Kokura han

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Kokura han was an Edo period domain in Buzen province. Ruled by the Ogasawara clan from Kokura castle, it was assessed at a kokudaka of 370,000 koku. The domain was one of five in Kyushu which was obliged by the Tokugawa shogunate to contribute to coastal defense, and also regularly provided kawa-gozabune (luxury riverboats) to the Ryukyuan embassies to Edo, for use on the Yodo River connecting Osaka and Fushimi.

Though originally ruled by the Hosokawa clan, Kokura was given to the Ogasawara in 1632 as part of efforts by the Tokugawa shogunate to place more fudai daimyô in Kyushu, and to thus defend against potential uprising by Kyushu daimyô like the Shimazu clan.

Sometime in 1867, the domain came to be referred to as Kawara han 香春藩, after the town of Kawara where a number of government offices were moved on 1867/9/13 following the fall of Kokura castle a month earlier (on 1867/8/1) in the Second Chôshû Expedition.[1]

Partial List of Lords of Kokura

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References

  1. Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 6 (1937), 560, 620.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Miyake Hidetoshi 三宅英利, "Ryukyu shisetsu to Kokura han," Kitakyûshû daigaku bungakubu kiyô B series, vol. 21 (1989), 5.