Fukuoka Domain (1/2)Ruled by the Kuroda family

Fukuoka Domain was a large domain located in present-day Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. It owns almost all of Chikuzen Province, and has the Akizuki Domain as a subsidiary domain.

The Fukuoka domain was ruled by the Kuroda family until the end of the Edo period, when Kuroda Nagamasa, the son of the famous tactician Kuroda Kanbei (Kuroda Josui), became the first lord of the domain. In the Edo period, when transference of feudal domains was common, it was rare for a domain to be ruled by one family until the end of the Edo period. Let's unravel the history of the Fukuoka domain.

From the birth of the Fukuoka Domain to the Kuroda Riots

Fukuoka was ruled by Takakage Kobayakawa when Toyotomi Hideyoshi was Kanpaku. Hideyoshi died and the Battle of Sekigahara occurred in 1600. Hideaki Kobayakawa, the adopted son of Takakage Kobayakawa, betrayed the Western army and contributed to the victory of the Eastern army. Due to this achievement, Hideaki Kobayakawa's territory was added to and transferred to present-day Okayama Prefecture. After that, the land of Fukuoka was given to Nagamasa Kuroda, who had achieved great success in the Battle of Sekigahara.

Kuroda Nagamasa was the eldest son of Kuroda Kanbei (Kuroda Josui) and a senior vassal of the Toyotomi family. However, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, he opposed Ishida Mitsunari and quickly approached Tokugawa Ieyasu. Before the Battle of Sekigahara, he used the negotiation skills inherited from his father and succeeded in forcing powerful feudal lords such as Masanori Fukushima and Hideaki Kobayakawa to defect from Mitsunari Ishida.

In recognition of this work, Tokugawa Ieyasu sent a letter of appreciation stating, ``As the person who made the greatest contribution in the Battle of Sekigahara, I will absolve my children and grandchildren from their crimes,'' and gave 523,000 koku to Chikuzen Kuninajima.

Kuroda Nagamasa moved to Fukuoka and together with his father, Kuroda Kanbei, began construction of Fukuoka Castle in 1601. Kuroda Kanbei unfortunately passed away in 1604, before the completion of Fukuoka Castle, but Fukuoka Castle was successfully completed in 1606.

Nagamasa Kuroda, who became the first lord of the domain, received from Ieyasu Tokugawa a red seal, which was also a license to trade overseas, to Sokyu Oga, a merchant who had accompanied him to Fukuoka. It encouraged many industries. Hakata dolls, Hakata-ori, and Takatori ware, which are still famous as Hakata specialties, are industries that Kuroda Nagamasa encouraged. Nagamasa Kuroda built the foundation of the Fukuoka domain and died of illness at the age of 56, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Tadayuki Kuroda.

Unlike his father and grandfather, Tadayuki Kuroda was a natural born daimyō. For this reason, it is said that he liked gaiety, had a somewhat selfish personality, and was extremely picky about his vassals. In particular, in 1632, Chikuzen Roppan Castle, where a senior vassal of the Kuroda family was the lord, had a fierce feud with senior vassals from the Kuroda Nagamasa era, and finally, in 1632, one of the Roppan castles, Asasoko, was built. Toshiaki Kuriyama (Daizen), the lord of Ryojo, complains to the shogunate that the Kuroda family is plotting a rebellion against the shogunate. This was called the Kuroda Riot, and is one of the three major riots, along with the Date Riot and the Kaga Riot.

In response to this complaint, the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu personally ruled on it, and Toshiaki Kuriyama (Daizen), who had filed the complaint, was expelled for ``revenge due to mental abnormality.''

The Date Riots and the Kaga Riots both resulted in fatalities, but the Kuroda Riot was the only one that recorded no deaths and is said to have been resolved peacefully. However, Tadayuki Kuroda was rebuked in the form of advice from Naotsugu Ando, an elder statesman of the shogunate, and Masatora Naruse, an elder statesman of the shogunate who were close friends with Nagamasa Kuroda. It seems like it is. Furthermore, in 1637, Tadayuki Kuroda went to war in the Shimabara Rebellion and achieved great military exploits.

In addition, in 1641, when the Edo shogunate decided to isolate the country and limited the trade window with foreign countries to Dejima in Nagasaki, the shogunate ordered the Nabeshima family of the Hizen Saga domain to protect Nagasaki in turn. received. After this death, the Fukuoka domain began sending many Hakata merchants into and out of Nagasaki to do business. They also began to receive privileges from the shogunate, such as a reduction in the number of sankin kotai and a shortened period of stay in Edo for the feudal lord.

From the Kuroda Riots to the end of the Edo period

The third lord, Mitsuyuki Kuroda, enacted strict frugality laws in an attempt to rebuild the domain's financial deterioration that had begun under the second lord, Tadayuki Kuroda. On the other hand, he is also known as the lord who spread the chicken egg somen, which is still famous as a famous confectionery, from Hakata to all over the country. Mitsuyuki Kuroda preferred Bunji, but he disinherited his eldest son and made his fourth son his successor, and punished Ito Kozaemon, an influential Hakata merchant, for engaging in smuggling with Korea. , which also brought confusion to the domain.

Tsunamasa Kuroda, the fourth lord of the domain, succeeded his father and tried his best to rebuild the domain's finances, but failed, and the fifth lord, Nobumasa Kuroda, was in poor health and could hardly manage politics.

Tsugetaka Kuroda, the 6th lord of the domain, was the last lord in the lineage of the first Nagamasa Kuroda, and he protected the culture and actively worked on reforming the domain's administration and rebuilding its finances.