Chōshū Domain

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Chōshū Han (長州藩, chōshū han^?) was a feudal Domain of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1867 occupying the whole of modern day Yamaguchi Prefecture.

[edit] History

The rulers of Chōshū Han were the descendants of the great Sengoku warlord Mōri Motonari. Mōri Motonari was able to extend his power over all of the Chūgoku region of Japan and occupied a land worth 1,200,000 koku. After he died, his grandson and heir Mōri Terumoto became Daimyo and implemented a strategy of alliance with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This would later prove to be a great mistake.

After Hideyoshi's death, the great warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu challenged the Toyotomi power and battled with Hideyoshi's trusted advisor Ishida Mitsunari at the great Battle of Sekigahara. Mōri Terumoto was the most powerful ally of the Toyotomi and was elected by a council of Toyotomi royalists to be the tituary head of the Toyotomi force. However the Toyotomi forces lost the battle due to several factors tied to Mōri Terumoto: His nephew Kikkawa Hiroie secretly made a deal with Tokugawa Ieyasu resulting in the inactivity of 15,000 Mōri soldiers during the battle. His adopted nephew Kobayakawa Hideaki and his 15,600 soldiers betrayed and attacked the Toyotomi forces. After "assurances" from Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mōri Terumoto gave up the formidable Osaka castle without a fight.

Despite their inactivity, the Mōri clan was banished from their ancestral home in Aki to Chōshū, and their holdings were drastically reduced from 1,200,000 to 369,000 koku.

This was seen as a great act of betrayal to the Mōri clan, and Chōshū Han became a hotbed of anti-Tokugawa activities. This was evident in the tradition of New Year's meeting. Every year during New Year's meeting, the Elders and the administrators would ask the daimyo whether the time to overthrow the Shogunate has come, to which the daimyo would reply: "Not yet, the shogunate is still too powerful."

Their dream of overthrow the Bakufu would eventually be realized some 260 years later, when the anti shogunate forces under the leadership of the Chōshū Han overthrown the Shogunate.

[edit] Economics

The initial reducing of 1.2 million koku to 369 thousand koku resulted in a large shortfall in terms of military upkeep and infrastructure maintenance.

In order to bring the Han finance out of debt. Strict policies were enforced on the retainers:

• All Mōri retainers' fiefs were drastically reduced.
• Some retainers who were paid in land began to be paid in rice.
• Some retainers were laid off and encouraged to engage in agriculture.

Previously, as a result of high taxation, farmers would secretly develop farms far inside the mountain as a private food source. A new land survey was conducted within the han in which many hidden farms were discovered and taxed.

The han also began a strict policy with regard to trade.

Laws were passed in which the most profitable trade of the "four white": Paper, Rice, Salt and Wax are now controlled by the han with some of the profit and large amount of tax going into the han coffer.

These policies greatly strengthened the han finances and allowed the Daimyo more control over his territory. On the other hand, these policies not only angered the peasant, but also the displaced samurai resulting in frequent ikki.

[edit] Politics

The Capital of the han is based in the city of Hagi that is why the Chōshū Han was also referred to as Hagi han.

The Han was always ruled by the direct descendants of Mōri Motonari. Because the shogunate frequently confiscate a Han whose daimyo could not produce a male heir, the Mōri Daimyo created four subordinate han ruled by other branches of the Mōri family:

Iwakuni Han: 60,000 Koku ruled by descendants of Kikkawa Hiroie. Chōshū Han: 50,000 Koku ruled by descendants of Mōri Hidemoto. Tokuyama Han: 40,000 Koku ruled by descendants of Mōri Naritaka. Kyōsue Han: 10,000 Koku ruled by descendants of Mōri Mototomo.

Historically, the main branch died out twice and adopted from both Chōfu branch and the Kyōsue branch.

The Mōri Daimyo was assisted by his trusted elders or karō. There are two kinds of karō: the hereditary karō and the lifetime karō.

The Hereditary karō were either members of minor branches of the Mōri family, or members of related families such as the Shishido and the Fukuhara, or descendants of Mōri Motonari's most trusted generals and advisors such as the Mazuda, the Kuchiba and the Kunishi.

The Lifetime karō were middle or lower samurai who displayed great talent in economics or politics and was promoted to karō by the daimyo. His descendants won't automatically become karō. One such person was the great reformer Murata Seifu.