rōjū, and the Toki clan would continue to rule Numata to the Meiji Restoration. During the Boshin War, the final daimyō, Toki Yorioki sided with the imperial forces and participated in the Battle of Aizu.

After the end of the conflict, with the abolition of the han system in July 1871, Numata Domain became "Numata Prefecture", which later became part of Gunma Prefecture.

The domain had a population of 47,177 people in 13,715 households per a census in 1681.[1]

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

As with most domains in the han system, Numata Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned kokudaka, based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.[2] [3]

List of rulers (before become domain)

List of daimyō

Name Tenure Courtesy title Court Rank kokudaka
Sanada clan (tozama) 1656-1681
11656–1681Iga-no-kami (伊賀守)Lower 5th (従五位下)30,000 koku
tenryō 1681–1703
Honda clan (fudai) 1703-1730
11703–1711Hōki-no-kami (伯耆守); Jijū (侍従)Lower 4th (従四位下)20,000->40,000 koku
21711–1721Tōtōmi-no-kami (遠江守)Lower 5th (従五位下)40,000 koku
31721–1730Buzen-no-kami (豊前守)Lower 5th (従五位下)40,000koku
Kuroda clan (fudai) 1732-1742
11732–1735Buzen-no-kami (豊前守);Jijū(侍従)Lower 4th (従四位下)30,000 koku
21735–1742Yamato-no-kami (大和守)Lower 5th (従五位下)30,000 koku
Toki clan (fudai) 1742-1871
11742–1744Tango-no-kami (丹後守); Jijū(侍従)Lower 4th (従四位下)35,000 koku
21744–1755Iyo-no-kami (伊予守)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
31755–1782Mino-no-kami (美濃守)Lower 4th (従四位下)35,000 koku
41782–1782Iyo-no-kami (伊予守)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
51782–1786Mino-no-kami (美濃守)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
61786–1790-none--none-35,000 koku
71790–1813Yamashiro-no-kami (山城守)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
81813–1826Yamashiro-no-kami (山城守)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
91826–1843Yamashiro-no-kami (山城)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
101843–1867Iyo-no-kami (伊予守)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
111857–1871Yamashiro-no-kami (山城守)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku
121867–1871Hayato-no-kami (隼人正)Lower 5th (従五位下)35,000 koku

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www1.parkcity.ne.jp/sito/89.html Edo daimyo.net
  2. [Jeffrey Mass|Mass, Jeffrey P.]
  3. Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987). Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century, p. 18.