other · Korea and Japan
Himeji Domain
Origins
After Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu gave Harima to his son-in-law Ikeda Terumasa with 520,000 koku in 1600. Between 1601 and 1609 Terumasa rebuilt Himeji castle on the site of an earlier fortress, creating the present complex of white-plastered towers.
Rule and society
Himeji guarded the western approaches to Kyoto, so the shogunate placed trusted families there and moved them often. Honda Tadamasa, whose wife was Senhime, granddaughter of Ieyasu, held it from 1617. The Sakai family ruled from 1749 to the end, and the reformer Kawai Sundo restored finances through a domain monopoly on cotton.
Decline and legacy
Because its lord Sakai Tadashige was the shogun's great elder, Himeji was treated as an enemy in 1868 and surrendered when besieged by imperial forces. It became part of Hyogo Prefecture in 1871, and the castle became a World Heritage Site in 1993.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Himeji Domain was part of Tokugawa Shogunate1603 CE – 1867 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Himeji Domain. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/himeji-domain
- MLA
- “Himeji Domain.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/himeji-domain. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Himeji Domain.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/himeji-domain.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Himeji Domain’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/himeji-domain (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻