Marugame Domain (1/2)ruled by three houses

The history of the Marugame clan began when Masachika Ikoma received 126,200 koku from Sanuki Province from Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Strictly speaking, the ``Marugame clan'' was established when the Ikoma family was annexed and the Yamazaki family was confined to Marugame, but today, the history of the Takamatsu clan, which was ruled by the Ikoma family, is also considered to be part of the Marugame clan. It is being Let's unravel the history of the Marugame clan.

Reign of the Ikoma family

Ikoma Masachika was a Sengoku warlord who served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He received 126,200 koku from Sanuki Province and built castles in Takamatsu and Marugame. At this time, Takamatsu Castle became the main castle, so it is also called "Takamatsu Domain".

Masachika Ikoma, along with his eldest son Kazumasa Ikoma, also built castle towns in Marugame and Takamatsu, laying the groundwork for his reign. Furthermore, during the Battle of Sekigahara, Masachika protected the family's headship with the western army, and Kazumasa with the eastern army.

It can be said that Ochika and Kazumasa, father and son, laid the foundation of the Marugame clan.
However, Kazumasa's grandson, Takatoshi Ikoma, became the fourth lord of the domain at an early age, and was therefore under the guardianship of his maternal grandfather, Takatora Todo.
Even after he grew up, he did not care about the domain's politics, and internal conflicts arose among his vassals over control of the domain. This was a family disturbance called the ``Ikoma Riot.''

The shogunate, which learned of the internal conflict, held Takatoshi Ikoma responsible in 1640, confiscated his territory, and exiled him to Yuri District, Dewa Province.
As a result, the Ikoma family became Kaiki and Takamatsu Castle was once placed under the direct control of the Shogunate.

Reign of the Yamazaki family

In 1641 (Kanei 18), Ieharu Yamazaki was transferred from Higo Tomioka (present-day Amakusa District, Kumamoto Prefecture) for 50,000 koku, and the Marugame Domain was established, with Marugame Castle as its main castle.

Marugame Castle was abandoned by Ikoma Masatoshi due to the One Country, One Castle Order, but the buildings remained, so they were renovated and used as the main castle.
At this time, the shogunate exempted Ieharu Yamazaki from sankin kotai and even gave him money to rebuild the castle.

The Yamazaki family died out after three generations, but the first lord, Ieharu Yamazaki, and the second lord, Toshiie Yamazaki, renovated Marugame Castle over two generations to bring it back to its present form. Furthermore, the second lord, Totoshi Yamazaki, died at the age of 35, and the third lord, Haruyori Yamazaki, who succeeded him, died at the age of only 8, so the Yamazaki family was extinct with no successor.

Reign of the Kyogoku family

In 1658, Kyogoku Takakazu, a member of the Yamazaki family and the Omi-Genji clan, was transferred from the Harima Tatsuno domain and came to rule the Marugame domain. After that, the Kyogoku family became the lord of the Marugame domain until the Meiji era.

In addition to completing the castle tower of the existing Marugame Castle, Kyogoku Takakazu promoted the Konpira Daigongen (present-day Konpira Shrine), which was widely worshiped at the Edo domain residence, and set a specific day to allow the common people of Edo to visit the shrine. . This shrine still exists in Minato Ward, Tokyo as Toranomon Kotohira Shrine and is worshiped by local people.

Furthermore, the approach to Kotohira Shrine passed through the Marugame clan, so the tourism industry for worshipers became a valuable source of revenue for the Marugame clan until the Meiji period.