Takasu Domain


The Takasu Domain was a Japanese domain located in Mino Province. For most of its history, it was ruled by the Takasu-Matsudaira, a branch of the Tokugawa clan of Owari Domain.
Matsudaira Katamori, Matsudaira Sadaaki, Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, and Tokugawa Mochinaga, four important figures in Bakumatsu-era Japan, were the sons of Matsudaira Yoshitatsu, one of Takasu's last daimyō.

History

In 1600, after the Battle of Sekigahara, Takagi Morikane was dispossessed of Takasu Castle for having sided with the pro-Toyotomi Western Army under Ishida Mitsunari. He was replaced by Tokunaga Nagamasa, one of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s generals and was assigned a fief with a kokudaka of 50,673 koku. The marked the start of Takasu Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate. His son, Tokunaga Masashige, increased the kokudaka to 53,000 koku; however, he was dispossessed in 1628 over his failure to complete the rebuilding of the walls of Osaka Castle, and the domain was suppressed.
Takasu Domain was revived in 1640 as a 22,000 koku holding for a cadet branch of the Ogasawara clan from Sekiyado Domain in Shimōsa. However, the domain suffered greatly from flood damage, and the shogunate transferred the Ogasawara to Katsuyama Domain in Echizen in 1691.
The domain was revived a third time in 1700, this time as a 30,000 koku holding for Matsudaira Yoshiyuki, the younger son of Tokugawa Mitsutomo of Owari Domain. Matsudaira Yoshiyuki was already daimyō of the 30,000 koku Takai Domain in Mino Province since 1681, and traded this territory of Takasu Domain, which then became a subsidiary to Owari Domain. The domain remained in the hands of his descendants until the Meiji restoration.
Although administered as a part of Owari Domain, the position of Takasu Domain was somewhat ambiguous, as it was authorized directly by the shogunate rather than by Owari Domain. On the other hand, its daimyō lived permanently in Edo, and administered domain affairs through appointed officials, rather than residing in the domain and was thus not subject to Sankin-kōtai.

Bakumatsu period holdings

As with most domains in the han system, Takasu Domain consisted of a discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned kokudaka, based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.

Simplified genealogy