Shonai Domain

A domain that ruled over most of the Shonai region of Dewa Province. Also known as the Tsuruoka Domain. A fudai daimyo. In 1622 (Genwa 8), when the Mogami clan of Yamagata Domain was abolished, Sakai Tadakatsu of Matsushiro, Shinshu, entered Shonai with 140,000 koku. It is said that he was deployed to pacify the outside daimyo of Oshu along with Torii Tadamasa of Yamagata, and thereafter established himself as a castle town in Tsuruoka (Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture) until the Meiji Restoration.

The feudal lords after Tadakatsu were Tadamasa, Tadayoshi, Tadazane, Tadayori, Tadaatsu, Tadanori, Tadakata, Tadaaki, Tadatomo, Tadasumi and Tadamichi, and continued until the Meiji Restoration.

In 1647 (Shoho 4), Tadakatsu's territory was divided into 20,000 koku in Matsuyama (to his third son Tadatsune) and 10,000 koku in Oyama (to his seventh son Tadatoki), and in 1682 (Tenwa 2) he was granted an additional 5,000 koku. However, with the excavation of Kitadate Ozeki and other irrigation dams and the development of rice fields in the early modern period, the actual land area of ​​the Shonai domain was said to be over 190,000 koku. In the domain government reforms that began in the mid-Edo period in 1767 (Meiwa 4), the wealthy Sakata merchant Honma Mitsuoka (Shirosaburo) was initially appointed to settle the debts, but in the reforms that followed in 1795 (Kansei 7), centering on the middle elder Takeuchi Hachiroemon and the county magistrate Shirai Yadayu, they eliminated commercial capitalists, implemented measures to revive the rural areas by cutting off loans of rice and loans, and founded the domain school Chidokan. However, while pawned landlords developed, the number of impoverished people in the rural areas increased dramatically, and agricultural policies such as the establishment of the Yonaimai system were implemented during the Tenpo period (1830-1844). In 1840 (Tenpo 11), the shogunate government's Sanpo-ryochi-gyo, which transferred the Musashi Kawagoe Domain to Shonai and the Shonai Domain lord to Echigo Nagaoka, was revoked due to a movement to oppose it by all the domain's inhabitants, including farmers and large landowners. However, at the end of the Edo period, the Shonai Domain played an active role as a powerful domain supporting the shogunate, being entrusted with guarding the city of Edo and controlling the Shinchogumi. In 1869 (Meiji 2), it was renamed Oizumi Domain. After passing through Oizumi Prefecture, Sakata Prefecture, and Tsuruoka Prefecture, it became part of Yamagata Prefecture in 1876.

[Akio Yokoyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

出羽国(でわのくに)庄内地方の大部分を領有した藩。鶴岡(つるおか)藩ともいう。譜代(ふだい)大名。1622年（元和8）、山形藩最上(もがみ)氏の改易により、信州松代(まつしろ)の酒井忠勝(ただかつ)が14万石で庄内に入部した。山形の鳥居忠政とともに奥羽の外様(とざま)大名の鎮めとして配置されたといわれ、以後鶴岡（山形県鶴岡市）を城下に明治維新まで定着した。

　忠勝以後の藩主は、忠当(ただまさ)、忠義(ただよし)、忠真(ただざね)、忠寄(ただより)、忠温(ただあつ)、忠徳(ただのり)、忠器(ただかた)、忠発(ただあき)、忠寛(ただとも)、忠篤(ただすみ)、忠宝(ただみち)と続き維新を迎える。

　忠勝の領地は、1647年（正保4）松山2万石（三男忠恒(ただつね)）、大山1万石（七男忠解(ただとき)）を分知し、1682年（天和2）には余目(あまるめ)5000石を分知したが、近世初頭における北楯大堰(きただておおぜき)その他の用水堰の開削と水田開発によって、庄内藩の実高は19万石余といわれていた。江戸中期の1767年（明和4）に始まる藩政改革では、初め酒田の豪商本間光丘(ほんまみつおか)（四郎三郎）を登用して借財整理にあたったが、1795年（寛政7）以後の改革では、中老竹内八郎右衛門(はちろうえもん)、郡代白井矢大夫(やだゆう)を中心に、商業資本家を排除し、貸付米、貸付金の切り捨てによる農村復興策を行い、藩校致道館(ちどうかん)を創設した。しかし質地地主の発展と他方に農村の困窮者が激増する状態が進行し、天保(てんぽう)期（1830～44）には困窮与内米(よないまい)の設定などの農政策が図られた。また1840年（天保11）、武蔵(むさし)川越(かわごえ)藩を庄内に、庄内藩主を越後(えちご)長岡へ転封する幕府の三方領地替は、農民・大地主にわたる全領民の阻止運動により撤回されたが、幕末の庄内藩は、江戸市中の警備、新徴組の支配を委任されるなど、佐幕の雄藩として活躍することになった。1869年（明治2）大泉藩と改称。大泉県、酒田県、鶴岡県を経て76年山形県に入る。

［横山昭男］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例