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Created page with "*''Japanese'': 長州藩 (Choushuu han) *''Other Names'': 萩藩 ''(Hagi han)'', 山口周防藩 ''(Yamaguchi Suou han)'', 防長藩 ''(Bouchou han)'' *''Territory: [[Nagato..."
*''Japanese'': 長州藩 (Choushuu han)
*''Other Names'': 萩藩 ''(Hagi han)'', 山口周防藩 ''(Yamaguchi Suou han)'', 防長藩 ''(Bouchou han)''
*''Territory: [[Nagato province]], parts of [[Suo province|Suô province]]''
*''Castle: [[Hagi castle]]''
*''Lords: [[Mori clan (Aki)|Môri clan]]''

Chôshû han was among the more prominent ''[[tozama]]'' [[han|domains]] in [[Edo period]] Japan. The domain was ruled by the [[Mori clan (Aki)|Môri clan]], who controlled much of [[Nagato province|Nagato]] and [[Suo province|Suô provinces]] from their seat in [[Hagi]].

Chôshû also played a particularly prominent role in the events leading up to the [[Bakumatsu period]] and the [[Meiji Restoration]], and various figures from Chôshû went on to play prominent roles in government and business into the [[Meiji period]].

==History==
===Early Decades===
Hagi became the seat of the Môri clan of [[Aki province]] following the [[battle of Sekigahara]]; following the defeat of [[Ishida Mitsunari]], with whom the Môri had sided, [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] had their territory reduced by 3/4ths, and relocated the Môri from their base in Aki (modern-day [[Hiroshima prefecture]]) to the somewhat more distant [[jokamachi|castle town]] of Hagi.

Initially, the Môri only controlled about one-third of the territory of their domain, with the remainder being divided into [[subinfeudation|sub-fiefs]] controlled semi-independently by their retainers. The Môri effected a cadastral survey, however, in [[1625]], which re-allocated much of these sub-fiefs, bringing more territory under direct Môri control.<ref>Dusinberre, 20.</ref>

===Bakumatsu===
Though previously antagonistic toward one another, in [[1859]], Chôshû secured the beginnings of an alliance with [[Satsuma han]]. In that year, Satsuma established a trading post at [[Shimonoseki]], and the following year, agreements were reached leading to a short-lived but vibrant trade in Satsuma [[sugar]] and Chôshû salt and whalebones, among other goods.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 186-188.</ref>

Chôshû's actions against the Westerners brought violence and destruction upon them, as the British Royal Navy [[Bombardment of Shimonoseki|shelled the port of Shimonoseki]] in [[1864]]; that same year, the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] ordered an alliance of twenty-one domains to also [[First Choshu Expedition|attack Chôshû, in response to moves Chôshû had made against the shogunate.

Chôshû's anti-shogunate stance also involved the domain sheltering a number of [[kuge|court nobles]] who fled Kyoto in the [[1863]] [[Fall of Seven Nobles Incident]].<ref>"[http://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%83%E5%8D%BF%E8%90%BD%E3%81%A1 Shichikyôochi]," ''Digital Daijisen'' デジタル大辞泉, Shôgakukan.</ref>

A number of samurai from Chôshû, meanwhile, separately from the actions and intentions of the Môri ''daimyô'', became prominent members of ''[[sonno|sonnô]] [[joi|jôi]]'' and ''[[shishi]]'' anti-shogunate rebel groups. The [[1864]] [[Ikedaya Affair]], in which a plan to set fire to [[Kyoto]], kidnap [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei]] in the confusion, and bring him back to Chôshû, was prevented by a [[Shinsengumi]] attack on the Ikedaya inn in Kyoto where the rebels were meeting, for example, featured a number of rebels from Chôshû. That same year, in the so-called [[Kinmon Rebellion]], a number of rebels from Chôshû attempted to seize the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]], but were stopped by forces chiefly from Satsuma and [[Aizu han]].

===Meiji===
In the first month of [[1869]], Chôshû, along with Satsuma, [[Tosa han|Tosa]], and [[Kumamoto han|Kumamoto (Higo)]], were among the first domains to petition to be allowed to return their lands to the new [[Meiji government]], that is, to the [[Emperor]].

==Lords of Chôshû==
#[[Mori Terumoto|Môri Terumoto]]
#[[Mori Hidenari|Môri Hidenari]] (d. [[1651]])

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==References==
*Martin Dusinberre, ''Hard Times in the Hometown: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan'', University of Hawaii Press, 2012.
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