When the Tempo Famine struck the domain from 1836 to 1837, Kazan helped the domain survive without any deaths due to starvation by taking various precautions, including the construction of food storages (named "Homin-kura"), education on strict compliance with the law and order, the importance of saving by means of a handbook called "Kyoko Kokoroe-sho" (Handbook for Disaster Preparedness), and imparting the principle of priority on the survival of the domain's people to the samurai retainers of the domain; consequently, the Tahara Domain was the only domain that was awarded by the Tokugawa shogunate for its great feat.
天保7年（1836年）から翌年にかけての天保の大飢饉の際には、あらかじめ食料備蓄庫（報民倉と命名）を築いておいたことや『凶荒心得書』という対応手引きを著して家中に綱紀粛正と倹約の徹底、領民救済の優先を徹底させることなどで、貧しい藩内で誰も餓死者を出さず、そのために全国で唯一幕府から表彰を受けている。