a “petty nobility” of a sort, whose members served as officials (yakukata) in the deliberative and executive agencies of government or as castle guards (bankata).
In the former capacity, they occupied such important positions as commissioners of finance (kanjobugyo), town magistrates (machi-bugyo), grand censors (o-metsuke) in charge of surveillance of the various daimyo, censors (metsuke) supervising their own ranks, and officers (hyojosho-tomariyaku) carrying out the decisions of higher commissioners of the bakufu. They had the privilege of maintaining watch over the grounds and gates of the shogun’s castle, which they patrolled regularly in five groups of hatamoto and subalterns (banshi). Organized into professional groups (yoriai-gumi), they lived in or around the central Edo compound, supporting themselves on incomes geared to the rank each occupied within the category—ranging from five hundred to ten thousand koku yearly, paid to them directly from the shogun’s warehouses. In 1722, according to Tsukahira, they numbered 5,205. Regardless of the difference in their ranks and functions, they soon became an elite devoted ferociously to the shogun, extremely jealous of their prerogatives and enormously powerful.
The title gokenin is variously translated as “honorable member of the household,” “inferior vassal,” or “household member.” In the Kamakura period, it was assigned to warrior leaders who had pledged their loyalty to a warlord. The title was used in Muromachi times to identify vassals of warrior leaders of kyunin rank and, finally, was applied to Tokugawa retainers who were granted fiefs of less than a hundred koku. Unlike the hatamoto, the gokenin did not enjoy the privilege of direct audience with the shogun but could be promoted, for excellent service and exceptional merit, to hatamoto. They also resided in and around the Edo castle and constituted another, larger category of armed men ready to be moved into battle at any time. In 1722, there were over seventeen thousand registered gokenin.
The medieval chronicles of Japan are filled with the exploits of these special “guards,” who came to consider themselves the new military aristocracy of Edo. They were envied by all the warriors affiliated with provincial clans, and their privileged position as retainers linked to the most powerful clan in feudal Japan (which gave them easier access to offices of control throughout the land) made them generally insufferable. In particular, their familiarity with the offices of censorship and positions as secret inspectors (metsuke) caused them to be feared by all. Proud and always suspicious of people’s motives, they were quick to take offense; the chronicles relate many cases of armed clashes in Edo between the hatamoto and the warriors of provincial clans, between the latter and the gokenin, and even between the hatamoto and the gokenin.
It is interesting to note that, when the restoration of power to the emperor in Kyoto was formally declared by edict in 1867, cohorts of “banner knights,” large numbers of “house vassals,” and warriors of clans loyal to the Tokugawa began immediately to move from Osaka toward Kyoto with the intention of suppressing that which, to their eyes, was a treacherous revolt against the shogunate, which had ruled the land and guaranteed their exalted titles for over two hundred years. They were crushed in battle at Toba and Fushimi by the imperial forces, formally declared enemies of the emperor, and forced to retreat to Edo. Finally, in 1868, by order of the shogun himself (who had fled the besieged city), they surrendered. Eventually, most of these once proud representatives of martial prowess and power had to abandon their mansions in Edo, release their own retainers, and either return to their regional country fiefs (if these had not been confiscated) or engage in commercial enterprises.
In Tokugawa times, at the height of their privileged careers, both the hatamoto and the gokenin lived in mansions to the west and north of the shogun’s castle in Edo. This castle, with all its magnificent splendor, was actually a huge military enclave whose inner moats surrounded the mansions of the more powerful warlords of those clans faithful to the shogun. Chieftains of lower category and rank had establishments closer to the periphery of this enormous site, but still within an area protected by the outer moats. Those direct vassals who had been allowed or ordered to establish residences and observation posts outside Edo were generally within a day’s traveling distance from the castle and thus able to answer promptly any summons from the shogun, whatever the time or season.
The deliberative structure of the Tokugawa government, as illustrated in Chart 4, consisted of the following major agencies: often presided over by a Grand Elder (tairo), a council of four or five Elders (roju), who were selected from among the most powerful daimyo of the fudai category who owned their own castles; a council of Younger Elders (waka-doshiyori), also selected from the fudai daimyo, but who did not possess castles of their own; the commissioners of temples and shrines (jisha-bugyo); the commissioners of finances (kanjo-bugyo); the town magistrates (machi-bugyo), who formed the supreme court of justice (hyojosho); and the powerful censors (metsuke), presided over by the Grand Censor (o-metsuke). Under these agencies were positioned a vast and differentiated body of executives embracing the previously mentioned hatamoto and gokenin, the tax collectors (daikan), and the police forces. The latter were in charge of the Edo districts and consisted of guards (yoriki), policemen (doshin), patrollers (okappiki), and official supervisors who controlled points of major and minor passage within the city. Supervisors of military residences (tsujiban) were further divided according to their area of surveillance: supervisors of hatamoto districts (kumiai-tsujiban), supervisors of daimyo districts (daimyo-tsujiban), and direct supervisors of the government (kogi-tsujiban). The civilian districts had their own supervisors (jishimban) and gate-watchmen (bantaro) who closed the gates at the end of each street in the town at 10 P.M., after which no one was allowed to pass in or out without official permission.
In 1600, Ieyasu had begun to grant sites in and around Edo to his most trusted vassals and to the provincial governors, who consequently found themselves with two or more official residences. The size of these sites was determined on the basis of the tsubo, a measurement equivalent to approximately 36 square feet, and the sites could range from 90,000 square feet for lower-ranking feudal lords to 252,000 square feet for the highest ranking and most powerful among them.
Leaders of the loyal military cohorts of the shogun lived in splendid, fortified mansions within the city proper and scattered throughout the countryside surrounding it. All daimyo had to maintain mansions in Edo, where they were required to remain in residence in alternate years and where the members of their immediate families (wives, sons, etc.) had to remain whenever the governors visited their fiefs. These mansions (yashiki) were generally built in accordance with the ancient military design of the encampment—with the general’s tent in the middle, surrounded by those of his officers and, at the outer limits, those of the warriors. The provincial castles of feudal Japan also followed this basic blueprint, with the stronghold in the middle and the warriors’ barracks surrounding it placed near the outer walls.
In Edo, the private mansions consisted of a modified version of that design, with a long, uninterrupted building (nagaya) so constructed as to enclose the garden and the central palace of the feudal lord. That building, with strong walls on the side facing the street and rows of fortified windows, contained the retainers’ barracks and their armories. Facing the main street was the central gate (o-mon, omote-mon), whose huge, armored portals opened wide only on great occasions. Normal traffic was handled through smaller side-doors (the front gate [tsuyo-mon], the back gate [ura-mon], and the smaller posterns called hijo-mon, yojinguchi and kuguri), all of which opened into a yard lined with guard-rooms, which were
ornamented with bows and arrows, lances, firearms, and staves with iron-heads studded with spikes, serving as grappling irons wherewith to seize and disarm any unwelcome intruder. Whenever a retainer passed out, he hung up in the guard-room the wooden ticket, inscribed with his name, which he always carried at his girdle; on his return to the yaskiki this ticket was restored to him. By this means the porters could tell at a glance how many retainers were absent on leave at any time. (Mc-Clatchie1, 171)
The
