other · Korea and Japan

Okayama Domain

1600 CE – 1871 CE · capital Okayama

The domain of Bizen, whose Confucian lord Ikeda Mitsumasa founded one of Japan's first schools for commoners and whose heirs built the Korakuen garden.

Origins

Kobayakawa Hideaki, whose defection decided the battle of Sekigahara, received Okayama in 1600 but died without an heir in 1602. The Ikeda family then took over, and in 1632 Ikeda Mitsumasa moved there from Tottori, exchanging domains with his cousin.

Rule and society

Mitsumasa, a committed Confucian, employed the scholar Kumazawa Banzan, promoted flood control and land reclamation, restricted Buddhist temples and in 1670 founded the Shizutani school, open to commoners. His son Ikeda Tsunamasa completed the Korakuen garden in 1700. The domain, of about 315,000 koku, produced rice, salt and cotton and Bizen ware.

Decline and legacy

Okayama joined the imperial side in the Boshin War of 1868. After abolition in 1871 it became Okayama Prefecture, and the Shizutani school building is now a national treasure.

Lineage

Okayama DomainEmpire of Japan 1868 CE – 1945 CE

Connections (1)

Okayama Domain was part of Tokugawa Shogunate1603 CE – 1867 CE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Okayama Domain. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/okayama-domain
MLA: “Okayama Domain.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/okayama-domain. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Okayama Domain.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/okayama-domain.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Okayama Domain’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/okayama-domain (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻