Ogaki DomainKey points in the Tokai region

The Ogaki Domain was a domain whose territory was the area around Ogaki in Mino Province, currently Ogaki City, Gifu Prefecture. During the Sengoku period, the Oda clan and the Saito clan fought over Ogaki Castle, which was a key point connecting Mino and Omi Provinces. In the early Edo period, three clans rapidly replaced each other in a short period of time, but in 1635, Toda Ujikane became the lord of the castle, and the Toda clan served as the lord until the Meiji Restoration. Let's unravel the history of the Ogaki Domain.

Ogaki was a key transportation hub

During the Sengoku period, Ogaki was considered important as a key transportation point leading to Omi. Saito Dosan, known by the nickname "Mamushi," and Oda Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide, clashed many times over control, and after the Battle of Shizugatake, Ogaki came under the control of Hashiba Hideyoshi (Toyotomi Hideyoshi). The Toyotomi clan also considered Ogaki important, and the lords of Ogaki Castle included Toyotomi Hidetsugu, nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as well as Toyotomi Hidenaga, Kato Mitsuyasu, Ichiyanagi Naosue, and Toyotomi Hidekatsu.

During the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Ogaki Castle was the base of Ishida Mitsunari, and fierce fighting unfolded around the castle. At the time, Fukuhara Nagataka, the husband of Mitsunari's sister and lord of the castle, refused to surrender even though his main generals were betrayed or murdered, and defended the castle for nine days from September 14th to 23rd.

In addition, the experiences of a woman who stayed in the castle during the battle were later published as a book called "Oan Monogatari," which has been passed down to the present day.

Ogaki Domain in the Edo Period

The Ogaki Domain was established when Ieyasu's long-time retainer, Ishikawa Yasumichi, was transferred from Naruwatari in Kazusa Province with a fief of 50,000 koku.
After that, until the Toda clan began to rule, the Matsudaira (Hisamatsu), Okabe, and three other families became feudal lords every two or three generations.

All of them were fudai or related feudal lords who were highly trusted by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and it is clear that the Edo Shogunate also considered Ogaki important. During the rule of these three families, the castle town of Ogaki Domain was developed, land surveys were carried out, and the system of the domain was established.

Toda Ujikane, who became the lord of Ogaki Domain in 1635, was a close attendant to Tokugawa Ieyasu and was appointed as a vice-commander during the Shimabara Rebellion, where he distinguished himself in battle. Furthermore, when the fourth shogun, Tokugawa Ietsuna, was born, he was in charge of cutting his umbilical cord. This also shows that Toda Ujikane was highly valued by the shogunate.

He was also a capable ruler, and after becoming the lord of the Ogaki domain, he successfully developed new fields and carried out flood control works, stabilizing the domain's finances. He also had a cultural side, having written the "Hachidoshu" (Collection of Eight Paths), which advocated self-cultivation.

The Toda clan had many talented people in its bloodline, and the second lord, Toda Ujinoshi, and the third lord, Toda Ujinishi, each made a certain amount of contributions to the shogunate's construction and the domain's financial reforms. However, from the time of the third lord, Toda Ujinishi, the Ogaki domain's finances began to deteriorate noticeably.

As an aside, the fourth feudal lord, Toda Ujisada, was a maternal cousin of Asano Naganori, the lord of the Ako domain in Harima, and when Asano Naganori committed seppuku for stabbing Kira Yoshinaka (Kira Kozuke no Suke) in the Pine Corridor, he was suspended from service under the collective responsibility system.

Furthermore, his son, the fifth lord of the domain, Toda Ujinaga, suffered a tragedy when his son-in-law, Mizuno Tadatsune, the lord of Matsumoto domain, attacked Mori Michinobu, the heir to the Chofu domain, in the Pine Corridor.

The seventh lord, Toda Ujinori, rose to the position of senior councilor in the shogunate and demonstrated his skill in foreign policy with Russia.

At that time, several Japanese people, including Daikokuya Kodayu, were adrift in Russia after their ships were wrecked. Russia visited Japan under the pretext of returning the adrift people to Japan, and requested trade in Hokkaido, Nagasaki, and other areas. Toda Ujinobu was wary of Russia invading Hokkaido, and implemented policies such as establishing the Ezo Bugyo (Ezo Magistrate) and making Ezo a direct territory of the shogunate. As a result, trade with Russia was not realized, and the policy of having Russian ships leave after negotiations when they approached Japan was adopted, and this policy continued until the end of the Edo period.

Toda Ujinori was also a capable feudal lord, working frugally in education and flood control, setting an example for himself, and is still celebrated today as the "founder of the revival."

At the end of the Edo period, the Ogaki Domain sided with the shogunate, and the 10th lord, Toda Ujiakira, achieved great success by defeating the forces led by Fukuhara Genkan, a senior retainer of the Choshu Domain, on the Fushimi Highway during the Kinmon Incident. The 12th and last lord, Toda Ujimoto, sided with Tokugawa Yoshinobu in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, and as a result was ordered to be an enemy of the court and banned from entering Kyoto. However, his retainer, Obara Tesshin, was able to round up the domain's views to be loyal to the emperor and submissive, and Ujimoto went to Kyoto and apologized to the government, successfully removing himself from the list of enemies of the court.

After the Meiji Restoration, he traveled to Europe with Ito Hirobumi, and later served as ambassador plenipotentiary to Australia and Hungary, among other positions, before living to the ripe old age of 83.

summary

The Toda clan, who ruled the Ogaki Domain, produced many excellent feudal lords, and although they suffered from financial difficulties, they did not experience any major collapse until the end of the Edo period. In particular, the seventh feudal lord, Toda Ujinobu, is not well known, but he demonstrated excellent skills in diplomacy with Russia.
The Toda lineage continues to this day.