Mikazuki Domain


Mikazuki Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in Harima Province in what is now the southwestern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around the Mikazuki jin'ya which was located in what is now the Mikazuki neighborhood of the town of Sayō, Hyōgo. It was controlled by a cadet branch tozama daimyō Mori clan throughout its history. It was also called Noino Domain.

History

In April 1676, the 2nd daimyō of Tsuyama Domain, Mori Nagatsugu, gave 15,000 koku of this holdings to his fifth son, Mori Nagatoshi, to create a cadet house. However, this subsidiary domain, Tsuyama Shinden Domain, did not receive official recognition from the shogunate until 1684. In 1697, the Mori clan were disposed from Tsuyama; but Tsuyama Shinden Domain was allowed to remain at its existing 15,000 koku as an independent domain called Mikazuki Domain. It survived nine generations, or 174 years, until the Meiji restoration. The 5th daimyō Mori Hayaatsu opened the han school, "Kōgyōkan". During the Boshin War, the domain quickly sided with the imperial government. In 1871, with the abolition of the han system, the domain became "Mikazuki Prefecture", which was merged with "Shikama Prefecture", which in turn became part of Hyōgo Prefecture.
The clan was ennobled with the kazoku peerage title of shishaku in 1884.

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

As with most domains in the han system, Mikazuki Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned kokudaka, based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.