Obata Domain was originally created in 1590 as a 30,000
koku holding for
Okudaira Nobumasa, a son-in-law of
Tokugawa Ieyasu. After the
Battle of Sekigahara in 1601, he was promoted to the 100,000
koku holding of
Kanō in
Mino province and Obata was reduced to 10,000
koku and given to Mizuno Tadakiyo, a son of
Mizuno Tadashige. For his efforts at the
Siege of Osaka, he was transferred to the 20,000
koku Kariya Domain in Mikawa Province in 1615.
Nagai Naokatsu, another of Ieyasu’s generals noted for his actions at the Siege of Osaka then briefly ruled from 1616-1617. In 1617, the domain was awarded to
Oda Nobuyoshi, the grandson of
Oda Nobunaga, and fourth son of
Oda Nobukatsu,
daimyō of
Uda-Matsuyama Domain in
Yamato Province. The Oda clan continued to rule Obata over the next seven generations until 1764, when they were transferred to
Takahata Domain in
Dewa Province. Obata was then awarded to the Okudaira-branch of the
Matsudaira clan, who ruled until the end of the Edo period. During the
Bakumatsu period, the last
daimyō,
Matsudaira Tadayuki had served as
Sōshaban and as
Jisha-bugyō, positions which gave him insight into the weakness of the shogunate. Although he donated 500
ryō to support the shogunal military forces, he also made contact with the pro-imperial forces and many of his close advisers were from the radical
Mito Domain. He also took steps to modernize his military, even to the extent of selling his prized heirloom
Japanese sword to purchase modern rifles. He was quick to join the imperial side in the
Boshin War. After the end of the conflict, with the
abolition of the han system in July 1871, Obata Domain became “Obata Prefecture”, which later became part of Gunma Prefecture. The domain had a population of 889 samurai in 238 households per a census in the
Anei period (1772-1780). ==Holdings at the end of the Edo period==