Kaga Domain (1/2)Ruled by the Maeda family, a prestigious foreign clan.

The Kaga domain was ruled by the Maeda family, whose ancestor was Toshiie Maeda, throughout the Edo period. It is very rare for one family to rule one domain throughout the Edo period. Maeda Toshiie served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and although he was a Tozama daimyo, he had deep connections with the Tokugawa family. Let's take a look at the history of the Kaga domain, which was ruled by the Maeda family.

A domain whose founder was a military commander who served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The Kaga domain was a domain whose territory included most of Kaga, Noto, and Etchu, as well as the village of Omi Hirokawa as an enclave. Omi Hirokawa Village was located in present-day Imazu Town, Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, and was given to Maeda Toshiie's wife, Matsu, as a cosmetics (women's territory).

The Maeda family is a feudal lord whose ancestor was Toshiie Maeda, who served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Maeda Toshiie, who served Oda Nobunaga as a page from around 1551, was given the province of Noto by Oda Nobunaga in 1581 and became a daimyo with a wealth of 230,000 koku. At this time, Toshiie's residence was Nanao Castle. After Nobunaga's death, Toshiie began serving Toyotomi Hideyoshi and participated in historically famous battles such as the Battle of Shizugatake, Komaki, and Nagakute, and eventually became a member of the Five Elders and served as Toyotomi Hideyori's vassal. (Guardian). After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, Maeda Toshiie worked hard to keep Tokugawa Ieyasu in check, but he passed away from illness eight months after Hideyoshi's death.

Now, the Maeda family has been in conflict with the Tokugawa family in this way, but Toshinaga Maeda, the eldest son who succeeded Toshiie Maeda, submitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu due to political decisions and joined the Eastern Army at the Battle of Sekigahara. On the other hand, Maeda Toshimasa, Maeda Toshinaga's younger brother, joined the Western army, so his territory was confiscated after the war and given to Maeda Toshimasa. As a result, Maeda Toshinaga acquired territory covering three Kanoetsu countries. The Kaga Maeda family was founded by Toshiie, who is said to be the founder of the Kaga domain.

Tozama Daimyo's largest territory

After Toshitsune Maeda succeeded Toshinaga Maeda as the second lord of the domain, in 1631, the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu became suspicious of Toshitsune's actions and planned the Maeda Conquest. . However, the Maeda family chief retainer, Yasugen Yokoyama, made a statement, and Toshitsune also went to Edo with his eldest son, Mitsutaka, to express his intention to accompany them, so the conquest was never carried out. Later, in August 1634, Iemitsu issued a Ryōchi shuinjo to Ritsutsune, which confirmed the total amount of 1,192,760 koku in the three provinces of Kaga, Etchu, and Noto. . This stone height is the largest among Tozama daimyo. "Kaga Hyakumangoku" was born at this time.

Vassals who supported the Maeda family

The Maeda family's direct retainers were classified into hito-gumi-gami, hito-gumi, heishi, and ashigaru. Hitomochi-gumi-gashira is also known as Kaga Hachike and Maeda Hachike, and in both cases, the head of the clan is held by a family with a koku of 10,000 koku or more. The eight Kaga families were the Honda family, the Naga family, the Yokoyama family, the Maeda Tsushima family, the Okumura Kawachi family, the Murai family, the Okumura Naizen family, and the Maeda Tosa family, and included branch families of the Maeda family. Furthermore, since all of the eight Kaga families lived a wealthy life with a high stone price, special exhibitions are held to display the remaining family belongings. In addition, the ruins of the mansion still remain in Kanazawa City, and you can tour the historical sites.

Relationship between the Maeda family and the Tokugawa family

The Maeda family was a Tozama daimyo. However, the second lord of the domain, Toshitsune Maeda, was married to the daughter of the second shogun, Hidetada Tokugawa, so they were closely related by marriage and were given the Matsudaira surname and Aoi crest as a semi-kinship domain. The treatment at Edo Castle was also special, with the waiting room for the audience waiting for their turn to have an audience with the shogun in the same grand hallway as the Tokugawa three families and the Echizen Matsudaira family. Even after the One Country, One Castle Order was enacted in 1615, only the Kaga domain was given special permission to rebuild Komatsu Castle. Therefore, the Kaga domain is a rare domain with two castles in one country. Additionally, the Tokugawa Shogunate gave the Kaga samurai official rank to the eight Kaga families mentioned above.

Reign of the great lord Maeda Tsunenori

Mitsutaka Maeda, the third generation of the Kaga domain, was born to the daughter of Hidetada Tokugawa, but died of illness at the young age of 29. Tsunanori, the eldest son who succeeded him, was only 3 years old. However, Tsunanori served as the lord of the domain under the guardianship of his grandfather, Toshitsune.
Tsunanori, who came of age, recommended the development of new rice fields and established the ten village system. Later, during the Kanbun famine that hit the Hokuriku area, he built facilities to help the needy. This facility later functioned as a vocational center and also served as a medical facility. As for the domain government, the Maeda family's office system centered on the role of the Kaga Eight Houses, and punishments were made more lenient. In addition, he encouraged learning, wrote his own encyclopedia ``Soka Gakuen,'' and encouraged his vassals to study as well. Around this time, a library with a rich collection of books collected from all over the country was built in the Kaga domain, and Arai Shiraishi praised it by saying, ``The Kaga domain is the world's book capital.''
In this way, Maeda Tsunanori changed the martial politics that had continued from his founder, Toshiie Maeda, to a civilized government, and was praised in later generations as a great ruler who laid the foundation for the prosperity of the Kaga domain. Tsunenori's reign lasted for 80 years, and he was given treatment equivalent to that of the top three families by the fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi Tokugawa.

Tilting finances

After Tsunanori Maeda's death, his third son Yoshinori Maeda took over as head of the family. Thanks to the famous ruler Tsunanori Maeda, the domain's reign was uneventful, but due to the rise in family status and the large amount of expenses that came with being a large domain, the domain's finances gradually declined. Maeda Yoshinori made important use of Otsuki Denzo, an Ashigaru native, and embarked on financial reforms such as frugality, cutting public expenses, and enacting new taxes. Thanks to this, the Kaga domain's finances were temporarily restored, but dissatisfaction began to build up among conservatives and clansmen due to the heavy use of Otsuki Denzo, a lowly Ashigaru. After Yoshinori's death, Otsuki Denzo was forced to fall from grace.

Kaga riot breaks out

The Kaga Riot was an internal conflict within the feudal lord family, and was one of the three major family riots, along with the Date Riot and the Kuroda Riot.