Zeze Domain

The domain was centered at Zeze Castle, located on the shore of Lake Biwa in what is now the city of Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture.

Zeze then passed briefly to the Suganuma and the Ishikawa clans, before being returned to Honda Yoshitsugu in 1651, but with an increase in kokudaka to 70,000 koku.

[1] Under the early days of Hondo rule, the domain prospered greatly with flood control works and the opening of new rice lands continuing to revenues ad with welfare measures for the poor.

However, by the middle of the Edo period, the domain's finances began to falter, and under the 6th daimyō Honda Yasutada, failed attempts at fiscal reform only made matters worse.

Conditions continued to deteriorate until the time of the 10th daimyō Honda Yasusada, with conflict erupting between various factions of the domain's retainers over reform measures.