Kumamoto Domain

This clan owned most of Higo Province (Kumamoto Prefecture) (excluding Amakusa and Kuma districts) and had Kumamoto Castle as its castle. It was the second largest clan in Kyushu after Satsuma Domain, with an official land area of ​​540,000 koku. After the unification of Kyushu during the Toyotomi period, Sassa Narimasa owned the entire Higo Province except for Kuma district, but after that, from leap May 1588 (Tensho 16), Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga owned half of the province. After the Battle of Sekigahara, the entire Higo Province (excluding Kuma and Amakusa counties) (520,000 koku) and Bungo Province (Oita Prefecture) Naori, Oita, and Amabe counties (23,000 koku) were determined to be the territory of Kato Kiyomasa, and the territory remained unchanged until the abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures. During Kiyomasa's time, Kumamoto Castle was built and became his castle, a castle town (present-day Kumamoto City) was also formed, and the actual land value of his territory reached over 750,000 koku. After Kiyomasa's death (1611), his son Tadahiro took over, but due to mismanagement and the shogunate's policy of governing Kyushu, he was demoted, and in December 1632 (Kan'ei 9), Hosokawa Tadatoshi, lord of Kokura Castle in Buzen, entered the country with the mission of being an inspector of Kyushu. From then on, until the abolition of the feudal domains and the establishment of prefectures, the Hosokawa clan continued to rule the domain for 12 generations, and so it is also known as the Hosokawa Domain. During that time, the Hosokawa Domain was divided into two domains: Uto Domain (30,000 koku) in 1646 (Shoho 3), and Kumamoto Shinden Domain (35,000 koku) in 1666 (Kanbun 6), and Takase Domain from 1868 onwards.

One of the Hosokawa clan's distinctive administrative systems was the Tenaga system. Tenaga were placed between counties and villages (51 in the late Edo period), and their head was called the Soshoya, who controlled village headmen of an average of 30 villages. They also adopted a Yokome system to monitor the peasants, and furthermore, they had local samurai, jizutsu (county samurai), ichiryoichibiki (a branch of a peasant village), and satsuzutsu (a branch of a peasant village), who were able to respond to military force in times of need. They ruled over Bungo, an area where Christianity was being spread, and the former Konishi territory. Furthermore, due to the Shimabara Rebellion, Christianity was strictly controlled, and the Goningumi and religious conversion were institutionalized early on. Combined with the local chigyo system of stipends, this resulted in a domain with few peasant uprisings. The town government adopted a five-town system (Kumamoto, Takahashi, Takase, Kawajiri, Yatsushiro, and later added three more towns), and as a privileged town, it controlled commercial capital and conducted business using stock certificates called hote. Although Higo rice was the market price rice in Dojima, Osaka, the finances deteriorated from the end of the Kan'ei period (1624-1644), and by the time of the 6th lord, Nobunori (1713-1732), the debt had reached 370,000 to 380,000 ryo, and the way to borrow money from Osaka brewery merchants was cut off, which finally led to the reform of the domain government by the 8th lord, Shigekata. He overhauled the old system by establishing general land surveys, Komononarikata and Hazekata, reforming administrative organizations, and establishing a criminal code, which temporarily alleviated the crisis, but loans continued to increase, and he implemented the Kyowa Reforms (the tax payment exemption system) and the Bunka Reforms. On the other hand, he demanded donations (small gifts) from landlords and usurers, and in return he made them samurai-class goshi (with surnames, swords, umbrella exemptions, one fief, and the status of a middle-class servant who lived alone), which increased their power.

Unlike other domains, lower-class samurai did not make inroads in politics at the end of the Edo period, and the government was run by the Gakkoto, a faction of the domain school Jishukan, so the feudal system was preserved throughout the Restoration. The Meiji Restoration in Higo took place in 1870 (Meiji 3), after the return of the domain's land and people to the emperor, and the Jitsugakuto, a faction of Yokoi Shonan, implemented various policies to overhaul the old system. However, under pressure from the new government's centralizing policies, the domains were abolished and prefectures were established the following year. In 1871, the domain area became Kumamoto Prefecture (the following year it was renamed Shirakawa Prefecture), and when it was combined with Yatsushiro Prefecture, it was called Kumamoto Prefecture again in 1876.

[Tsuneo Moriyama]

"New Narrative History of the Domain, Volume 12" (1977, Shinjinbutsu Oraisha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

肥後国（熊本県）の大部分（天草(あまくさ)・球磨(くま)郡を除外）を領有し、熊本城を居城とした藩。薩摩(さつま)藩に次ぐ九州第二の大藩で表高54万石。豊臣(とよとみ)期九州統一後は球磨郡を除く肥後一国を佐々成政(さっさなりまさ)が領有したが、その後、1588年（天正16）閏(うるう)5月から加藤清正(きよまさ)、小西行長(ゆきなが)の半国宛の領有となった。関ヶ原の戦い後、球磨・天草郡を除く肥後一国（52万石）と豊後(ぶんご)国（大分県）直入(なおり)・大分・海部(あまべ)郡（2万3000石）とが、加藤清正領と確定し、以後その領域は廃藩置県まで変更されなかった。清正時代に熊本城が築城されて居城となり、城下町（現熊本市街）も形成され、また領地の実高も75万石余に達した。清正の死亡（1611）後はその子忠広(ただひろ)が継いだが、統治失政と幕府の九州統治方針とが相まって改易され、かわって1632年（寛永9）12月に豊前(ぶぜん)小倉城主細川忠利(ただとし)が、九州の目付(めつけ)役的任務をもって入国した。以後、廃藩置県まで12代にわたり細川氏が襲封したので、細川藩とも称される。その間、1646年（正保3）に宇土(うと)藩（3万石）、1666年（寛文6）に熊本新田(しんでん)藩（3万5000石、1868年以降高瀬藩）を分知した。

　細川氏の特徴ある行政体制の一つに、手永(てなが)制がある。郡と村の中間に手永を置き（幕末は51手永）、その長を惣庄屋(そうしょうや)と称し平均30か村の村庄屋を統制する方式とした。また農民監視に横目制をとり、さらに百姓郷士として地侍・地筒(じづつ)（郡筒）・一領一疋(ぴき)・札筒(さつづつ)がいて不時の軍事力に答応する体制をとった。キリシタン布教地域の豊後や旧小西領を領し、さらに島原の乱もあってキリシタン統制が厳重で五人組や宗旨改めも早くから制度化し、給人の地方知行(じかたちぎょう)体制と相まって、百姓一揆(いっき)が少ない藩となった。町方は5か町制（熊本、高橋、高瀬、川尻、八代(やつしろ)、その後3町追加）をとり、特権的な町として商業資本を統制し、本手(ほて)とよばれる株札による商業が行われた。財政は、肥後米が大坂堂島(どうじま)の相場米であったにもかかわらず、寛永(かんえい)（1624～1644）末年期から悪化し、第6代宣紀(のぶのり)期（1713～1732）には借財37～38万両に達し、大坂蔵元商人からの融資の道が絶たれ、ついに第8代重賢(しげかた)による藩政改革となった。総検地、小物成方(こものなりかた)・櫨方(はぜかた)の設置、行政組織の改革、刑法制定などと、旧体制を一新し、一時的には危機を救済したが、その後も借銀が増加し、享和(きょうわ)の改革（年貢定請免(じょううけめん)制）、文化(ぶんか)の改革を施行した。一方では、地主・高利貸商人に献金＝寸志を求め、その代償に武士身分の郷士（苗字(みょうじ)帯刀、傘御免(かさごめん)、一領一疋、留守居(るすい)中小姓の格を有す）としたため、彼らの勢力を増大化させた。

　幕末期の政治は他藩のような下級士族の進出がなく、藩校時習館派の学校党による執政であったので、封建体制の護持に終始して維新を迎えた。肥後の明治維新は版籍奉還後の1870年（明治3）で、横井小楠(しょうなん)系の実学党による藩政改革で旧体制を一新する諸政策が採用された。しかし新政府の中央集権策に押され、翌年には廃藩置県を迎えた。1871年藩域は熊本県（翌年白川県と改称）となり、さらに八代県をあわせて、1876年ふたたび熊本県と称した。

［森山恒雄］

『『新編物語藩史　第12巻』（1977・新人物往来社）』

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