Hiroshima Domain was a han, or feudal domain, of Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Based at Hiroshima castle

Hiroshima Castle

', sometimes called ' is a castle in Hiroshima, Japan which was the home of the daimyō of the Hiroshima han . Originally constructed in the 1590s, the castle was destroyed in the atomic bombing in 1945...

 in the city of Hiroshima

Hiroshima

is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

, the domain encompassed Aki province

Aki Province

or Geishū was a province in the Chūgoku Region of western Honshū, comprising the western part of what is today Hiroshima Prefecture.When Emperor Shōmu ordered two official temples for each province , two temples were founded in Aki Province...

 and parts of neighboring Bingo province

Bingo Province

was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, comprising what is today the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bizen and Bitchu Provinces. Bingo bordered Bitchū, Hōki, Izumo, Iwami, and Aki Provinces....

.

Following the battle of Sekigahara

Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...

 in 1600, the han was established with Fukushima Masanori

Fukushima Masanori

was a Japanese daimyo of the late Sengoku Period to early Edo Period who served as lord of the Hiroshima Domain. A retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he fought in the battle of Shizugatake in 1583, and soon became known as one of Seven Spears of Shizugatake which also included Katō Kiyomasa and...

 as its daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 (feudal lord). However, nineteen years later, Hiroshima castle suffered extensive flood damage and Fukushima repaired it in violation of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

's laws on the construction and repair of castles (see buke shohatto

Buke shohatto

The was a collection of edicts issued by Japan's Tokugawa shogunate governing the responsibilities and activities of daimyō and the rest of the samurai warrior aristocracy. These formed the basis of the bakuhan taisei which lay at the foundation of the Tokugawa regime...

). The shogunate then ordered Fukushima to Kawanakajima Domain, and awarded Hiroshima to the Asano clan, who ruled it for the remainder of the Edo period, the domain being dismantled

Abolition of the han system

The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...

 along with all the others in 1871.

Daimyō of Hiroshima

1. Mōri Terumoto
   Mori Terumoto
   Mōri Terumoto , son of Mōri Takamoto and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mōri Motonari, fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi but was eventually overcome, participated in the Kyūshū campaign on Hideyoshi's side and built Hiroshima Castle, thus essentially founding Hiroshima.Terumoto was a...
   
    (1591-1600)*; 1,120,000 koku
   Koku
   The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
   
   
2. Fukushima Masanori
   Fukushima Masanori
   was a Japanese daimyo of the late Sengoku Period to early Edo Period who served as lord of the Hiroshima Domain. A retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he fought in the battle of Shizugatake in 1583, and soon became known as one of Seven Spears of Shizugatake which also included Katō Kiyomasa and...
   
    (1600-1619); 498,223 koku

Asano clan:

1. Asano Nagaakira
   Asano Nagaakira
   was a Japanese samurai of the early Edo period who served as daimyō of the Wakayama domain, and was later transferred to the Hiroshima Domain.Born Asano Iwamatsu, he was the son of Asano Nagamasa, who was a senior retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1594, Nagaakira was made a retainer of Toyotomi...
   
    (1619-1632); 426,500 koku**
2. Asano Mitsuakira (1632-1672)
3. Asano Tsunaakira
   Asano Tsunaakira
   was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Hiroshima Domain.Two of his consorts were daughters of the court noble Kujō Michifusa.-References:...
   
    (1672-1673)
4. Asano Tsunanaga
   Asano Tsunanaga
   was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Hiroshima Domain. He held the title of Aki no kami.During the 47 Ronin incident, Tsunanaga sent a messenger to Akō, which was ruled by a branch family of the Hiroshima Asano, and recommended that Ōishi Kuranosuke peacefully surrender the castle...
   
    (1673-1708)
5. Asano Yoshinaga (1708-1752)
6. Asano Munetsune (1752-1763)
7. Asano Shigeakira (1763-1799)
8. Asano Narikata (1799-1830)
9. Asano Naritaka (1831-1858)
10. Asano Yoshiteru (1858-1858)
11. Asano Nagamichi (1858-1869)
12. Asano Nagakoto
    Asano Nagakoto
    was a daimyō of Hiroshima Domain following the Meiji Restoration, was a Japanese politician and diplomat of the Meiji period, and was one of the last surviving Japanese daimyō ....
    
     (1869-1871)

*The years listed are those in which the lord occupied Hiroshima castle, not the years of his life.
**All of the lords after Asano Nagaakira enjoyed the same 426,500 koku.