Kubota Domain


Kubota Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province, Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita and was thus also known as the Akita Domain. It was governed for the whole of its history by the Satake clan. During its rule over Kubota, the Satake clan was ranked as a Province-holding daimyō family, and as such, had the privilege of shogunal audiences in the Great Hall of Edo Castle.
In the Boshin War of 1868–69, the domain joined the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, the alliance of northern domains supporting the Tokugawa shogunate, but then later defected to the imperial side. As with all other domains, it was disbanded in 1871.

History

The Satake clan was a powerful samurai clan, who ruled Hitachi Province from the late Heian period through the end of the Sengoku period. In 1600, the Satake sided with the pro-Toyotomi cause at the Battle of Sekigahara. After the defeat of the pro-Toyotomi forces by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Satake clan was punished by a severe reduction in its kokudaka. and by being ordered to relocate from their ancestral territories in Hitachi Province to a much smaller fief in inhospitable northern Japan. As a result of this drop in income, the Satake had to lay off many retainers, and institute a general stipend reduction for those it kept.
The domain also struggled through agricultural crises, which resulted in several peasant uprisings throughout the course of its history. It was also beset by an internal O-Ie Sōdō conflict, the Satake disturbance, which was brought on by financial issues.
The domain had a population of 56,813 people per the 1730 census. It maintained its primary residence in Edo at Uchi-Kanda Asahi-cho until a fire in 1682, after which the residence was moved to Shichigen-cho in Shitaya. The domain’s secondary residence was in Fukagawa, and its tertiary residences in Torigoe, Honjo and Nippori.
Satake Yoshiatsu, the 8th generation lord of Kubota, was an accomplished artist. Yoshiatsu painted a number of paintings in the Dutch style, and also produced three treatises on European painting techniques, including the depiction of perspective. He was also a student of Dutch studies scholar Hiraga Gennai, who he had invited up to Akita to advise him on management of the domain's copper mines. It was during Yoshiatsu's lifetime that the ' of 1868–69, the Satake clan was a signatory to the pact that formed the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, the alliance of northern domains led by the Sendai Domain. The Satake clan's delegation at Shiroishi, the alliance's headquarters, was led by the clan elder Tomura Yoshiari. However, the Satake had political difficulties with the alliance, which culminated in the murder, in Akita, of a delegation from Sendai on August 21, 1868, and the display of the messengers' gibbeted heads in the Akita castle town. The delegation, led by Shimo Matazaemon, was dispatched to request the Akita domain to hand over Kujō Michitaka and other officials of an imperial delegation that had been originally sent to the region to gather support for the imperial cause. The Satake then backed out of the alliance and supported the imperial army; eleven days later, on September 1, 1868 the Tsugaru clan of the neighboring Hirosaki Domain followed suit. In response, the pro-alliance domains of Morioka and Ichinoseki Domains sent troops to attack Kubota. Kubota forces were hard-pressed to defend their territory, with the result that the alliance troops had made serious advances by the time the war ended in northern Honshū. In early 1869, Satake Yoshitaka formally gave up the domain's registers to the imperial government, and was made imperial governor of Kubota. In mid-1869, the imperial government rewarded its service in the Boshin War with an increase in kokudaka of 20,000 koku. However, with the abolition of the han system in 1871, the former domain was absorbed into the new Akita Prefecture and Satake Yoshitaka was ordered to relocate to Tokyo. He subsequently received the kazoku peerage title of koshaku''.

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

As with most domains in the han system, Kubota Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned kokudaka, based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.
#NameTenureCourtesy titleCourt Rankkokudaka
1Satake Yoshinobu1602-1609Ukyō-no-daifū ; Sakon'e-chūjō Junior 4th Rank, Upper Grade )205,000 koku
2Satake Yoshitaka 1609-1672Shuri-daifū ; Sakon'e-shōshō Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
3Satake Yoshizumi 1637-1703Ukyō-no-daifū ; Sakon'e-shōshō Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
4Satake Yoshitada 1695-1715Daizen-no-kami ; Jijū Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
5Satake Yoshimine1690-1745Ukyō-no-daibū ; Sakon'e-shōshō Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
6Satake Yoshimasa 1728-1753Sahyoē-no-kami Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
7Satake Yoshiharu1723-1758Ukyō-no-daifū ; Jiju Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
8Satake Yoshiatsu1748-1785Ukyō-no-daifū ; Jijū Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
9Satake Yoshimasa 1775-1815Ukyō-no-daifū ; Jijū Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
10Satake Yoshihiro1812-1846Ukyō-no-daifū ; Sakon'e-shōshō Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
11Satake Yoshichika1839-1857Ukyō-no-daifū ; Jijū Junior 4th Rank, Lower Grade 205,000 koku
12Satake Yoshitaka 1825-1884Ukyō-no-daifū; Sakon'e-chūjō Junior 4th Rank, Upper Grade 205,000->225,000 koku

Genealogy (simplified)

Iwasaki Domain

Iwasaki Domain, also known as Akita Shinden Domain was founded in 1701 for Satake Yoshinaga, the fourth son of Satake Yoshitaka, the 2nd daimyō of Kubota Domain, who assigned him 20,000 koku of rice revenues from newly opened fields. He built a jin'ya in what is now Yuzawa, Akita, where his descendants continued to rule until the Meiji restoration. The domain was unusual in that it did not directly control any territory, but was assigned revenues from the general revenues of the parent domain. The daimyō of Iwasaki Domain participated in the sankin kotai system, and used Kubota Domain’s tertiary residence in Edo, located in Torigoe.
#NameTenureCourtesy titleCourt Rankkokudaka
1Satake Yoshinobu1701-1718Iki-no-kami ; Hyōbu- shōyū Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 20,000 koku　
2Satake Yoshimichi1718-1763Iki-no-kami ; Izumi-no-kami Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 　20,000 koku　
3Satake Yoshtada1763-1780Iki-no-kami ; Izumi-no-kami Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 　20,000 koku　
4Satake Yoshimoto1780-1793Iki-no-kami Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 20,000 koku　
5Satake Yoshichika1793-1821Iki-no-kami Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 20,000 koku　
6Satake Yoshizumi1821-1849Iki-no-kami Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 20,000 koku　
7Satake Yoshitaka 1849-1857Sakon'e-chūjō Lower 4th Lower 4th 20,000 koku　
8Satake Yoshimatsu1857-1869Iki-no-kami Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 　20,000 koku　
9Satake Yoshisato1869-1871-none--none-20,000 koku　

Kubota Shinden Domain

Kubota Shinden Domain was founded in 1701 for Satake Yoshikune, the grandson of Satake Yoshitaka, the 2nd daimyō of Kubota Domain. Satake Yoshizumi, the 3rd daimyō of Kubota domain assigned him 10,000 koku, which he ruled as a subsidiary domain of Kubota Domain until his retirement in 1720. He was succeeded by Satake Yoshikata, who ruled until May 1732. He was adopted by Satake Yoshimine, the 5th daimyo of Kubota Domain to be his heir, and Kubota Shinden Domain was absorbed back into Kubota Domain.
#NameTenureCourtesy titleCourt RankKokudaka
1Satake Yoshikuni1701-1720Shikibu-no-shō Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 10,000 koku
2Satake Yoshikata1720-1732Buzen-no-kami Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade 10,000 koku