When
Tokugawa Ieyasu became independent of the
Imagawa clan in 1561, he established Nishio Castle, and assigned his close hereditary retainer,
Sakai Masachika to become its first castellan. It was a mark of Ieyasu’s favor and trust, as Sakai Masachika was the first of Ieyasu’s retainers to be so honored. Following the
Battle of Sekigahara, the
Sakai clan was reassigned to more lucrative territories in western Japan, and was replaced by a branch of the
Honda clan as first rulers of the new Nishio-han. The domain changed hands with almost every generation, reverting for periods to
tenryō status under direct control of the
Tokugawa shogunate. The
Doi clan held the territory for almost 100 years (1663-1747), and the Ogyu branch of the
Matsudaira clan from 1764 until the
Meiji restoration in 1867. The final
daimyō, Matsudaira Noritsune, took part in the
Second Chōshū expedition, and was assigned to guard Osaka and Kyoto, but presided over domain deeply divided between pro- and anti- Shogunal factions. He surrendered to the new
Meiji government during the
Boshin War, after the defection of many junior
samurai to the pro-Imperial cause. The domain had a population of 55,220 people in 13,039 households per the 1867 census, of whom 51,119 people were classed as farmers. The domain maintained its primary residence (kamiyashiki) in
Edo at Daimyo-koji, in
Marunouchi. Until the
An’ei period (1772-1781) Nishio Domain was not a single contiguous territory, but consisted of many widely scattered holdings, which at the end of the Edo period consisted of: • Mikawa Province: 112 villages in
Hazu, 19 villages in Kamo, 7 villages in
Nukata, 4 villages in
Hoi, 1 village in Hekikai •
Suruga Province: 8 villages in Kitō, 2 villages in
Haibara, 1 village in
Fuji, 1 village in
Suntō, •
Echizen Province: 27 villages in
Nyū, 7 villages in
Nanjō District, Fukui, 3 villages in
Sakai After the
abolition of the han system in July 1871, the domain became “Nishio Prefecture”, which later became part of
Nukata Prefecture, and finally Aichi Prefecture. ==List of daimyō==