During the 260-year reign of the Edo shogunate (1603-1867), there were about 500 large and small domains in Japan before and after, and on average, there were about 270 domains in each era, so there was the name of "Edo Shogunate Three Hundred Domains", and today we will introduce the Akizuki Domain.
Kyushu Domains
The Akizuki Domain was a clan of the Kyushu region of the Edo period, a branch of the Fukuoka Domain, whose domain was the Kuroda clan, and whose domain consisted of part of the prefectures of Howa-gun, Kama-gun, Shimoza-gun, and Notsusu-gun in Chikuzen Kingdom, and the clan hall was located in Akizuki-jinya, hence the name.
Kuroda family tattoo
In 1623, Kuroda Nagamasa, the first lord of Fukuoka Domain, died, and according to Kuroda Nagamasa's last words, his third son Kuroda Nagayuki received 50,000 stones from his family and established the Akizuki Domain, kuroda Nagayuki was the first lord of Akizuki Domain. It is said that before Kuroda Nagamasa's death, he originally planned to abolish the position of the eldest son, Kuroda Tadaoyuki, and establish Kuroda Nagayuki as a son, but due to the opposition of the family's important ministers, it may also be a kind of compensation for Nagayuki.
The door of the longhouse of the Autumn Moon Array House
In 1624, Changxing officially entered the fiefdom and began to build his own living city on the basis of the original Autumn Moon Castle, the Autumn Moon Array House.
Kuroda Nagamasa
In 1625, Kuroda Nagayuki, as lord of the domain, made his first trip to Edo Castle to pay respects to the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, but this time the process of worship did not go well. Probably because his father Kuroda Nagayuki had the idea of changing Nagashiro to the son of the world, so as an older brother, Kuroda Tadanoichi has always held a grudge in his heart, and in the process of this visit, he actually sent his courtiers to obstruct Nagahide from paying hospice to the general, but fortunately, his mother Eihime and Hosokawa Tadakashi, who was still the lord of the Okura Domain at the time, helped Nagayuki to meet the shogun without any danger. However, because of this incident, the original tense brotherly relationship between Nagayuki and Tadayuki became more tense, and then the two sides repeatedly opposed each other, until the death of his brother Tadaoyuki and the succession of his nephew Hikari, the relationship between Nagayuki and the Fukuoka clan of the honmei family was gradually alleviated.
Tadaoyuki Kuroda
After paying homage to the shogun, Kuroda Nagayuki, who returned to the domain, began to formally govern within the domain, promoting the construction of infrastructure such as the development of Nitta and road traffic development, and gradually establishing his own system of feudal governance.
Kuroda Nagayuki
In 1637, the Shimabara Rebellion broke out, and Akizuki Domain was also assigned by the shogunate to participate in counterinsurgency work, but his work was mainly responsible for the defense of Nagasaki, and he did not directly participate in the war.
Ruins of the Shimabara Rebellion
In 1665, Kuroda died at the age of 56 at the Edo Domain. The position of governor was succeeded by his second son, Kuroda Nagashige, who was the second-generation lord of the Akizuki Domain. After Nagashige succeeded to the throne, in view of the financial difficulties that had arisen from his father Changxing's later years, he began to implement reform measures in the domain, he established a family system in the domain, and issued a strict economy order, and also issued a clan and implemented the shangmi system, although a variety of reform measures were implemented, but the Akizuki clan was still unable to repay the huge arrears of the merchants, and finally Nagashige could only choose to become a lao lai and stop paying the arrears to the merchants.
In 1710, Kuroda Nagashige died in Akizuki Domain at the age of 52, and was succeeded by his eldest son Kuroda Nagashige, who was the third lord of the Akizuki Domain. Nagayuki took the throne in his prime, ben because he had a lot of work, but unfortunately he did not live long, after only 5 years in office, he died in 1715, at the age of 30, childless, with the death of Nagashi Kuroda, kuroda Nagayuki's male bloodline was severed, so Akizuki Clan was forced to welcome the hereditary oldest nomura clan from the Fukuoka clan of the honmei nomura clan to inherit the position of lord of the domain, and changed his name to Kuroda Nagasada, who was the fourth generation of the Akizuki domain. During Nagasada's tenure, in view of the deteriorating financial situation of the Akizuki Domain, he began to implement the "fixed exemption system" and the "Tibetan rice knowledge system" and other feudal reform measures in the domain, hoping to improve the financial situation within the domain. (The "Tibetan Rice Knowledge System" is to separate the household subjects from the land, so that the family subjects become "employees" who simply receive the qilu from within the domain, and the "fixed exemption system" does not check the information, please tell me if you know)
The Akizuki Domain is roughly around the red area
In 1754, Kuroda Nagasada died at the age of 61, and the title of governor was inherited by his eldest son Kuroda Nagamaki, who was the fifth lord of the Akizuki Domain. During his tenure, Kuroda Nagamaki did nothing and achieved little in the administration of the domain.
In 1762, Kuroda Died in Edo at the age of 41. The title of governor was inherited by his eldest son, Kuroda Nagae, who was the sixth lord of the Akizuki Domain. Kuroda Nagae was still very young when he ascended the throne, and he died young in 1774, only 21 years old, so he had no influence on the construction of the clan as his father Nagamoto.
After Nagae's death, the position of governor was succeeded by his adopted son Kuroda Nagaken, who was the seventh lord of the Akizuki Domain. Kuroda Nagaken is the second son of Yoshitoshi Yamazaki, the 5th-generation lord of the Narita Clan of The Imperial Household, and his mother is the daughter of Kuroda Nagamaki, so he is actually Nagae's nephew. But what people did not expect was that Nagaken had a short life even more than his uncle Nagae, who had not yet had time to marry and have children and died in 1784, only 15 years old, due to Nagaken's young age, he had not yet come after succeeding to the throne and paid homage to the shogun, making it impossible for Akizuki Domain to receive adopted sons through the shogunate, and suddenly put Akizuki Domain into a huge crisis of being converted due to the lack of heirs. In order to avoid this, Akizuki Clan Shigetomi and honya fukuoka Clan held secret discussions, and finally everyone unanimously decided to hide the news of Nagaken's death for the time being, only to announce that Nagaken was seriously ill, and issued a request to the shogunate to welcome his adopted son, and finally Kuroda Nagashu was welcomed into the Akizuki Domain as an adopted son, and the Akizuki Domain successfully survived this crisis of life and death.
In 1785, the Akizuki clan officially declared Kuroda Nagaken a secluded residence, and died soon after. Kuroda Nagasaki officially succeeded to the throne as the eighth lord of the Akizuki Domain. Kuroda Nagashu is the second son of Akizuki Taneshige, the lord of the Hyuga Domain, and his grandmother is Haruhime, the daughter of Kuroda Nagamasa, the fourth generation lord of the Akizuki Domain, and still has a meager blood line of the Akita Clan (although the Kuroda clan may not have any). With the succession of Kuroda Nagashu, more than 200 years after his ancestor Akizuki Tsukishi was transferred to the Nichikaku Kokugakuku for his conquest of Kyushu against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the descendants of the Akizuki clan once again returned to the ancestral land of Akizuki, which can be said to have fulfilled the long-cherished wish of the Akizuki clan for generations.
Akizuki's family pattern
During his tenure, due to the relationship between the two consecutive lords of the Fukuoka Domain of the Honjo clan who ascended to the throne at an early age, he twice served as a go-see to assist the Honjo clan, and for a time he also took over the defense of the port of Nagasaki in place of the Honke Fukuoka Clan.
In 1807, Kuroda Nagasho died at the age of 43, and was succeeded by his second son Kuroda Nagasho, who was the ninth lord of Akizuki Domain. Somehow ChangShu did not announce his death immediately after his death, but did not officially announce it until the next year. Kuroda Nagasho can be said to be relatively incompetent among the previous lords, and he was very fond of Shinma Koshiro and other courtiers, unwilling to listen to the advice of other courtiers, resulting in Koshiro and others in the domain of monopoly, did many improper things, and therefore Kuroda Nagasho was warned by the Fukuoka clan of the family.
Kuroda Nagasho
In 1830, Kuroda Nagasho lived in seclusion, and the position of governor was inherited by his son-in-law, Kuroda Nagamoto, who was the tenth lord of the Akizuki Domain (well, the blood of the Akizuki clan was still not passed down). Kuroda Nagamoto was the fifth son of Toyotomi Yamauchi, the 10th lord of the Tosa Domain, and his wife was Keiko, the daughter of Kuroda Nagasho, who had been in power since the Nagasho era and his henchmen, and the domain was completely renewed.
In 1860, Kuroda Nagamoto went into seclusion, and the position of governor was inherited by his sixth son, Kuroda Nagayoshi, who was the eleventh lord of Akizuki Domain. Unfortunately, Kuroda Nagayoshi was a short-lived ghost, who succeeded to the throne only 2 years later than 1862, at the age of 16, childless, and was succeeded by his brother Kuroda Nagatoku, who was the twelfth lord of Akizuki Domain.
Kuroda Nagatoku had entered the late shogunate era when he succeeded to the throne, but at that time the conservative forces in the Akita domain were very strong, and they strongly opposed the reform of the clan, and the only enlightened faction in the clan was the old usui Tsuneori, but usui Tsuneori was assassinated by the conservatives (supposedly at the behest of Kuroda Nagatoku), and with the tragic death of Usui Akira, Akizuki lost the only person who had a certain influence in the imperial faction and the new government later.
Usui Rokuro
Speaking of Usui, it must be said that his son, Usui Rokuro, known as japan's last avenger, avenged his father by hand at the residence of kuroda Nagatoku, the lord of the old Akizuki Domain, seven years after the Meiji government had issued a "revenge prohibition order" in 1880. If you want to learn more about this history, you can go to the movie "The Last Revenge of the Thirteen Years of Meiji" starring Ryu Fujiwara.
Poster of "The Last Revenge of Meiji Thirteen Years"
In 1871, after the abolition of the domain, the Akizuki Domain was changed to Akizuki Prefecture, which was later incorporated into Fukuoka Prefecture.
In 1876, under the influence of the Kamikaze Rebellion, about 200 conservative clan members of the old Akizuki Domain (more than 400 people in the first case) set off a rebellion in the local area of Akizuki, known as the "Akizuki Rebellion", but the rebellion was quickly suppressed by the army led by Nogi Nogi Noburi. During the counter-insurgency, the policeman Hotaru Hantaro was brutally killed, becoming the first policeman in Japan to die in the line of duty, and Hotaru Hantaro was the nephew of the previously mentioned wife of Usui Kenri.
Autumn Moon Rebellion
In 1884, the Chinese Order was promulgated, and Kuroda Nagatoku was awarded the title of viscount and included in the Chinese.
Successive lords of the clan
Kuroda clan
50,000 stones
The outer daimyō Yanagima and the main character of the city