Kishū Domain

The Kishū Domain (紀州藩, Kishū-han), also known as Kii Domain (紀伊藩) or Wakayama Domain (和歌山藩), was a han or Japanese feudal domain in Kii Province. The domain spanned areas of present-day Wakayama and southern Mie prefectures, and had an income of 555,000 koku. The domain was administered from Wakayama Castle in present-day Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture. The heads of the domain were drawn from the Kishu-Tokugawa clan, one of the Gosanke, or three branches of the Tokugawa clan. The domain was founded by Tokugawa Yorinobu, the tenth son of the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu, when he moved from Sunpu Domain in Suruga Province to Kii Province. The Kishū came to control the smaller adjacent Tanabe and Shingū domains. The Kishū Domain was noted for its production of the Kishū mikan, soy sauce, lacquerware, and high-grade oak charcoal during the Edo period, and leather and cotton production by the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Under the abolition of the han system in July 1871 the domains of Kishū, Tanabe, and Shingū became Kishū Prefecture, Tanabe Prefecture, and Shingū Prefecture respectively, and in November of the same year the three prefectures were abolished with the creation of the present-day Mie and Wakayama prefectures.