Ako Domain

A domain located in the Ako region of Harima Province (Hyogo Prefecture). Under Toyotomi's rule, the southwest corner of Harima, Ako, with 60,000 koku of land, was given to Ikoma Chikamasa, and the following year it became the domain of Ukita Hideie. In 1600 (Keicho 5), Ikeda Terumasa became the lord of the entire Harima Province, and temporarily assigned his youngest brother Nagamasa to Ako with 22,000 koku of land. In 1603, his son Fujimatsumaru (Tadatsugu) was granted 280,000 koku in Bizen, and after Terumasa's death in 1613, Tadatsugu moved to Okayama and was granted an additional 100,000 koku in the three districts of Nishihaba Ako, Shiso, and Sayo as a gift for his birth mother Tomiko (the daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu). At that time, Tarumi Katsushige, the Ako district governor and Urate magistrate, was in Ozaki and then Kariya, and then Ikeda Yoshiyuki, the lord of Shimotsui Castle, was in charge of Ako as well. After Tadatsugu's death in 1615 (Genwa 1), the land was divided among his three younger brothers, and three domains were established. The Ako domain with 35,000 koku became the fief of Terumasa's fifth son Masatsuna. Masatsuna died in 1631 (Kan'ei 8), and Teruoki of Sayo Hirafuku was appointed to the fief. In 1645 (Shoho 2), Teruoki was stripped of his title due to insanity, and later Naganao Asano, a branch of the Hiroshima Asano clan, entered the domain from Kasama in Hitachi, and was granted a fief of over 53,000 koku, and expanded the castle. In 1701 (Genroku 14), during the reign of his grandson Naganori, the fief was confiscated due to a sword incident at the palace. The following year, in 1702, Nagai Tadataka came from Karasuyama in Shimotsuke with a fief of 33,000 koku, and in 1706 (Hoei 3), Mori Naganao, lord of Nishiebara Castle in Bitchu, took over with a fief of 20,000 koku, which continued until the abolition of feudal domains and the establishment of prefectures in the Meiji period. The number of villages in the fief was 126 villages in Ako County and 62 villages in the three counties of Kato and Kasai under the Asano clan, but it was reduced to 43 villages in Ako County under the Mori clan, and the counties became intertwined with the Shogunate's territories, Amagasaki, Anji, and other feudal domains. The salt industry in the region began in the early modern period, and was operated for the finances of the feudal domain, especially since the Asano clan, and feudal domain notes were issued in connection with it.

[Makoto Abe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

播磨(はりま)国（兵庫県）赤穂地方に置かれた藩。豊臣(とよとみ)治下の播磨で南西隅の赤穂6万石が生駒親正(いこまちかまさ)に知行され、これは翌年宇喜多秀家(うきたひでいえ)領に入ったという。1600年（慶長5）池田輝政(てるまさ)が播磨一国を領知し、一時末弟長政(ながまさ)を赤穂2万2000石に配した。1603年次子藤松丸(ふじまつまる)（忠継(ただつぐ)）を備前28万石に封じ、1613年輝政の没後忠継は岡山に移り、同時に生母富子（徳川家康女(むすめ)）の化粧料として西播赤穂、宍粟(しそう)、佐用(さよ)3郡の10万石を加増された。当時は赤穂郡代・浦手奉行(ぶぎょう)垂水勝重(たるみかつしげ)が初め尾崎、のち加里屋(かりや)におり、ついで下津井(しもつい)城代池田由之(よしゆき)が赤穂を兼ねた。1615年（元和1）忠継が没したのちは3弟に分知されて3藩が成立。赤穂藩3万5000石は輝政の五男政綱(まさつな)の領知となる。政綱は1631年（寛永8）に没し、佐用平福(ひらふく)の輝興(てるおき)が入封した。1645年（正保2）輝興が乱心で改易され、あとに広島浅野氏の支流浅野長直(ながなお)が常陸(ひたち)笠間(かさま)より入って5万3000余石を領知し、城も増築した。1701年（元禄14）孫の長矩(ながのり)のとき殿中刃傷(にんじょう)事件で没領となる。翌1702年永井直敬(ただたか)が下野(しもつけ)烏山(からすやま)より入り3万3000石、1706年（宝永3）備中(びっちゅう)西江原城主森長直(ながなお)がかわって2万石を領知、以後明治の廃藩置県に及んだ。領知の村数は、浅野家で赤穂郡126村と加東(かとう)、加西(かさい)三郡で62村だったのに対し、森家では赤穂郡43村になり、郡内に幕領や尼崎(あまがさき)、安志(あんじ)などの諸藩が入り組むようになった。地域の塩業は近世初期に始まり、とくに浅野家以来、藩財政のために運営され、関連して藩札が発行された。

［阿部真琴］

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