Usuki Domain (2/2)One family continues to rule from the beginning of the feudal era.

The situation in Kyushu was unstable after the outbreak of the Shimabara Rebellion, but the third lord of the domain, Ichimichi Inaba, was ordered by the shogunate to guard the border, and while responding to this, he continued to maintain his company in the castle town. As a side note, Kanshuji Ichiko, the sixth generation descendant of Inaba Ichimichi, was the birth mother of Emperor Ninko, so there is some Inaba blood running through the current imperial family.

Around the time of the fifth lord of the domain, Keimichi Inaba, the castle town was developed and the structure of the domain's administration was put in place. In particular, Keimichi put a lot of effort into civil administration and improved ports, so he is still revered today as a great ruler who was the founder of the Chukyo era.
Furthermore, the fifth lord of the domain, Keimichi Inaba, was a rare person who inherited the blood of Mitsuhide Akechi and Nobunaga Oda from both his father and mother.

Although the Usuki domain is a small domain in Kyushu, it owns the Usuki port and is an important point for shipping, and the domain's lord focused on civil administration, so the domain's administration was stable until the sixth generation of the domain.
However, around the time of the seventh lord, Tsunemichi Inaba, the amount of money the shogunate had to pay for construction work began to put pressure on their finances. Therefore, Tsunemichi Inaba tried to rebuild the domain by introducing an example of frugality, but because he himself died at the young age of 31, the edict of frugality ended in failure.

At this time, the political situation in the Usuki domain was unstable, as the eighth lord, Tomichi Inaba, died suddenly at the age of 29, and the ninth lord, Yasumichi Inaba, died suddenly one year after becoming lord. In addition, the Edo clan's residence was destroyed by fire, and natural disasters such as large fires and heavy rains occurred one after another in the territory, and the people of the domain were forced to flee in droves.

The tenth feudal lord, Hiromichi Inaba, was the child of a concubine, so he was not originally in a position to assume the position of lord, but since his younger brother, Fukumichi Inaba, who was treated as his legitimate son, died at a young age, he was forced to take over the position in a hurry. Ta.
In an attempt to alleviate the financial woes, they borrowed money and took government money from merchants, but the Great Tenmei Famine hit and they had no choice.

Furthermore, as he was ordered by the shogunate to help with river construction in Mino and Ise, his finances became even more dire.
In the reign of the 11th feudal lord, Yomichi Inaba, he finally appointed Michikichi Murase and implemented financial reforms for the domain, including thrift and policies to promote industry, and succeeded in governing.

However, even at this time, the feudal government was never stable, as peasant uprisings broke out.
Inaba Yōmichi also built martial arts training halls and academic institutes within his domain, and put a lot of effort into education.

The 12th and 13th feudal lords all died young, in their mid to late 20s, and were unable to leave any significant achievements. At this time, the Inaba family was barely keeping their family together by repeatedly adopting terminally ill children.
At this time, the world was in turmoil at the end of the Edo period, and some say that the Shogunate did not have time to care about the small clans of Kyushu.

Hisamichi Inaba, the 15th and last lord of the domain, married Kanmichi's sister and is also related to Dou Yamauchi of the Tosa domain.
For this reason, there is an anecdote that he was a supporter of the Sabaku faction until the Meiji era, and even when he was invited by the neighboring Oka domain to join the movement to revere the emperor and expel the joi, he flatly refused.

In October 1867, he was ordered by the Imperial Court to go to Kyoto, but he did not comply easily, and finally went to Kyoto in March of the following year. This was the latest move to Kyoto among the Bungo domains.
Instead, he was the first to return the land register to the Bungo clans, and was quickly appointed governor of the clan.

After being relieved of his post as governor due to the abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures in 1871, he entered Keio University, was appointed a viscount, and died at the age of 51.

Usuki clan summary

The Usuki domain had many short-lived lords, and from the 10th to the 15th generation, the lords merely succeeded to the lordship.
However, the grandson of the last feudal lord, Hisamichi Inaba, was a playmate of Emperor Showa and had close ties to the imperial family, and the Viscount Usuki Inaba family existed in Harajuku, Tokyo until before the war.

In addition, the former residence of the Inaba family, the lord of the Usuki domain, still exists in present-day Usuki City, and in addition to displaying weapons and baskets that have been passed down through generations of the Inaba family, some parts of the building are open to the public.