Hirado Domain

A tower and wall of Hirado Castle

Hirado Domain (平戸藩 Hirado-han) was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture.[1]

In the han system, Hirado was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.[2] In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka, not land area.[3] This was different from the feudalism of the West.

History

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s successful conquest of Kyushu, local warlord Matsura Shigenobu was granted Hirado County and the Oki Islands to be his domain. During the Japanese invasions of Korea, Hirado was a forward base of operations for Japanese forces. In 1599, Matsura Shigenobu erected a castle called Hinotake-jō on the site of the present-day Hirado Castle. However, he burned the castle down himself in 1613, as a gesture of loyalty towards Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu, having served in the losing Toyotomi side during the Battle of Sekigahara. In return, he was allowed to retain his position as daimyō of Hirado Domain under the Tokugawa bakufu.

The present Hirado Castle was constructed in 1704 by order of the 5th daimyō of Hirado domain, Matsura Takashi with the assistance of the Tokugawa shogunate to be the keystone in seaward defenses of Japan in the East China Sea region, now that the country had implemented a policy of national seclusion against western traders and missionaries. Also during the period of Matsura Takashi, a subsidiary domain (Hirado Nitta Domain) of 10,000 koku was created for his younger brother, Matsura Masashi. Matsura Takashi served in a number of important posts in the Tokugawa Shogunate, including that of Jisha-bugyō, a post traditionally reserved only for fudai daimyō. However, his expenses in rebuilding Hirado Castle all but bankrupted the domain.

The 9th daimyō, Matsura Kiyoshi, was a noted essayist and political commentator. The final daimyō, Matsura Akira, commanded his forces as part of the Satchō Alliance during the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, in support of Emperor Meiji, and fought at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and against the Tokugawa remnants of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei in northern Japan, at Morioka and Akita. In April 1884, he was made a count in the new kazoku peerage system. From 1890, he served in the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan. He was later awarded 2nd Court rank.

List of daimyo

The hereditary daimyo were head of the clan and head of the domain.

Name Tenure Courtesy title Court Rank Revenue
1Matsura Shigenobu (松浦鎮信)1587–1600Hizen-no-kami Lower 4th (従四位下) 63,200 koku
2Matsura Hisanobu (松浦久信)1600–1602Hizen-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 63,200 koku
3Matsura Takanobu (松浦隆信)1603–1637Hizen-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 63,200 koku
4Matsura Shigenobu (松浦鎮信)1637–1689Hizen-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 61,700 koku
5Matsura Takashi (松浦棟)1689–1713Hizen-no-kami, Jisha-bugyō Lower 5th (従五位下) 51,700 koku
6Matsura Atsunobu (松浦篤信)1713–1727Hizen-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 51,700 koku
7Matsura Arinobu (松浦有信)1727–1728Hizen-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 51,700 koku
8Matsura Sanenobu (松浦誠信)1728–1775Hizen-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 51,700 koku
9Matsura Kiyoshi (松浦清)1775–1806Iki-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 51,700 koku
10Matsura Hiromu (松浦熈)1806–1841Hizen-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 51,700 koku
11Matsura Terasu (松浦曜)1841–1858Iki-no-kami Lower 5th (従五位下) 51,700 koku
12Matsura Akira (松浦詮)1858–1871Hizen-no-kami 2nd (正二位), Count (伯爵) 61,700 koku

See also

References

Map of Japan, 1789 -- the Han system affected cartography
  1. "Hizen Province" at JapaneseCastleExplorer.com; retrieved 2013-5-28.
  2. Mass, Jeffrey P. and William B. Hauser. (1987). The Bakufu in Japanese History, p. 150.
  3. Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987). Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century, p. 18.
  4. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon; Papinot, (2003). "Gotō" at Nobiliare du Japon, p. 33; retrieved 2013-6-2.
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