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Sagara Domain (相良藩, Sagara-han) was a Japanese feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period, located in Tōtōmi Province. The domain was centered in what is now the Sagara district of Makinohara city, Shizuoka Prefecture. The site of the Sagara [jin'ya] is now the Sagara Elementary School.
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History
In 1710, Honda Tadaharu, lord of Ibo Domain in Mikawa Province was transferred by the Tokugawa shogunate to Sagara, on the coast of Tōtōmi Province and his revenues were raised from 10,000 koku to 15,000. The Honda clan ruled Sagara for three generations, until Honda Tadayuki was transferred to Izumi Domain in Mutsu Province in 1746.
The Honda were replaced by Itakura Katsukiyo, who ruled for only three years before being transferred to Annaka Domain in Kōzuke Province. Sagara was then returned to the Honda clan in the form of Honda Tadanaka, formerly of Komoro Domain in Mikawa; however, it was reclassified as only a minor 10,000 koku domain at this time.
In 1767, Sagara Domain was awarded to Tanuma Okitsugu, who rose from very humble status as a page to Shōgun Tokugawa Ieshige, to chamberlain, and then grand-chamberlain and rōjū under Shōgun Tokugawa Ieharu. He was also elevated to the status of daimyō when he was awarded Sagara Domain, and over the years increased its revenues from 10,000 koku to 57,000 koku. Sagara prospered greatly under his economic reforms, and a road was built linking it to the great Tōkaidō highway. However, after Tokugawa Ieharu’s death Tanuma Okitsugu was soon in disfavor, and reduced in rank and income. His grandson, Tanuma Okiaki, inherited a domain reduced back to its former 10,000 koku status in 1787, and less than a year later, was transferred to Shimomura Domain in Mutsu Province. Sagara Domain became a tenryō territory ruled directly by the Shōgun.
However, in 1823, his son Tanuma Ogimasa was allowed to return to Sagara, where he and his descendents remained until the Meiji Restoration. The domain had a population of 310 samurai at the start of the Meiji period. The domain maintained its primary residence (kamiyashiki) in Edo at Kanda, until the An'ei (1772–81) period, and at Hanjo at the time of the Meiji restoration.
In February 1869, the final daimyō of Sagara Domain, Tanuma Okitaka, was transferred by the new Meiji government to the short-lived Okubo Domain in Kazusa Province and Sagara Domain was absorbed into the new Shizuoka Domain created for retired ex-Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu.