Kumamoto Domain (2/2)Ruled by the Kato family and the Hosokawa family.

The fourth lord, Nobunori Hosokawa, passed away at the age of 57 due to stress during these difficult times, and was succeeded by his fourth son, Munetaka Hosokawa, at the young age of 17.
However, when Munetaka Hosokawa went to Edo Castle for the monthly worship ceremony in 1747, he was slashed to death by Katsunori Itakura, an insane hatamoto yoriaishi.

There are several theories about this incident, including the theory that Katsunori Itakura mistakenly identified him, and the theory that there was a grudge related to the equipment in the mansion.
This incident put the Hosokawa family on the brink of a second bankruptcy.

At this time, the lord of Sendai, Munemura Date, used his tact to notify the shogunate that Munetaka Hosokawa had not yet died, had Munetaka Hosokawa transported to his Edo mansion, and ordered his vassals to transport Shigekata Hosokawa, the 6th lord of the domain, to the shogunate. We will encourage children to adopt terminally ill children.
As a result, the Hosokawa family was able to avoid the rule that ``a sword wound in the palace must be fought and lost,'' and the family name was able to survive.

Shigekata Hosokawa suddenly became the lord of the domain, but at that time the Kumamoto domain was in debt of nearly 400,000 ryo and was unable to collect annual tax due to poor harvests.

There is an anecdote that Shigekata used pawn shops when he was living in a room, and that he cherished the pawn tags throughout his life.
After that, Shigekata implemented a very harsh financial restructuring plan called the Horeki Reform.
He negotiated with Kashimaya, a rising merchant at the time, to obtain funds on the condition that he would accept the annual tax, and by selling the domain's products to Kashimaya, he worked to rebuild the domain's finances.

He himself worked frugally, wearing nothing but cotton kimono and only using water to bathe, and worked to rebuild the domain's finances.
Thanks to their efforts, not only did the Kumamoto clan's finances recover, local governments gained a certain amount of authority and financial resources to actively develop new rice fields, and education and justice were also reformed.

In addition, Shigekata was devoted to Dutch studies and was called ``Daimyo with a Dutch habit'' along with Shigego Shimazu of the Satsuma domain and Yoshiatsu Satake of the Kubota domain.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Kumamoto clan was able to recover thanks to Shigekata.

Harutoshi Hosokawa, the 7th lord of the domain, assumed the position of lord after his father, Shigeta, passed away at the age of 66, but from 1786, natural disasters occurred and the domain suffered frequent breakdowns, and he was forced to deal with them. He died at the young age of 30.
The 8th generation feudal lord, Saikei Hosokawa, who succeeded him, tried to rebuild his finances by issuing han bills and other measures, but he failed, and in 1802, a feudal conflict called the Goginsho Riot broke out. To do. Furthermore, misfortunes such as the Edo clan's residence being burnt down continued, and in the end, financial reconstruction efforts ended in failure.

The 9th lord, Saiki Hosokawa, also tried to rebuild his finances, but died at the age of 30, and by the time of the 10th lord, Saigo Hosokawa, the country was once again on the brink of financial bankruptcy. Moreover, during this period American and British warships were approaching Japan, and the Shogunate ordered them to guard the Amakusa region and Sagami Bay, further worsening their finances.

In addition, within the domain, reformers such as Kokusu Yokoi and Koreyo Nagaoka clashed with conservatives such as Sado Matsui over the policy of reforming the domain's administration, and the domain was divided into two, resulting in a situation where no one could do either.
Amid these hardships, Saigo passed away at the age of 57.

During the time of the 11th feudal lord, Hosokawa Shokuni, the world entered the Meiji Restoration, but he was reluctant to respect the emperor and expel the joi, and unified the domain's theory with the theory of reverence for the king.
When Shinsaku Takasugi of the Choshu domain attacked the Kokura domain, he helped the Kokura domain, but quickly withdrew after being defeated in a battle.
After that, he did not perform as spectacularly as he did in the Satsuma domain, but became the governor of the domain during the Meiji Restoration.

After becoming governor of the domain, the last lord of the domain, Morihisa Hosokawa, the 12th, adopted the most progressive policies in Kyushu, including abolishing miscellaneous taxes of approximately 90,000 koku, demolishing Kumamoto Castle, and establishing the domain parliament.
He was then appointed governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, which was then called Shirakawa Prefecture in the 4th year of Meiji.
It is said that during the Satsuma Rebellion that occurred in 1877, he worked hard to help those affected by the war.
Later, in 1884, with the promulgation of the Peerage Order, Morihisa Hosokawa was made a marquis, and in 1884 he was appointed a member of the peerage.

Kumamoto domain summary

We have briefly introduced the history of the Kato and Hosokawa families who ruled the Kumamoto domain. The Hosokawa family still exists today, and the great-grandson of the last feudal lord, Morihisa Hosokawa, is Morihiro Hosokawa, who served as the 79th Prime Minister.