Hatamoto

A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However, in the Edo period, ''hatamoto'' were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa house, and the ''gokenin'' were the lower vassals. There was no precise difference between the two in terms of income level, but a hatamoto had the right to an audience with the ''shōgun'', whereas gokenin did not.Ogawa, p. 43. The word ''hatamoto'' literally means "origin of the flag", with the sense of 'around the flag', it is described in Japanese as 'those who guard the flag' (on the battlefield) and is often translated into English as "bannerman". Another term for the Edo-era ''hatamoto'' was , sometimes rendered as "direct shogunal ''hatamoto''", which serves to illustrate the difference between them and the preceding generation of ''hatamoto'' who served various lords.

History

The term ''hatamoto'' originated in the Sengoku period. The term was used for the direct retainers of a lord; as the name suggests, the men who were grouped "around of the flag". Many lords had ''hatamoto;'' however, when the Tokugawa clan achieved ascendancy in 1600, its ''hatamoto'' system was institutionalized, and it is to that system which is mainly referred to now when using the term.

In the eyes of the Tokugawa shogunate, ''hatamoto'' were retainers who had served the family from its days in Mikawa onward.Ogawa, p. 35. However, the ranks of the ''hatamoto'' also included people from outside the hereditary ranks of the Tokugawa house. Retainer families of formerly defeated grand families like the Takeda, Hōjō, or Imagawa were included, as were cadet branches of lord families. Also included were heirs to lords whose domains were confiscated, for example Asano Daigaku, the brother of Asano Naganori, local power figures in remote parts of the country who never became ''daimyōs''; and the families of Kamakura and Muromachi periods ''Shugo'' (Governors): some of these include the Akamatsu, Besshō (branch of the Akamatsu), Hōjō, Hatakeyama, Kanamori (branch of the Toki), Imagawa, Mogami (branch of the Ashikaga), Nagai, Oda, Ōtomo, Takeda, Toki, Takenaka (branch of the Toki), Takigawa, Tsutsui, and Yamana families. The act of becoming a hatamoto was known as .

Many hatamoto fought in the Boshin War of 1868, on both sides of the conflict.

The hatamoto remained retainers of the main Tokugawa clan after the fall of the shogunate in 1868, and followed the Tokugawa to their new domain of Shizuoka. The hatamoto lost their status along with all other samurai in Japan following the abolition of the domains in 1871.

Ranks and roles

The line between ''hatamoto'' and ''gokenin,'' especially amongst ''hatamoto'' of lower rank, was not rigid, and the title of ''hatamoto'' had more to do with rank rather than income rating. In the context of an army, it could be compared to the position of an officer. Throughout the Edo period, ''hatamoto'' held the distinction that if they possessed high enough rank, they had the right to personal audience with the ''shōgun'' (these hatamoto were known as ''ome-mie ijō''). All ''hatamoto'' can be divided into two categories, the ''kuramaitori'', who took their incomes straight from Tokugawa granaries, and the ''jikatatori'', who held land scattered throughout Japan. Another level of status distinction amongst the ''hatamoto'' was the class of ''kōtai-yoriai'', men who were heads of ''hatamoto'' families and held provincial fiefs, and had alternate attendance (''sankin-kōtai'') duties like the ''daimyōs''. However, as ''kōtai-yoriai'' were men of very high income in terms of the spectrum of ''hatamoto'' stipends, not all ''jikatatori hatamoto'' had the duty of alternate attendance. The dividing line between the upper ''hatamoto'' and the ''fudai daimyōs''—the domain lords who were also vassals of the Tokugawa house—was 10,000 ''koku.''

At the beginning of the 18th century, about 5,000 samurai held the rank of hatamoto, over two thirds of which had an income of under 400 koku and only about 100 earned 5.000 koku or more. A hatamoto with 500 koku had 7 permanent non-samurai servants, 2 sword-men, 1 lancer, and 1 archer on standby.

Infrequently, some ''hatamoto'' were granted an increase in income and thus promoted to the rank of ''fudai daimyō''. One example of such a promotion is the case of the Hayashi family of Kaibuchi (later known as Jōzai han), who began as ''jikatatori hatamoto'' but who became ''fudai daimyōs'' and went on to play a prominent role in the Boshin War, despite their domain's relatively small size of 10,000 ''koku''.

The term for a ''hatamoto'' with income of about 8,000 ''koku'' or greater was ''taishin hatamoto'' ("greater ''hatamoto''").

The ''hatamoto'' who lived in Edo resided in their own private districts and oversaw their own police work and security. Men from ''hatamoto'' ranks could serve in a variety of roles in the Tokugawa administration, including service in the police force as ''yoriki'' inspectors, city magistrates, magistrates or tax collectors of direct Tokugawa house land, members of the ''wakadoshiyori'' council, and many other positions.Bolitho, p. 118.

The expression was in popular use to denote their numbers, but a 1722 study put their numbers at about 5,000. Adding the ''gokenin'' brought the number up to about 17,000.

Famous hatamoto

Famous hatamoto include Jidayu Koizumi, Nakahama Manjirō, Ōoka Tadasuke, Tōyama Kagemoto, Katsu Kaishū, Enomoto Takeaki, Hijikata Toshizō, Nagai Naoyuki, and the two Westeners William Adams and Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn.

''Hatamoto'' and the martial arts

Hatamoto patronized the development of the martial arts in the Edo period; many of them were involved in the running of dojo in the Edo area and elsewhere. Two hatamoto who were directly involved in the development of the martial arts were Yagyū Munenori and Yamaoka Tesshū. Munenori's family became hereditary sword instructors to the ''shōgun''.

In popular culture

''Hatamoto'' appeared as figures in popular culture even before the Edo era ended. Recent depictions of ''hatamoto'' include the TV series ''Hatchōbori no Shichinin'', the manga ''Fūunjitachi Bakumatsu-hen'', and Osamu Tezuka's manga ''Hidamari no ki''. The real-time strategy video game ''Age of Empires III'' features ''hatamoto'' in its ''The Asian Dynasties'' expansion, where they are an especially powerful variant of the samurai.

Notes

References

* Bolitho, Harold. (1974). ''Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan''. New Haven: Yale University Press.
OCLC 185685588
* Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
OCLC 48943301
* Ogawa, Kyōichi (2003). ''Edo no hatamoto jiten''. Tokyo: Kōdansha. ()
* Ooms, Herman (1975). ''Charismatic Bureaucrat: a Political Biography of Matsudaira Sadanobu, 1758–1829''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ()
* Sasama, Yoshihiko (1995). ''Edo machi bugyō jiten''. Tokyo: Kashiwa-shobō.

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