Mikkaichi Domain (三日市藩, Mikkaichi-han) was a fudai feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Echigo Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Mikkaichi Jin'ya, located in what is now part of the city of Shibata in Niigata Prefecture. The Shibata City Nanaha Middle School now occupies the site.
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History
In 1724, the eldest son of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was transferred from Kofu Domain to Yamato-Koriyama Domain. As a result of this transfer, a 10,000 koku holding in Echigo Province was left open, and Yoshiyasu arranged for this to be assigned to his 5th son, Yanagisawa Tokichika. This marked the start of Mikkaichi Domain. Tochichika turned the domain over to his brother after only three months, and although the Yanagisawa clan remained in control until the Meiji restoration, they preferred to reside in Edo and rely on the collection of revenues as absentee landlords. As a result, the finances of the domain were perpetually in a state of bankruptcy, and belated efforts to remedy the situation through reforms in 1843 failed. During the Bakumatsu period, the domain was unable to fulfil orders to provide troops for coastal defences, and its Edo residence was destroyed in the 1855 Edo earthquake. The final daimyo of Mikkaichi, Yanagisawa Noritada, was the only one to actually visit the domain, and did so only to surrender his forces to neighbouring Shibata Domain during the Boshin War. In July 1871, with the abolition of the han system, Mikkaichi Domain briefly became Mikkaichi Prefecture, and was merged into the newly created Niigata Prefecture. Under the new Meiji government, Yanagisawa Noritada was given the kazoku peerage title of shishaku (viscount).
Bakumatsu period holdings
As with most domains in the han system, Mikkaichi Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned kokudaka, based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.