TheKishū Domain (紀州藩, Kishū-han), also referred to asKii Domain orWakayama Domain, was a feudal domain in Kii Province, Japan. This domain encompassed regions in present-day Wakayama and southernMie prefectures and had a substantial income of 555,000 koku. The administrative center of the domain was located atWakayama Castle, which is situated in present-dayWakayama,Wakayama Prefecture.

Wakayama Domain (1869–1871) 和歌山藩 Kishū Domain (1600–1869) 紀州藩
Domain of Japan
1600–1871
Flag Mon of theKishu-Tokugawa clan
Wakayama Castle, Wakayama,Wakayama prefecture,Japan.
Capital	Wakayama Castle
Government
• Type	Daimyō
Daimyō
• 1600-1613	Asano Yoshinaga(first)
• 1858-1871	Tokugawa Mochitsugu(last)
Historical era	Edo period
• Established	1600
• Disestablished	1871
Today part of	Wakayama Prefecture

After theBattle of Sekigahara in 1600,Asano Yukinaga, the lord ofKai Province, was grantedKii Province. This led to the establishment of theKishu Domain, which governed theAsano clan of Tozama. However, in 1619, theAsano clan was relocated to theHiroshima Domain inAki Province under the leadership ofFukushima Masanori. At the same time,Tokugawa Yorinobu, the tenth son ofTokugawa Ieyasu and the former lord of theSunpu Domain, merged the former territory of Asano with 555,000 koku. This expansion includedMinami Ise and Kishu, which was the main domain governed by the Kii-Tokugawa clan. As a result, the domain was officially established.

Tokugawa Yorinobu recruitedRōnin and raised suspicions during theKeian Incident in 1651, allegedly challenging theShogun.Tokugawa Tsunanori, Yorinobu's grandson and third lord of the domain, marriedTokugawa Tsuruhime, the eldest daughter of the fifth shogun, but died prematurely.Tokugawa Yoshimune, Tsunanori's younger brother and 5th lord of the domain, became the 8th Shogun after a series of events, bringing over 200 feudal retainers from the Kishū clan to Edo.Tokugawa Munenao, the sixth lord of the domain, who inherited the clan from the branch domain after leaving Yoshimune, overcam the financial difficulties caused by theKyoho Famine, which lost 57% of the amount of the amount of koku, with 20,000 ryo of public money borrowed, but after that, he followed the way to make up for this budget deficit with public money. The Wakayama Domain deepened its financial dependence on the shogunate because it was close to the Shogun, and on the other hand, this became a factor that put pressure on the shogunate's finances.

The 11th lord of the domain,Tokugawa Nariyuki, lost his worship debt during theTenmei era, and borrowed a new 20,000 bale from the shogunate's OsakaKurazumemai. The balance of the debt reached 45,000 ryo.

Keifuku, the 13th lord of the domain, was the grandson of the 11th ShogunTokugawa Ienari, and in 1858, he inherited the Shogun family after Iesada, the 13th Shogun without children, and became the 14th Shogun Iemochi. All the successive shoguns after the 8th Shogun Yoshimune were occupied by the Kishu Domain and theHitotsubashi-Tokugawa family, which was a branch of it.

Following theabolition of the han system in July 1871, significant changes occurred in the administrative divisions of Japan. The territories of Kishū,Tanabe, andShingū were transformed into separate entities known asKishū Prefecture,Tanabe Prefecture, and Shingū Prefecture, respectively. However, these prefectures were short-lived as they were dissolved in November of the same year. This dissolution led to the establishment of the present-dayMie andWakayama prefectures, which continue to exist to this day.

• List of Han
• Abolition of the han system

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