was a minor Japanese domain

Han (Japan)

The or domain was the name of the estate belonging to a warrior in Japan after the 17th century. The fiefs of the daimyos of the samurai class of Japan during the Edo period were called han.-Edo period:...

 of the 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....

, located in Shimōsa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture

Chiba Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...

), 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...

. It was centered on what is now part of the city of Katori

Katori, Chiba

is a city located in northern Chiba, Japan. As of February 2011, the city had an estimated population of 82,633 and a population density of 315 persons per km². The total area was 262.31 km²...

. It was ruled for most of its history by the Uchida clan.

Omigawai Domain was created for Matsudaira Ietada

Matsudaira Ietada (Fukozu)

was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through late Azuchi-Momoyama period, who served the Tokugawa clan, and became a daimyo in 1590. Ietada was the eldest son of Matsudaira Koretada, the head of the Fukōzu branch of the Matsudaira clan. Ietada served Tokugawa Ieyasu from a young age, and...

 in 1594, a close associate of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

. After his death at 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...

, the domain passed to Doi Toshikatsu

Doi Toshikatsu

was a top-ranking official in Japan's Tokugawa shogunate during its early decades, and one of the chief advisors to the second Tokugawa shogun, Hidetada....

, another close retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu who played a crucial role in the formation 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...

. After he was transferred to Sakura Domain

Sakura Domain

was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Shimōsa Province , Japan. It was centered on Sakura Castle in what is now part of the city of Sakura...

, Omigawa was granted to Abe Shigenobu, a retainer of Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Hidetada

was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...

, who had also fought at Sekigahara. On his transfer to Takasaki Domain in 1619, Omigawa Domain reverted to tenryo status, directly under the control of the shogunate and administered by a series of hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

-level officials.
Omigawa Domain was revived in 1724 for Uchida Masachika, who was demoted in status from a 15,000 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...

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...

of Kanuma Domain in Kōzuke Province

Kozuke Province

was an old province located in the Tōsandō of Japan, which today comprises Gunma Prefecture. It is nicknamed as or .The ancient provincial capital was near modern Maebashi. During the Sengoku period, Kōzuke was controlled variously by Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, the late Hōjō clan, and...

 to 10,000 koku at Omigawa due to crime committed by his father Uchida Masayuki. He was allowed to build a jin'ya

Jin'ya

During the Edo period of Japanese history, a was the administrative headquarters of a small domain or parcel of land held by the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as the residence of the head of the administration, and the associated grain storehouse. While larger domains had castles, certain smaller...

in what later become the town of Omigawa, Chiba

Omigawa, Chiba

was a town located in Katori District, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.Omigawa has been settled since prehistoric times, with numerous shell middens and burial mounds from the Japanese Paleolithic through Kofun period. During the Edo period, it was the center of Omigawa Domain, a feudal domain of the...

, where his successors continued to rule until the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

. The final daimyō of Omigawa Domain, Uchida Masanori fought on the imperial side during the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

, and later became an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

, in combat during the Sino-Japanese War

Sino-Japanese War

There were two wars known as the Sino-Japanese War :* The First Sino-Japanese War between China and Japan , primarily over control of Korea....

.

List of daimyō

• Matsudaira (Fuko) clan
  Matsudaira clan
  The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. It first originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province . Over the course of its history, the clan produced many branches, most of which also centered around Mikawa Province...
  
   (fudai
  Fudai
  was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...
  
  ) 1594-1601

#	Name	Tenure	Courtesy title	Court Rank	revenues
1		1594–1600
-none-	10,000 koku
2		1600–1601	主殿頭	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku

• Doi clan (fudai
  Fudai
  was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...
  
  ) 1602-1610

#	Name	Tenure	Courtesy title	Court Rank	revenues
1		1602–1610	大炊頭。侍従	Lower 4th (従四位下)	10 ,000 koku

• Ando clan
  Ando clan
  The was a family of samurai who served the Tokugawa clan. In the Edo period, a major branch of the family ruled the Iwakidaira Domain....
  
   (fudai
  Fudai
  was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...
  
  ) 1612-1619

#	Name	Tenure	Courtesy title	Court Rank	revenues
1		1612–1619	Tsushima-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	16 ,000 koku

• Uchida clan (fudai
  Fudai
  was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...
  
  ) 1724-1871

#	Name	Tenure	Courtesy title	Court Rank	revenues
1		1724–1746	Dewa-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10 ,000 koku
2		1746–1753	Dewa-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku
3		1753–1782	Omi-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku
4		1782–1806	Ise-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku
5		1806–1816	Omi-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku
6		1816–1837	Ise-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku
7		1837–1851	Bungo-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10 ,000 koku
8		1851–1863	Tonomo-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku
9		1863–1864	Tonomo-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku
10		1864–1871	Tonomo-no-kami	Lower 5th (従五位下)	10,000 koku

Further reading

• Bolitho, Harold (1974). Treasures among men; the fudai daimyo in Tokugawa Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Kodama Kōta 児玉幸多 , Kitajima Masamoto 北島正元 (1966). Kantō no shohan 関東の諸藩. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha.