Tendō Domain

However, the Temmei Great Famine of 1782–1783 hit the region very hard, and reduced many of the peasants and even samurai of the domain to starvation.

To make ends meet, the Tendō samurai were forced to raise and process safflower, used in the Edo period primarily as a pigment in foods and cosmetics.

During the Boshin War of the Meiji restoration, the forces loyal to shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu were defeated in the Battle of Ueno, and fled north.

[citation needed] With the formation of the Ouetsu Reppan Domei of northern domains against the new Meiji government, Tendō initially attempted to remain neutral, but joined the alliance in May 1868.

[3] Following the defeat of the northern forces in the Boshin War, Nobutoshi was placed under house arrest, replaced as daimyō by his infant son Suemaru, and the domain revenues were decreased to 18,000 koku.

The tracks for the Yamagata Shinkansen run through the centre of the site of the Tendō jin'ya, of which nothing now remains.