Niwa clan
The Matsushita were replaced by Katō Akitoshi, the third son of Katō Yoshiaki, who had formerly held Miharu Domain. The Katō clan took steps to increase their revenues by development of new rice lands and development of non-rice based sources of income. However, their efforts were complicated by increasing demands for military support from the shogunate in policing the northern frontier areas of Ezo. The situation became critical in 1642–1643, after a crop failure. Many peasants were forced to sell themselves into servitude to pay for the high taxation, leading to unrest and even a revolt by senior retainers. As a result, the Katō were replaced by the Niwa clan, formerly of Shirakawa Domain, with an increase in the nominal "kokudaka" of the domain to 100,700 "koku".