Timeline of Matsumoto Domain
This timeline describes some of the major events in Matsumoto domain that impacted the development of the castle and the daily lives of those who lived near it.
Matsumoto domain, which included what is now northwestern Nagano Prefecture, was controlled by a series of lords called “daimyos.” During the Edo period (1603–1867), Japan was divided into hundreds of such domains, and their daimyos lived in large castle complexes that served as the centers of local government.
Daimyos spent only about half their time in their domains. The ruling Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868) required that all daimyos maintain separate residences near the shogun’s castle in Edo (now Tokyo). Each daimyo was required to make regular trips to Edo, where they might remain for as long as a year. Meanwhile, the daimyos’ wives and most of their children lived permanently in Edo, where they functioned as political hostages. This system was enacted to discourage individual daimyos from rebelling against the shogunate. Daimyos could not defy the shogun without putting their families in danger, and the costly trips they made to Edo drained them of money they might have used to raise armies and oppose the shogunate.
| 1594 | 大天守、乾小天守、渡櫓の3つからなる天守閣が、石川家の支配下で建てられる。 | The three original structures of the castle (the Great Keep, the Northwest Tower, and the Roofed Passage) are built under the rule of the Ishikawa family. |
| 1613 | 石川家が去り、代わりに小笠原家が入る。小笠原家は、徳川幕府と密接な関係を持つ松本大名の筆頭格である。 | The Ishikawa family is replaced by the Ogasawara family. They are the first in a series of daimyos in Matsumoto who have close personal ties to the Tokugawa family. |
| 1634 | さらに、松平家により辰巳附櫓と月見櫓の2棟が増築される。 | Two additional structures, the Southeast Wing and the Moon-Viewing Tower, are added to the tower complex by the Matsudaira family. |
| 1686 | 北部の農民が、大名から課される高い年貢に抗議する。地方行政当局は、当初彼らの要求を受け入れるふりをした後、抗議のリーダーを捕らえ、はりつけにする。 | Peasants in the north protest the high annual taxes levied on them by Matsumoto domain. Local administrators initially pretend to accept their demands, then capture and crucify the leaders of the protest. |
| 1727 | 本丸御殿（城の本丸にある大名の住居兼管理所）が焼失する。大天守の屋根の下にある祭壇に祀られている二十六夜神が守ってくれたため、城には火が燃え移らなかったという。 | The Honmaru Goten, the daimyo’s residence and administrative center, burns down. The fire does not spread to the castle itself, and this is attributed to the protection of a deity named Nijūroku-yashin, who is worshipped at a shrine located just below the roof of the Great Keep. |
| 1776 | 中町と呼ばれる城下町の一角で大火事が発生。武家屋敷57棟を含む約1,200棟が焼失する。 | A major fire breaks out in a section of the surrounding castle town called Nakamachi. Roughly 1,200 homes are destroyed, including 57 samurai residences. |
| 1825 | 戸田家が100年目の節目を迎え、盛大に祝宴を開く。この年、松本市北部で米価の大幅な値上げに反対する数万人の農民の反乱が発生する。 | The Toda family holds a large celebration to commemorate 100 years of uninterrupted rule. In the same year, another protest erupts in northern Matsumoto as tens of thousands of peasants rise up against a sharp increase in the price of rice. |
| 1871 | 明治新政府により藩制が廃止され、松本藩は正式に松本県となる。1876年、周辺の地域と合併し、長野県となる。 | The domain system is abolished by the new Meiji government, and Matsumoto domain officially becomes Matsumoto Prefecture. In 1876, it is merged with several surrounding prefectures to become Nagano Prefecture. |