Kitsuki Domain (1/2)A small domain ruled by two families

The Kitsuki clan was a domain that ruled Kunisaki and Hayami counties in Bungo Province, and was a domain of feudal lords ruled by two families, the Ogasawara clan and Matsudaira Nomi, with Kitsuki Castle as the domain office until the end of the Edo period.

Although it was a small domain with an income of 20,000 to 40,000 koku, they supported the domain's finances by cultivating rushes, which were used to make tatami mats with little flat land.
Let's unravel the history of the Kizu clan.

Kitsuki domain until the Edo period

Before the Edo period, the land of Kitsuki was ruled by the Kimura clan, an offshoot of the Otomo clan.
At the end of the Sengoku period, the Toyosatsu War broke out between the Otomo clan and the Shimazu clan, and the area became the Kitsuki battlefield.
At this time, Kitsuki Chichinao, the lord of Kitsuki Castle, was able to survive the two months of besieging the army of Niino Tadamoto, a vassal of the Shimazu clan.

However, after that, Kitsuke Chishinao's lord, Otomo Yoshimune, the eldest son of Otomo Sourin, was blamed for his blunder in the Bunroku War and resigned, and Kitsuke Chishinao swept the castle grounds and committed suicide with his wife. It will be.

Furthermore, Chishinao Kitsuke lost his children and grandchildren in the Bunroku era.
The land of Kitsuki, which had no one left to rule, became a land under the direct control of the Toyotomi family. After Geni Maeda and Tsugujun Miyabe served as magistrates, it became the fief of Nagafusa Sugihara in 1596.

Establishment of the Kitsuki clan

From 1599 onwards, the land of Kitsuki became the property of Tadaoki Hosokawa. Tadaoki Hosokawa had Yasuyuki Matsui, Tatsuyuki Ariyoshi, and others rule as rulers of Kitsuki Castle.

Due to his exploits at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Hosokawa Tadaoki was granted an additional province of Buzen.

The Hosokawa family once made Nakatsu Castle their headquarters, then moved the domain office to Kokura Castle and established the Kokura Domain.
In 1632, when Hosokawa Tadaoki's son Tadatoshi was transferred to the Kumamoto domain, Ogasawara Tadamasa was transferred to the Ogura domain. Then, Tadatomo Ogasawara, Tadazane's younger brother and hatamoto, entered Kitsuke with 40,000 koku, and the Kitsuki clan was established here.

Ogasawara Tadatomo left behind his achievements in 1637, when he attacked Shimabara and took charge of the castle, and achieved certain results in the domain's government through tree-planting projects.

In recognition of his achievements, in 1645 he was transferred to Mikawa Yoshida with an additional 5,000 koku. Afterwards, Hidechika Matsudaira was transferred to the Kitsuki domain in place of the Ogasawara clan.

Hidechika Matsudaira was the eldest son of Shigenao Matsudaira, the first lord of the Takada domain, and the seventh generation of the Nomi Matsudaira family.
This Nomi Matsudaira clan continued to rule the Kitsuki domain until the end of the Edo period.

Rule of Nomi Matsudaira clan

The first lord of the domain, Hidechika Matsudaira, issued 25 ordinances to regulate the domain's governance, conducted inspections, and put effort into new rice field development.
The second feudal lord, Shigeei Matsudaira, left behind a track record of protecting peasants from the neighboring Hinode clan who had dispersed and invaded the domain, and of negotiating with the Hinode clan and resolving the dispute amicably.