daimyo

The daimyō (大名) were the most powerful feudal rulers from the 12th century to the 19th century in Japan. After the Meiji restoration in 1869 the daimyō merged with the kuge to form a single aristocratic group, the kazoku. The term daimyō literally means "great name". Similar to the feudal system in Europe, they held dynastic control over territories that had varying degrees of autonomy; lesser territorial lords were pledged to support greater ones. A warrior-caste of samurai soldiers likewise gave their personal loyalty to the support of lords from these families. At the beginning of the Edo period, their clans and territories were reorganized into the han, based on their production of rice. Daimyō headed hans assessed at 10 000 koku (50 000 bushels) or more. Especially at the beginning of the Edo period, they fell into three main groups: tozama daimyō (who as a result of the Battle of Sekigahara had agreed to submit to the rule of Tokugawa Ieyasu), fudai daimyō (who prior to that time had already been vassals of the Tokugawa), and shinpan (who were related to the Tokugawa). The tozama daimyō held larger fiefs, with the Kaga han of Ishikawa Prefecture, headed by the Maeda clan, assessed at 1 000 000 koku. Other famous tozama clans included the Mori of Choshu, the Shimazu of Satsuma, the Date of Sendai, the Uesugi of Yonezawa, and the Hachisuka of Awa. Initially, the Tokugawa regarded them as potentially rebellious, but for most of the Edo period, marriages between the Tokugawa and the tozama, as well as control policies such as sankin kotai, resulted in peaceful relations. The shimpan were collaterals of Ieyasu, such as the Matsudaira, or descendants of Ieyasu other than in the main line of succession. Several shimpan, including the Tokugawa of Owari (Nagoya), Kii (Wakayama) and Mito, as well as the Matsudaira of Fukui and Aizu, held large han. A few fudai daimyō, such as the Ii of Hikone, held large han, but many were small. The shogunate placed many fudai at strategic locations to guard the trade routes and the approaches to Edo. Also, many fudai daimyō took positions in the Edo shogunate, some rising to the position of roju. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa forced all daimyō to spend every other year in Edo, leaving family members behind in their han. This increased political and fiscal control over the daimyō by Edo. The term for this is sankin kōtai. The term daimyō is also sometimes used to refer to the leading figures of such clans, also called "warlords". It was usually, though not exclusively, from these warlords that a shogun arose or a regent was chosen.

Daimyo

See also