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At the beginning of the [[Meiji period]], the domain had a population of roughly 230,000 commoners and just over 4300 retainers, making for a ratio of 1.89 retainers being supported by each 100 commoners. This ratio was nearly double that of [[Tokushima han]] (1.06), but far lower than, for example, [[Yonezawa han]] (6.77). However, Hirosaki was particularly hard hit in the [[Great Tenmei Famine|Tenmei]] (1780s) and [[Tenpo famine|Tenpô famines]] (1830s), making the population far more variable than in many other domains.<ref>Ravina, 118-119.</ref>
At the beginning of the [[Meiji period]], the domain had a population of roughly 230,000 commoners and just over 4300 retainers, making for a ratio of 1.89 retainers being supported by each 100 commoners. This ratio was nearly double that of [[Tokushima han]] (1.06), but far lower than, for example, [[Yonezawa han]] (6.77). However, Hirosaki was particularly hard hit in the [[Great Tenmei Famine|Tenmei]] (1780s) and [[Tenpo famine|Tenpô famines]] (1830s), making the population far more variable than in many other domains.<ref>Ravina, 118-119.</ref>
Relying far more heavily on rice agriculture than on any proto-industrial production or regional specialty cash crops, Hirosaki undertook land reclamation efforts to a great extent than the vast majority of other domains. Over the course of the Edo period, the domain saw a 623% increase in its arable land, and a 528% increase in the number of villages, going from 133 villages in 1600 to 836 in [[1872]], with the domain's ''uchidaka'' (internally assessed ''kokudaka'', as opposed to the officially externally designated figure) rising from 47,000 ''koku'' to 340,000 over that same period. Reclaimed land was generally categorized in one of two ways: when a retainer worked to reclaim an area of land, it might be added to his [[subinfeudation|fief]], thus providing a direct source of income for that retainer, or it might be declared ''kurachi'' ("treasury land"), contributing to the domainal government's treasuries. Either way, it worked to relieve the financial burden on the domainal government's obligations to pay [[stipends]] to its retainers. The burden was further eased by a policy known as ''dochaku'', which placed samurai out in the countryside and required them to, essentially, at least in some respects, become farmers, undertaking agricultural work to earn their own living.<ref>Ravina, 120.</ref>
Relying far more heavily on rice agriculture than on any proto-industrial production or regional specialty cash crops, Hirosaki undertook land reclamation efforts to a great extent than the vast majority of other domains. Over the course of the Edo period, the domain saw a 623% increase in its arable land, and a 528% increase in the number of villages, going from 133 villages in 1600 to 836 in [[1872]], with the domain's ''uchidaka'' (internally assessed ''kokudaka'', as opposed to the officially externally designated figure) rising from 47,000 ''koku'' to 340,000 over that same period. Reclaimed land was generally categorized in one of two ways: when a retainer worked to reclaim an area of land, it might be added to his [[subinfeudation|fief]] or made a small fief (''kochigyô'') unto itself, thus providing a direct source of income for that retainer, or it might be declared ''kurachi'' ("treasury land"), contributing to the domainal government's treasuries. Either way, it worked to relieve the financial burden on the domainal government's obligations to pay [[stipends]] to its retainers. The burden was further eased by a policy known as ''dochaku'', which placed samurai out in the countryside and required them to, essentially, at least in some respects, become farmers, undertaking agricultural work to earn their own living.<ref>Ravina, 120.</ref>
Retainers, ''[[goshi|gôshi]]'', [[ronin]], and peasants alike undertook land reclamation efforts, and earned ''kochigyô''. In many cases, commoners who did so were made low-ranking retainers, e.g. ''[[ashigaru]]''.
The domain converted many landed fiefs into stipends in the 1680s, but then reversed this policy in the 1710s-1770s. This process greatly expanded the taxable land and thus the domain's tax revenues, without costing the domainal government any outlay of capital; however, since 40% of reclaimed land was made into private small fiefs, this earned the domain only 60% of the increase in revenues it would have seen from reclaiming the land itself. The process also ran counter to the general Tokugawa period trend of consolidating power in centralized domain governments, and diminishing the power of individual retainers by pulling them off the land. That said, by the 18th century, as the domain government began to grow concerned about the luxurious lifestyles of urban samurai, rural retainers came to serve as a symbol of vigor and self-reliance.<ref>Ravina, 120-122.</ref>
Even so, like most Edo period domains, Hirosaki saw considerable financial difficulties over the course of the period. A famine in [[1695]] killed roughly 30,000 people in Hirosaki domain, and led to the domain government cutting retainer stipends in half and borrowing from the shogunate. Stipends were cut in half again in [[1750]], after repeated harvest/budget difficulties in the early 18th century, and by 1754, the domain owed more than 300,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' to merchants, and held total debts amounting to more than double the domain's annual tax revenues.<ref>Ravina, 122-123.</ref>
==Bakumatsu & Meiji==
==Bakumatsu & Meiji==
