Kitsuregawa Domain (Series: Domain Stories)

The prestigious Ashikaga clan, whose jin'ya was located in what is now Kitsuregawa, Sakura City, Tochigi Prefecture.

A daimyo was a direct vassal of the Tokugawa clan with a stipend of 10,000 koku or more. However, there was one samurai who did not fit that definition: the Kitsuregawa clan.

The Kitsuregawa clan, descended from Ashikaga Takauji, founder of the Muromachi shogunate, boasts a history and pedigree far greater than that of the Tokugawa clan, founders of the Edo shogunate. Thanks to the Edo shogunate's respect for prestigious families, the Kitsuregawa clan was granted daimyo status despite only having a stipend of 5,000 koku. Furthermore, they were exempt from the daimyo-mandated sankin-kotai system and the requirement to have their wives and children live in Edo.

This article explores how the unusual Kitsuregawa clan survived the Edo period and the turbulent end of the Edo shogunate.

Find out why Japan's smallest domain was granted daimyo status!