Yanagimoto Domain (柳本藩)
Yanagimoto Domain covered Shikijo, Yamabe and Uda counties of Yamato Province. The seat of government was the Yanagimoto Jinya (present-day Kurozuka Tumulus, Yanagimoto-cho, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture). Although the domain government was a jinya, the family status was equivalent to a castle-owning feudal lord.
History of the domain
Nagamasu ODA, the younger brother of Nobunaga ODA and a famous master of tea ceremony, received domain worth 30,000 koku (an unit of assessed crop yields of the land [1 koku: about 180 liter], which was also used to express the size of the land) in Yamato Province and Kawachi Province, after military success contributing to the victory of the East camp in the Battle of Sekigahara of 1600. Later, he did not serve Ieyasu TOKUGAWA but, being a grand-uncle to Hideyori TOYOTOMI, chose to become his vassal. Although he allied with the Toyotomi camp in the Winter Siege of Osaka, he engaged in covert activities, providing information to the Tokugawa side and engaging in reconciliatory talks during the siege. He did not suffer punitive action from the Tokugawa side later after the war because of his departure from the Toyotomi camp prior to the Summer Siege. On retirement, however, Yurakusai (pseudonym of Nagamasu ODA) divided the domain, keeping 10,000 koku as retirement stipend and giving 10,000 koku to his fourth son Nagamasa ODA (a feudal lord) and 10,000 koku to his fifth son Naonaga ODA. Hence, Nagamasa and his descendants held Shibamura Domain of Yamato Province and Naonaga's family held to Yanagimoto Domain of Yamato Province.
Yanagimoto Domain continued after Naonaga, with his successors Nagatane and Hidekazu ODA, but faced a crisis with the fourth lord Hidechika ODA, when he was killed by the crazed lord of Daishoiji Nitta Domain Toshimasa MAEDA, during a Buddhist mass held in memorial of the late shogun Tsunayoshi TOKUGAWA at Kanei-ji Temple in March 1709. The threat of collapse was averted by the Karo (chief retainers) of Yanagimoto Domain who acted quickly to claim the passing of Hidechika due to illness and by the appointment of his brother Naritoshi ODA as adoptive heir.
In the mid-Edo period, the domain faced serious financial crisis due to its small size. For this reason, the farmers of the domain were levied heavily, leading the farmers petitioning the shogunate in February 1769 against the tenth lord Hidetsura ODA. A riot broke out also in December 1802, demanding reduction in rice levy, and ended with heavy casualties both among the Oda force and the farmers. In the latter half of the Edo period, the Yanagimoto estate was burned down by fire in 1830, complicating the harsh financial situation further. This led to the 11th lord Nobuakira ODA to dismiss 27 retainers in November 1833. On February 5, 1853, the Oda family was designated Joshu daimyo (daimyo who is allowed to live in a castle), due to its historic renown since Nobunaga. In the last years of the Edo period, the family approached the Imperial forces from the early stage, helping in the suppression of the Tenchu-gumi (royalist forces) War and in the repair of the Imperial mausoleum. After Meiji Restoration, Oda was designated governor of the domain upon Haihan-chiken (abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures), and Yanagimoto Domain was dissolved with establishment of the prefectural government system in 1871, established initially as Yanagimoto Prefecture and later amalgamated into Nara Prefecture.
Of the feudal domains of the Oda clan, the descendants of Nobukatsu ODA held the Tendo and Kashiwara (Tanba Province) domains and those descending from Yurakusai held Shibamura (Kaiju) Domain, in addition to Yanagimoto Domain, until Meiji Restoration. Mashita and Nomura domains were also related to Yurakusai but were closed or dissolved in the early Edo period.