Page 44 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

buke, but the administration of the state became their function.
In dealing with the daimyo, Tokugawa leyasu extended Hide-
yoshi's policy of indirect rule through a daimyo system. The daimyo were
more or less autonomous in the internal administration of their own
domains and served also as appointed senior advisors and administrators
in the central government. However, where Hideyoshi had been content
to operate as the head of a small confederation of daimyo advisors,
leyasu imposed a tighter vassalage hierarchy and a more systematic bu-
reaucratic structure on the daimyo. The Tokugawa shoguns regulated
castle repair and construction, controlled intermarriage among daimyo
houses, and made use of spies and inspectors. Thus, it was in the Edo
period that the role of the daimyo was most fully institutionalized.
The Edo-period definition of a daimyo comprised several vital
elements. First, a daimyo was generally the lord of a domain (han), re-
sponsible for effective rule over the lands and people in that domain. As
a symbol of this responsibility a daimyo took an oath of loyalty to the
shogun on appointment and was entrusted with the registers of lands
and people in the domain. Second, a daimyo in the Edo period, by
definition, had to have a nominal stipend of at least 10,000 koku, derived
from the domain. From the sixteenth century the koku became the basic
module for measuring income from land, feudal stipends, and the rela-
tive standing of samurai, daimyo, temples, and shrines. Third, a daimyo
was a direct vassal of the shogun. But not all shogunal vassals with
incomes over 10,000 koku were daimyo. Some shogunal retainers known
as bannermen (hatamoto) had incomes of more than 10,000 koku but
were not ranked as daimyo because they did not head a domain. More-
over, senior retainers of some powerful daimyo such as the Mori and
Maeda had stipends of more than 10,000 koku but were not regarded as
daimyo. In the Edo scheme of things, sheer military prowess no longer
made a warlord a daimyo, and in fact was almost irrelevant to daimyo
status. The daimyo houses may have come to power through warfare and
military service, but they were increasingly defined in administrative and
institutional terms.
Although headship of a domain, direct vassalage ties with the
Tokugawa, and a minimum fief of 10,000 koku were common features to
all Edo-period daimyo, there were considerable differences among the
250 or so daimyo. Ranks and gradations sprang from relative closeness to
the ruling Tokugawa house or from the type or scale of the domain.
Depending on closeness to the Tokugawa family, daimyo were catego-
rized as collateral or blood-related houses (shinpan daimyo) who had
become Tokugawa vassals before the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, vassal
daimyo (fudai daimyo), and outside daimyo (tozama daimyo) who had not
sworn allegiance to the Tokugawa until Sekigahara or after. Depending
on the scale and coherence of the domain, daimyo were also categorized
as holders of whole provinces, parts of provinces, or castles. Most types
of Edo-period daimyo are represented in the exhibition.
Closest by blood to the Tokugawa were the collateral daimyo,
known as kamon or shinpan. All of these claimed some blood connection
with the main house of the Tokugawa. There were some twenty in this
category but the most prominent members of this group were the so-
called "three houses" of Kii (555,000 koku), Owari (619,000 koku), and
Mito (350,000 koku), all of which had been established by younger sons of
Tokugawa leyasu. These families provided heirs, if necessary, for the
shogunal house. They were powerful and respected and provided advi-
sors to the Tokugawa shoguns. Their large domains were strategically
placed to guard the approaches to Edo and Kyoto. At the same time,
they were held at a distance as potential rivals and not employed in the
exercise of bakufu rule.

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