Iiyama Domain

[1] In 1603, when Matsudaira Tadateru was awarded Kawanakajima Domain, the area around Iiyama was assigned to his retainer, Minagawa Hiroteru as a 40,000 koku holding.

however, after Matsudaira Tadateru fell from favour with shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu and was dispossessed, Minagawa Hiroteru suffered a similar fate and was demoted to the 10,000 koku Hitachi-Fuchū Domain.

Hori Naoteru took active steps in flood control and the opening of new rice lands to improve the domain.

Iiyama was then assigned to Nagai Naohiro, formerly lord of Akō Domain immediately after the famed Forty-seven rōnin incident.

In 1717, Iiyama Domain was awarded to a cadet branch of the Honda clan, under whose control it remained until the Meiji Restoration.

[2][3] Honda Sukeyoshi (本多助芳, 1663 – 25 May 1725) was a daimyō in the early Edo period Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.

Sukeyoshi was born in Edo as the younger son of a 4560 koku hatamoto of Okazaki Domain in Tōtōmi province.

In 1688, he was adopted as the heir to Honda Toshinaga of Murayama Domain and was received in formal audience by Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.

In 1699, the Tokugawa shogunate ordered his transfer to Itoigawa, with the same kokudaka, and he was given the courtesy title of Wakasa-no-kami.

His wife was a daughter of Akita Yorisue of Miharu Domain; however, he only son predeceased him and he was succeeded by his grandson.

However, in 1794, the domain suffered severe damage from a fire, and perhaps due to the strain of this event, he made rude comments on the music of the Ryūkyū embassy to the shogunate and was censured by the government.

He retired in 1867; however, due to the poor health of his two successors, he continued to rule the domain behind-then-scenes, and in 1871 was appointed imperial governor of Iiyama by the new Meiji government.

He was unusually tall for contemporary Japanese, and was stilled in the martial arts, as well as poetry and literature.

In 1868, during the Boshin War, the new Meiji government fined the domain 15,000 ryō for its previously uncooperative attitude.

Ten days later, a civil war erupted in Iiyama between supporters of the Tokugawa and the pro-imperial faction.

In order to avoid the possibility of attainder, the fact of his death was kept secret from the authorities and it was officially announced that he had retired in favor of his younger brother.

In poor health, he was a figurehead ruler, and his father Sukezane ruled behind-the-scenes throughout his tenure.

The new Meiji government demanded 5000 ryō from the domain to help offset costs associated with the Battle of Hokuetsu.