Hosokawa Clan - Edo Era

Edo Era

The Hosokawa of Kokura (later Kumamoto) became the "main" line of the Hosokawa clan during the Edo period. Hosokawa Gracia, the wife of Hosokawa Tadaoki, was one of the most famous samurai converts to Christianity; she was also the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide.

The Hosokawa sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu against Ishida Mitsunari during the decisive Sekigahara Campaign, and thus were made fudai (inside) daimyo under the Tokugawa shogunate. They were given Higo province, with an income of 540,000 koku, as their han (fief).

Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the third lord of Kumamoto, was the patron of the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.

Though the Hosokawa domain was far from the capital, on Kyūshū, they were among the wealthiest of the daimyo. By 1750, Higo was one of the top producers of rice, and was in fact counted as a standard by the Osaka rice brokers. The domain suffered from serious economic decline after that, as most domains did, but the sixth lord, Hosokawa Shigekata (1718–1785, r. 1747-1785) instituted a number of reforms which turned the situation around. He also founded a Han school, Jishuukan, in 1755. In later years, it produced many scholars such as Yokoi Shonan.

In 1787, the main family line descended from Tadatoshi became extinct with the death of the 7th lord, Shigekata's son Harutoshi (1758–1787; r. 1785-1787). He was succeeded by his distant cousin Narishige, the sixth Lord of Udo (1755-c1835, r. 1787-1810) a direct descendant of Tadatoshi's younger brother Yukitaka (1615–1645). In 1810, Narishige abdicated his title in favor of his elder son Naritatsu (1788–1826, r. 1810-1826), who succeeded as the ninth lord of Kumamoto. Naritatsu died without an heir in 1826, and was succeeded by his nephew Narimori (1804–1860, r. 1826-1860), the son of Naritatsu's younger brother Tatsuyuki (1784–1818), who was the seventh lord of Udo.

Following the death of Narimori in 1860, his elder son Yoshikuni (1835–1876, r. 1860-1871) succeeded him as the eleventh and final ruling lord of Kumamoto.

There were four major branches of the Hosokawa clan in the Edo period, each of which held the title of daimyo. Another two branches of the family, under the Nagaoka surname, served the Hosokawa of Kumamoto as karō. The residence of one of those families, Hosokawa Gyōbu　mansion (細川刑部邸, Hosokawa Gyōbu-tei?), is still extant, and is a Tangible Cultural Property of Kumamoto Prefecture.