Kujira Domain (櫛羅藩)
Kujira Domain was a feudal domain that was located in Yamato Province (present-day Kujira, Gose City, Nara Prefecture)
The seat of government was Kujira jinya (regional government office)
History of the domain
The domain was founded in 1863, when Naotaka NAGAI, the eighth lord of Yamato Shinjo Domain, moved the government office to Kujira, as a result of the reform of the Sankinkotai (a system under which feudal lords in the Edo period were required to spend every other year in residence in Edo) implemented by the shogunate as part of its Bunkyu Reform. It is believed that the move was prompted by Kujira being the most prosperous and key area in the domain. Naotaka encouraged the domain population to move and to form clusters and renamed the domain Kujira but died on October 8, 1865, succeeded by Naochika NAGAI. Naochika entered the domain in April of the following year, as the first lord of the domain, but his role as feudal domain lord was cut short by Meiji Restoration. With Hanseki Hokan (the return of land and population to rule by the Emperor) on August 1, 1869, Naochika became governor of Kujira Domain, and the domain was abolished along with others in Haihan-chiken (abolition of domains and establishment of prefectures) on August 29, 1871.
Kujira Domain became Kujira Prefecture and later Nara Prefecture.
Successive lords of the domain
Nagai family
Fudai daimyo (a daimyo in hereditary vassal to the Tokugawa family)
10,000 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)
Naotaka NAGAI: Jugoinoge (Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade)
Shinano no kami (Governor of Shinano Province): Became lord on January 16, 1864 and died on October 8, 1865.
Naochika NAGAI: Jugoinoge
Shinano no kami Became lord on November 30, 1865 and relieved of office as governor on August 29, 1871.