, also known as , was a Japanese domain in the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu.
In the han system, Saga was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of expected value of tax revenue (kokudaka), not land area. This was different from the feudalism of the West.
History
The Nabeshima clan were originally vassals of the Ryūzōji clan who controlled the region. However, Ryūzōji Takanobu was killed in battle with the Shimazu and Arima clans in 1584, and Nabeshima Naoshige became the guardian of Takanobu's young heir, Ryūzōji Takafusa. Six years later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi granted approval for Nabeshima to overthrow Ryūzōji and seize the territory for his own lineage. Nabeshima supported Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea in the 1590s, and fought in the Western Army, against the Tokugawa clan in the fateful battle of Sekigahara in 1600. During this battle, however, he turned against and captured Western Army general Tachibana Muneshige, earning some degree of favor from Tokugawa Ieyasu and being allowed to keep his fief. The domain was governed from Saga Castle in the capital city of Saga by the Nabeshima clan of tozama daimyō. Though the Dutch and Chinese trading posts in Nagasaki were overseen directly by officials of the Tokugawa shogunate, the domain was largely responsible for the military defense of the city and the port.
The Nabeshima enjoyed an income of 357,000 koku throughout the Tokugawa period, including among their vassals the lords of the nearby Ogi, Hasunoike, and Kashima Domains.
The domain's location close to Korea and far from Edo, the shogunal capital, along with its trade connections, brought significant foreign influence to the area. The area was a center for ceramic production and techniques as a result of its connections with Korea, becoming famous for its Imari porcelain which was a significant export good to Europe.
Edo period
Remnants of the Ryūzōji continued to surface from time to time, however, and threatened the Nabeshima grip on power. Ryūzōji Takafusa died in 1607, and six years later an order was issued by the shogunate granting his brother, Ryūzōji Katsushige, control of the domain. Though officially bearing an income of 357,000 koku, the daimyō of Saga actually bore only 60,000 koku, the rest belonging to his vassals, the four branch families of the Ryūzōji (Taku, Takeo, Suko, Isahaya), and those of the Nabeshima (Shiroishi, Kubota, Murata, Kawakubō).
The area also bore a considerable Christian peasant population, which erupted in protest in the famous Shimabara Rebellion (1637–8).
The shogunate imposed upon Saga responsibility for defense of the port of Nagasaki and enforcement of the maritime restrictions (kaikin). Though this burden was shared with the Fukuoka Domain, each domain bearing these responsibilities in alternate years, it nevertheless frequently strained Saga's finances. As a result, it was not unknown for Saga to seek to lessen its losses by reducing the number of samurai it sent to defend the port. In October 1808, when created an incident, capturing Dutch merchants and threatening Japanese and Chinese ships in the harbor, only 100 Saga samurai were present to deal with the situation, rather than the obligatory one thousand. As no further troops could be summoned to the port in time, the shogunate was forced to submit to the demands of the British ship, and scolded Saga harshly for its failure to fulfill its obligations. The domain would be further weakened by a typhoon in 1828 which cost Saga approximately 10,000 lives.
Towards the end of the Tokugawa period, elements within Saga sided with groups from Tosa, Satsuma, and Chōshū against the shogunate. Saga leaders would later turn against the new Meiji government, launching the Saga Rebellion in 1874, which ultimately failed.
Bakumatsu and Meiji Ishin
Saga recovered in the last decade or so of the bakumatsu period (i.e. the 1860s), however, taking in Western technology and reforming the domain's governance. The bureaucracy was cut by 80%, and efforts were made to support and encourage the peasantry. The domain's economy came to be focused upon ceramics, tea, charcoal, and related goods, and prosperity was found through trade.