Page 109 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

During much of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Japan was engaged in civil wars, as time
after time the samurai had attempted to reconcile central government with military control over the
provincial clans while preserving the imperial system. The gun had played a major part in subduing the
warring clans at the end of this Age of the Country at War, and it was doubtless the knowledge, both
conscious and subconscious, that the gun would put a quick stop to future insurrection that made the
peace of the Tokugawa period inevitable.

But the violent nature of the samurai had to be controlled, and the Tokugawa shogun did this
by means of a succession of edicts, which they ruthlessly enforced. In these Laws for Military Houses
(buke shohatto) — published in 1615, the year that Osaka Castle fell, and revised in 1635 — fifteen regula-
108 tions were supplemented in detail. The rules covered the military and literary education of the samurai,
interclan marriages, and prohibition of alliances.
Tokugawa leyasu (1542 -1616) had placated his enemies after the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 by
allowing them to hold lands and keep a garrisoned castle. Under the terms of the Laws for Military
Houses, however, all strongholds other than the official castle residence of the daimyo were dismantled.
At the same time the Tokugawa compelled certain daimyo to assist in building and repairing Edo Castle
and other castles they occupied. Although some daimyo held land that they already regarded as theirs,
others were allotted land. These tozama (literally "outside gentlemen") included some of the most pow-
erful clans. Among them were the Date in the north, the Mori in Chóshü in western Honshu, as well as
the Shimazu of Satsuma and the Nabeshima of Saga on Kyushu, who held lands far from the city of
Edo. From those in the west (Honshu and Kyushu) there was the ever-present fear of an alliance in
insurrection; moreover these domains closest to the continent were the most likely to interact with
foreign nations. Of the roughly 260 daimyo, the allies of leyasu at Sekigahara, who were the hereditary

daimyo (fudai daimyo), were given lands concentrated around central Japan, but some were placed in
strategic positions in the provinces where they might be rallied to prevent any movement of the more
remote tozama daimyo.
Under the terms of Tokugawa control, daimyo could at any time be deprived of their land and
possessions, moved en bloc to a different domain, or subjected to adjustments in income, either
increases or decreases in the annual stipend units of rice (koku).The most effective measure outlined
in the Laws for Military Houses was the system of alternate attendance, whereby the provincial lords
were forced to spend the summer months in Edo and leave their close families in Edo as hostages when
they returned to their domains. This measure was enforced by a system of borders within Edo, which
women could not pass without written permission from the government. This simple and effective
regulation entailed costly and complex arrangements. Daimyo had to maintain sufficiently grand and
secure mansions on allotted land in Edo to maintain prestige, while keeping loyal retainers to conduct
their affairs in both the home province and in Edo when they were away. The annual journey on foot
to Edo was a grand procession of armed retainers in rich apparel, varying from a few hundred to several
thousand persons depending on the wealth and position of the daimyo. It is largely because of these
processions that the armorer's craft flourished well into the nineteenth century and that so many fine
pieces of armor, weaponry, and riding equipment survive.