Odawara Domain (1/2)Many of the successive feudal lords served as the Shogunate.

Odawara was a land ruled by the Gohojo clan before the Edo period. In the Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu's confidante Tadayo Okubo was sealed off as the lord of the domain. Like other domains, the Odawara domain was ruled by multiple families, but basically the Okubo clan served as the lord until the Meiji period.Here, let's take a look at the history of the Odawara domain.

Governance of the Gohojo clan

Before explaining the history of the Odawara clan, I will briefly explain the reign of the Gohojo clan, who ruled Odawara for 100 years over five generations.
The Gohojo clan is a clan whose founder was Ise Shinkuro Moritoki (Hojo Soun). Since there is no blood relation to the Hojo clan of the Kamakura period, the ``ago'' is added to distinguish them. There are also other names such as the Sagami Hojo clan and the Odawara Hojo clan.
The Gohojo clan excelled not only in military affairs but also in domestic affairs. Odawara has a four-public, six-min tax system with the lowest tax rate at the time. Instead, we always carry out large-scale land inspections when replacing rice, so we can accurately grasp changes in rice yields. In addition, the commission of tax collection by nationals, which was common in the Middle Ages, will be gradually abolished, and the daimyo will collect taxes directly, thereby eliminating intermediary exploitation. Therefore, even though taxes were low, the economy did not become strained. This is considered to be the forerunner of the murauke system that became common during the Edo period. In addition, in times of famine, they reduced taxes and sometimes issued Tokusei Edicts, which reduced debt by providing substitutes. Thanks to this, there was almost no dispersion of farmers, and the Gohojo clan was able to earn a stable income for a long period of time, and continued to reign as the ruler of the Kanto region until it was overthrown by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Rule of the Okubo clan

As I mentioned in the history of Odawara Castle, Odawara, where the Hojo clan was destroyed, was given to Toyotomi Hideyoshi to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the administration was then left to Okubo Tadayo. Tadayo Okubo entered Odawara in 1590 with 45,000 koku. After that, when Tadayo died in 1594, his eldest son Tadayoshi Okubo succeeded him. Tadayuki Okubo became rochu in 1610 and assumed power under the second shogun, Hidetada Tokugawa. However, in 1611, just one year after assuming the position of roju, he lost his legitimate son, Tadatsune Okubo, and became depressed and frequently absent from political affairs. This displeased Hidetada, Ieyasu, and other senior officials, and the temple was abolished in 1614. As a result, Odawara Castle was destroyed and became a ``banjo'' without a feudal lord for the next five years.

Abe Masatsugu's reign

In 1619, Masatsugu Abe, the lord of the Otaki domain in Kazusa Province, was appointed as the new lord of the Odawara domain with 50,000 koku. However, without achieving any notable results, he was transferred to the Iwatsuki domain in 1623. In addition. In the same year, Abe Shoji was also appointed Osaka castle lord and served in this position until his death. After Shoji Abe left, Odawara Castle was once again without a lord.

Rule of the Inaba family

In 1632, Masakatsu Inaba was appointed lord of the Odawara domain with 85,000 koku. Masakatsu Inaba was the biological son of Tokugawa Iemitsu's wet nurse, Tsune Kasuga, and was a person with a promising future. However, perhaps as a result of his hard work during the shogunate, his health began to deteriorate around 1633, and he died of illness at the young age of 38 in 1634. Since his second son Masanori Inaba, who succeeded him, was still young, he was under the guardianship of his cousin Masamori Hotta. Masanori Inaba later rose to the rank of rojō and was in charge of the politics of the fourth shogun, Ietsuna Tokugawa. The Odawara domain, which was the lord of the domain, worked hard to develop new rice fields.
Masanori was succeeded by his eldest son, Masayuki Inaba. Contrary to Masanori's policy, he was 44 years old, an old man at the time, before he could inherit the family headship. When Masayuki Inaba took over as head of the family, the amount of koku of the Odawara domain was 108,000 koku. However, after Masayuki Inaba became the lord of the Odawara domain, an incident occurred in which a young relative, Masayuki Yoriinaba, assassinated Masatoshi Hotta, and Masayuki was dismissed as an accomplice and was transferred from the Odawara domain to the Echigo-Takada domain. it was done. This marks the end of the Inaba family's rule. By the way, Masayuki Inaba later returned to the role of roju after playing the role of Edo rusui. It is also said that he cleaned up the aftermath of the Ako ronin raids on the Kira residence, ensuring that the ronin warriors would not be summarily punished.

Return to the Okubo clan's rule

After Masayuki Inaba was transferred to the Gotakada domain, Tadatomo Okubo, the grandson of Tadayuki Okubo, took over as lord of the Odawara domain. He was transferred to the Odawara Domain in 1686, and served as the lord of Odawara Castle for the next 12 years. The amount of koku was added up from time to time, and the final amount exceeded 110,000 koku. After Tadatomo Okubo became the lord of Odawara Castle, the Okubo clan continued to serve as the lord of Odawara for ten generations until the end of the Edo period.

Natural disasters and financial difficulties

After Okubo Tadamasu, the eldest son of Okubo Tadatomo, took over as the castle's lord, Mt. Fuji erupted in 1707. (Horeki's Great Eruption) As a result, the Odawara domain suffered a major blow to its domains Ashigarakami District and Sunto District. Okubo Tadamasu did his best to rebuild the domain, but he was unable to leave Edo as he held the position of roju, and the scars of the Great Genroku Earthquake that occurred four years before the eruption were still present. It was unfortunate that it still remained, and reconstruction progress was slow.