Akashi Domain (明石藩) was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Akashi Castle, which is located in what is now the city of Akashi, Hyōgo.

History

At the start of the Edo period, the area around Akashi was part of the vast holdings of the Ikeda clan of Himeji Domain. In 1617, Ikeda Mitsumasa was transferred to Tottori Domain and his former estates were divided. Ogasawara Tadazane, the son-in-law of Matsudaira Nobuyasu received a 100,000 koku portion, which formed Akashi Domain, and he was ordered to construct a castle. Akashi Castle was located on a strategic location controlling the San'yōdō highway, which connected the Kinai region with western Japan and was also the main route north to Tanba and Tango Provinces. It was also located very near the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, overlooking the narrows to the island of Awaji island. Considered by the Tokugawa shogunate to be a backup to Himeji Castle, Akashi Castle was the final line to defend Kansai region against any attack from the west. The Ogasawara clan were transferred to Kokura Domain in 1632, and due to the strategic nature of the domain, it was reassigned only to trusted cadet branches of fudai daimyō clans: the Toda-Matsudaira, Okubo clan, Fujii-Matsudaira clan and the Honda clan. After Honda Masatoshi was demoted for poor governance in 1682, the domain was entrusted to a Shinpan clan: the Echizen-Matsudaira, formerly of Ono Domain, which retained it to the Meiji restoration. The 8th daimyō, Matsudaira Narikoto, was an adopted heir and was born the 25th son of Shogun Tokugawa Ienari. As an indication of his status, the domain was increased in kokudaka from 60,000 to 80,000 koku and was given administrative control over an additional 20,000 koku of tenryō lands. However, this was not enough to offset the vast outlay of funds which the domain had been forced to pay the shogunate for the "privilege" of having the son of a Shogun as heir, and the domain faced financial difficulties. In the Bakumatsu period, the domain was ordered by the shogunate to construct twelve artillery batteries for coastal defense, and also to provide troops to man the defenses of Edo at Shinagawa and along the coast of Sagami Province. The domain also provided troops for the First Chōshū expedition in 1864 and Second Chōshū expedition in 1866. However at the start of the Boshin War, as Matsudaira Yoshinori was leading his armies in support of Tokugawa forces at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, he received word that the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu had abandoned his army and had fled Osaka by ship back to Edo. He decided to return to Akashi without combat and soon after defected to the Meiji government. His forces were ordered to fight in the Boshin War as part of the rear guard against Himeji Domain and in Echigo Province. In 1871, with the abolition of the han system, Akashi Domain became Akashi Prefecture, and was incorporated into Hyōgo prefecture via Himeji Prefecture and Shikama Prefecture. The Echizen Matsudaira family became a viscount in the kazoku peerage system in 1884.

Holdings at the end of the Edo period

Unlike most domains in the han system, which consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned kokudaka, based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields, Akashi Domain was a single unified holding.

List of daimyō

Simplified genealogy (Matsudaira)