Morioka Domain (1/2)suffered from famine many times

Kita-Ou, including Morioka, has been ruled by the Nanbu clan since the early Muromachi period, and even during the Edo period, it was never ruled by the Nanbu clan.
It is a rare region that was ruled by the Nanbu clan without any change of country or transfer of territory.
Morioka was never an area suitable for rice cultivation, and suffered from over 70 famines throughout the Edo period.
I did. Let's unravel the history of the Morioka clan.

About the Nanbu clan, who continued to rule the Morioka domain until the Meiji era

The Morioka clan moved to Tohoku during the Kamakura period, and from the early Muromachi period controlled the entire northern Ou region, including Morioka.
The Nanbu clan, which was in charge of the area, served as the lord of the domain during the Meiji period.
It is quite rare for one family to continue to rule the same area for nearly 700 years.

During the Sengoku period, the Nambu clan swore loyalty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and after being relieved of their territory, they built the ``Fufu'', the predecessor of Morioka Castle.
Tokugawa Ieyasu built "Raikata Castle" and fought with the eastern army at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
He will be relieved of his possessions.
He then established the Morioka domain as a Tozama daimyo with a wealth of 100,000 koku.

In addition, the territory was unstable in the first half of 1600, and in 1617, the first lord of the domain, Toshinao Nanbu, was in trouble.
The control of Shimokita was confiscated from the To clan (Nejo Nambu clan), and in 1627, the Nanbu main family
Naohei Hachinohe, who was in charge, was transferred from Hachinohe Castle to Tono Yokota Castle as Mutsu Kunishiro, and the Nejo Nambu clan was transferred.
Forcible changes were made to members of his family, including his disappearance and the creation of the Tono Nambu clan.

Reign of the Nanbu clan

Current Morioka City finally began to function as a castle town, and the Morioka clan was established in the 10th year of Kanei.
(1633), during the era of the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.
The lord of the castle was replaced by the second generation Shigenao Nambu from Toshinao the first, but this Shigenao took 10 days to change his position.
He is famous for making the mistake of being late and receiving a reprimand from Shogun Iemitsu.
In addition, in 1643, the Dutch ship Breskens landed in Yamadaura, the domain of the Morioka domain.
When the Bresken incident occurred, he took a liking to the Dutch sailors and sent them to Morioka.
There is a record that they were courteously entertained inside.

The third lord, Shigenobu Morioka, was the younger brother of the second lord, Shigenao Nanbu, and when he was young, his chances of inheriting the country were low.
Therefore, there is an anecdote that he played with the children of peasants without any discrimination.
When his older brother Shigenao died without leaving any children, he took over the Morioka domain. At that time, my younger brother Shigefusa
After inheriting 10,000 koku, the Morioka domain was reduced from 100,000 koku to 80,000 koku. However, Shigenobu is Nitta
By focusing on development and the development of copper mines to replace the depleted gold mines, the domain's finances were strengthened, and the clan became known as the ``Meijin''.
It is now called.
Furthermore, it was during Shigenobu's time that the castle tower of Morioka Castle, which had been destroyed by a fire, was repaired.

However, during the era of the fourth lord, Yukinobu Nanbu, there was a severe crop failure, and although he tried fiscal reforms such as the Frugality Ordinance, the results were high.
During Yukinobu's time, more than 50,000 farmers starved to death.

During the era of the 5th lord Nanbu Shin'on, the Edo domain residence was completely destroyed due to the Genroku earthquake, and during the era of the 6th lord Nanbu Toshiki
In this case, the finances deteriorate to such an extent that they are unable to cover the costs of sankin kotai.

During the era of Toshio Nanbu, the 8th feudal lord, there was another famine (Horeki Famine), and more than 60,000 people starved to death.
As it took on construction work for the shogunate, its finances deteriorated to the point of collapse.

The 9th lord of the domain died young, and the 10th lord, Toshitaka Nanbu, took over as head of the family at only 2 years old.
Toshitaka Nanbu moved to Morioka at the age of 13, but the feudal government was in great turmoil, and Tenmei's
Famine added to the blow.
In order to somehow rebuild the country's finances, Toshitaka placed more emphasis on competent officials, large and small, rather than the senior retainers of clans.
However, this caused a backlash from the senior vassals of the clan.

The 11th lord of the domain, Nambu Tsukasa, is a cousin of Toshiyuki Nambu, but he took over the headship at the age of 14.
Then, at the age of 15, he fell from a tree in his garden and died. He was gone before the general showed up.
Because of this, the vassals of the Morioka domain, who were afraid of the change and reduction of their fiefdom, decided to use the southern part of the domain, which looked similar in age to the real one.
He used Zentaro, the third son of Shinyashiki Nanbu family head, Nanbu Nobuyoshi, as a scapegoat, and made him claim to be using Nanbu.
vinegar.