Daimyō Part 2: The Han System (藩) under the Tokugawa

Various family crests (kamon 家紋). Tokugawa is fourth from the top.

Following the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the early 1600s, it had become essential to redefine a political and administrative system to stabilise the newly unified Japan.

To obtain the title of daimyō one must own land producing at least 10,000 koku of rice (around 1,5 tons), and this could be achieved either by appointment (as it happened at the end of the Battle of Sekigahara where Tokugawa Ieyasu rewarded his generals with lands) or by inheritance.

All daimyō were meant to behave accordingly to a code called Buke Shohatto (武家諸法度 lit. Various Points of Laws for Warrior Houses), furthermore two systems directly related to daimyō were implemented. Firstly, the Bakuhan-Taisei (幕藩体制 lit. Bakufu and han system) allowed daimyō to govern their own domains (han) as sovereigns to the Shōgun. They paid taxes according to the annual yield of rice and in return were rather independent.

Secondly, the Sankin Kōtai was a system which imposed daimyō to reside several months each year in the capital of Edo. When they returned to their fiefs, they were required to leave their families in Edo. This system was imitated by various daimyō in their own fiefs with their own retainers, also ensuring their continued subservience. On a positive note, it actually improved communications and the development of commerce, as merchants gathered in the provincial and metropolitan capitals to supply the lords' needs.

There were around 200 to 250 daimyō (the Tokugawa were daimyō themselves) during the Edo period, but not all were not made equal under the careful eyes of the shōgun...

 

To be continued