Kumage

Kumage is a district of Suo in western Honshu, where the inland valleys and the Seto Inland Sea formed part of the territory retained by the Mori after Japan's unification. Its early modern administration was divided among different holdings rather than centred on one town. In 1617 Mori Naritaka received more than 30,000 koku in Tsuno and Kumage districts, forming the basis of the branch domain later governed from Tokuyama.

Other parts of Kumage remained associated with the main Choshu domain and its retainers. At Mitsuo, the Shishido house held a local seat, leaving family graves and related sites in the district. In 1809 the eighth lord, Shishido Naritoshi, founded the Tokushukan school to educate the children of warriors and commoners. Education thus joined the institutions of lordship in a countryside already organised by domain obligations and family authority. Kumage's historical character emerges from this patchwork of branch-domain lands, retainer holdings and village communities, with local centres such as Mitsuo giving practical form to the wider rule of the Mori house.