Okazaki Domain

Okazaki Castle, administrative center of Okazaki Domain

Okazaki Domain (岡崎藩, Okazaki-han) was a feudal domain of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period, Japan located in eastern Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Okazaki Castle in what is now the city of Okazaki, Aichi. It was ruled by a number of different fudai daimyō over the course of the Edo period. Due to its associations with Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was born in Okazaki Castle, the domain had a prestige greater than in its nominal valuation based on rice tax revenues.

History[]

Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, after gaining control of the area surrounding Okazaki in 1524, demolished the old fortification and built Okazaki Castle. His famous grandson Matsudaira Motoyasu (later named Tokugawa Ieyasu) was born here on December 16, 1542. The Matsudaira were defeated by the Imagawa clan in 1549, and Ieyasu was taken to Sunpu as a hostage. Following the defeat of the Imagawa at the Battle of Okehazama, Ieyasu regained possession of Okazaki in 1560 and left his eldest son Matsudaira Nobuyasu in charge when he moved to Hamamatsu Castle in 1570. After Oda Nobunaga ordered Nobuyasu’s death in 1579, the Honda clan served as castellans. Following the forced relocation of the Tokugawa to Edo after the Battle of Odawara by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the castle was given to , who substantially improved on its fortifications, expanded the castle town and developed Okazaki-juku on the Tokaido.

Following the creation of the Tokugawa shogunate, Okazaki Domain was created, and Ieyasu’s close retainer Honda Yasushige was assigned possession of the castle. The Honda were replaced by the Mizuno clan from 1645-1762, and the Matsudaira (Matsui) clan from 1762-1769. In 1769, a branch of the Honda clan returned to Okazaki, and governed until the Meiji Restoration.

In 1869, the final daimyō of Okazaki Domain, Honda Tadanao, surrendered Okazaki Domain to the new Meiji government. With the abolition of the han system in 1871, Okazaki Domain became part of Nukata Prefecture, with Okazaki Castle used as the prefectural headquarters. However, Nukata Prefecture was merged into Aichi Prefecture in 1872, and the capital of the prefecture was moved to Nagoya.

Okazaki Domain was not a single contiguous territory, but consisted of a number of scattered holdings in Mikawa Province, which at the end of the Edo period included:

• 95 villages in
• 110 villages in Nukata District
• 9 villages in Hazu District

List of daimyō[]

#	Name	Tenure	Courtesy title	Court Rank	kokudaka
Honda clan (fudai) 1601-1645
1	Honda Yasushige (本多康重)	1601–1611	Bungo-no-kami (豊後守)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
2	(本多康紀)	1611–1623	Bungo-no-kami (豊後守)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
3	Honda Tadatoshi (本多忠利)	1623–1645	Ise-no-kami (伊勢守)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 –> 56,500 koku
4	Honda Toshinaga (本多利長)	1645	Echizen-no-kami (越前守)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	56,500 -> 50,000 koku
Mizuno clan (fudai) 1645-1762
1	(水野忠善)	1645–1676	Daikenmotsu (大監物)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
2	(水野忠春)	1676–1692	Emon-no-suke (右衛門佐)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
3	(水野忠盈)	1692–1699	Buzen-no-kami (豊前守)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
4	Mizuno Tadayuki (水野忠之)	1699–1730	Izumi-no-kami (和泉守), Jiju (侍従)	Lower 4th (従四位下)	50,000 –> 60,000 koku
5	(水野忠輝)	1730–1737	Daikenmotsu (大監物)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
6	(水野忠辰)	1737–1752	Daikenmotsu (大監物)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
7	(水野忠任)	1752–1762	Izumi-no-kami (和泉守)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
Matsudaira (Matsui) clan (fudai) |1762–1769
1	(松平(松井)康福)	1762–1769	Suo-no-kami (周防守), Jiju (侍従)	Lower 4th (従四位下)	50,400 koku
Honda clan (fudai) 1769-1871
1	Honda Tadatoshi (本多忠粛)	1769–1777	Nakatsukasa-taifu (中務大輔)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
2	(本多忠典)	1777–1790	Nakatsukasa-taifu (中務大輔)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
3	(本多忠顕)	1790–1821	Nakatsukasa-taifu (中務大輔)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
4	(本多忠考)	1821–1835	Nakatsukasa-taifu (中務大輔)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku
5	Honda Tadamoto (本多忠民)	1835–1869	Mino-no-kami (美濃守), Jiju (侍従)	Lower 4th (従四位下)	50,000 koku
6	(本多忠直)	1869–1871	Nakatsukasa-taifu (中務大輔)	Lower 5th (従五位下)	50,000 koku

References[]

• Papinot, E (1910). Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan. Tuttle (reprint) 1972.

External links[]

• (in Japanese) Okazaki on "Edo 300 HTML"