Shōnai Domain

Shōnai (庄内藩, Shōnai-han), also known as Tsuruoka-han, was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Dewa Province. Though it was officially named Tsuruoka (鶴岡藩, Tsuruoka-han), it was commonly known as Shōnai. It was famous for being ruled by one of the great fudai daimyō houses, the Sakai clan.

Shōnai achieved great prominence in the late Edo period as a military power. Shōnai had command of the Shinchōgumi, the unit organized for the security of Edo in the 1860s.

In the Meiji Era, the former castle town became known once more as Tsuruoka.

List of daimyo

• Sakai clan (Fudai; 138,000->140,000->167,000->120,000 koku)

1. Tadakatsu (income raised to 140,000 koku)
2. Tadamasa
3. Tadayoshi
4. Tadazane
5. Tadayori (served as rōjū)
6. Tadaatsu
7. Tadaari
8. Tadakata
9. Tadaaki
10. Tadatomo
11. Tadazumi (income raised to 167,000 koku)
12. Tadamichi (income lowered to 120,000 koku after surrender in Boshin War)

References

• Papinot, Jacques Edmund Joseph. (1906) Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha...Click link for digitized 1906 Nobiliaire du japon (2003)

See also

• Genealogy of the lords of Shōnai