Ikeda Mitsumasa

Ikeda Mitsumasa (1609-1682) was one of the best-known daimyō of the early Edo period. Lord of Himeji, he was transferred in 1617 to Tottori: on that occasion, the provinces of Inaba and Hōki, until then divided among minor lords, were joined into a single domain whose territory corresponds almost exactly to present-day Tottori Prefecture. Mitsumasa chose Tottori as his capital and undertook major works on the castle and the town, which established their basic framework. In 1632, the shogunate had him exchange his domain with that of his cousin Ikeda Mitsunaka, a child who was heir to Okayama: Mitsumasa departed for Okayama, and Mitsunaka's line retained Tottori until the end of the Edo period.