Bitchu Matsuyama Domain (1/2)A small domain ruled by five families

The Bitchu Matsuyama domain was a small Tozama domain that ruled part of Bitchu (present-day Okayama Prefecture).
Bitchu Matsuyama Castle was the domain office, but since the castle was located on top of a mountain, the domain administration was carried out in a building at the foot of the mountain called Onegaya.
Although it is a small domain, the number of ruling families has changed over time.
Let's take a look at the history of the Bicchu Matsuyama domain.

Bicchu Matsuyama domain from the end of the Sengoku period to the early Edo period

During the Sengoku period, Bitchu Matsuyama was taken from Motochika Mimura by the Mori clan. During the Battle of Sekigahara, Terumoto Mori served as the commander-in-chief of the Western Army, and Tokugawa Ieyasu stripped him of most of his territory.
Bicchu was also included, and Bicchu Matsuyama became Tenryo (a territory under the direct control of the shogunate).
Then, Masatsugu Kobori and Masakazu Kobori, father and son, were appointed as castle keepers to manage Bitchu Matsuyama Castle.
In addition. Seiichi Kobori is Enshu Kobori, a tea master and gardener.

In 1617, Nagayuki Ikeda transferred from the Tottori domain of Inaba Province for 65,000 koku.
The Bicchu Matsuyama clan was born here.

Nagayuki Ikeda developed new fields, but died in 1632 at the age of 46.
His eldest son Nagatsune Ikeda succeeded him. Furthermore, at this time, a proposal was made to divide the inheritance between Nagayori and his younger brother Nagayori Ikeda, and Nagayori's father-in-law, Yasunobu Wakisaka, was attacked by Nagayori Ikeda, Nagayori's uncle, and there was a family commotion. It broke out.
However, Nagatsune Ikeda became the second lord of the domain without receiving any particular criticism.
However, since Nagatsune was born with poor health, he died at the young age of 33 without creating a successor, and the Ikeda family became extinct.

Bicchu Matsuyama domain during the Edo period

Due to the extinction of the Ikeda family, in 1642 Katsutaka Mizutani was transferred from the Bicchu Nariwa domain for 50,000 koku.
Katsutaka Mizutani was a very talented man who investigated the castle town, improved transportation and waterways, and worked to develop new rice fields. Tamashima Shinden, which still remains under the name "Tamashima," was developed under his orders.
It also promotes the iron industry and focuses on mining iron sand.

In addition, he was highly trusted by the shogunate, and when Teruoki Ikeda, the lord of the Ako domain, was abducted, he was in charge of Ako Castle, and it is said that he was treated as well as a Fudai daimyo even though he was a Tozama daimyo. .

After Katsutaka Mizutani passed away at the age of 67, his eldest son Katsumune Mizutani succeeded him. He was also highly trusted by the shogunate and was promoted to Fudai Daimyo, but because of this he did not have time to return to Kunimoto, and the politics of the Bicchu Matsuyama domain were largely left to the vassals.
Even so, he demonstrated the ability inherited from his father and developed new rice fields and maintained the castle town.
We also began the renovation of Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, which still stands on the top of Mt. Gagyu.

Most of the buildings of Bitchu Matsuyama Castle that remain today were built at this time.
After Katsumune Mizutani retired, his second son Katsumi Mizutani succeeded him. He was also an excellent feudal lord, but he was sickly and died at the young age of 31 without producing a successor.

As a result, he adopted his cousin, Katsuharu Mizutani, but he died before him, and the Mizutani family was discontinued.

Furthermore, Yoshio Oishi (Kuranosuke Oishi), the chief retainer of the Asano family, famous for being an Ako ronin, was in charge of Bitchu Matsuyama Castle for a year and a half until the next lord, Shigehiro Ando, entered the castle.
At this time, Yoshio Oishi was appointed as the chief retainer of the Mizutani family by a man of the same name, Kuranosuke Tsurumi, and as a result of these two men's discussions, Bitchu Matsuyama Castle was handed over to Yoshio Ouchi without any bloodshed.
This story is said to have become a hot topic at the time as the ``confrontation between Ryō Kuranosuke.''

After the Mizutani family became extinct, a man named Shigehiro Ando became the lord of the Bitchu Matsuyama domain. He re-did the detection done by the Mizutani family and increased his kokudaka by 5,000 koku.
It is said that the people of the territory suffered as a result.

His successor, Nobutomo Ando, is more famous as the founder of the Goie school than as the lord of the Bitchu Matsuyama domain.
Although he did not have much involvement in the domain's politics, he worked as a temple magistrate and Osaka castle lord, and finally rose to the rank of roju (roju), supported the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune, and was involved in the Kyoho reforms.
Nobutomo Ando was transferred to the Mino Kano domain in 1711.

After the Ando family left, a man named Sokei Ishikawa was transferred to the Bicchu Matsuyama domain. He was the third lord of the Yodo domain in Yamashiro Province.
However, in March 1744, he retreated to Ise Kameyama with Katsumi Itakura.
This person, Katsumi Itakura, was often sick, and when he was the lord of the Kameyama domain in Ise, he incurred a large amount of expenses while serving as host to the Korean envoy at Moriyama-juku. I'm forcing it on Sokei Ishikawa.

In other words, Katsumi Itakura was not worthy of being entrusted with the lordship of a domain located at a key transportation point called ``Ise-Kameyama'', so he was demoted and became the lord of the Bitchu-Yamanaka domain.

However, after becoming the lord of the Bitchu Matsuyama domain, he conducted solid politics by establishing a domain school and working to educate the domain's samurai, and passed the headship of the family to his eldest son.