A during the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
generally referred to the position of the "Master of Ceremonies", held by certain -less
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
ranking below a
daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
. Historically, or in a more general context, the term may refer to a family of old lineage and distinction.
Perhaps the most famous Master of Ceremonies in history was
Kira Yoshinaka
was a '' kōke'' (master of ceremonies). His court title was '' Kōzuke no suke (上野介)''. He is famous as the adversary of Asano Naganori in the events of the Forty-seven rōnin. Although his name (義央) has been long pronounced as "Yosh ...
aka ,
the real-life model of the villain avenged in the tale of the
forty-seven rōnin
The revenge of the , also known as the or Akō vendetta, is a historical event in Japan in which a band of ''rōnin'' (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. It is on ...
of
Akō.
Overview
The office of ''kōke'' is typically translated "Master of Ceremonies" or "Master of Court Ceremony".
The men who ''kōke'' position performed such roles as that of the courier carrying the ''
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...
''s messages to the
Imperial court in Kyoto
The Imperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji period (1868–1912), after which the court was moved from Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyō) to Tokyo (formerly Edo) and integrated into the Meiji gov ...
,
[ or one of a reception committee for hosting the Imperial Envoys at Edo.][ They also represented the shogun in certain functions held at ]Nikkō
is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,239 in 36,531 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a popular destination for Japanese and ...
[ and other shrines or temples,][ and regulated courtly ceremonies and rites observed in the ]Edo Castle
is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is therefore also known as .
Tokugawa Ieyasu established the ...
.
The office was instituted in 1608,[ when the ]Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
selected certain ancient great dispossessed families[ to fill the hereditary office.][ Most of these families claimed descent from '']shugo
, commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...
'' (governors) of the Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...
to Sengoku period
The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615.
The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...
, among them the , the Imagawa
was a Japanese people, Japanese samurai Japanese clans, clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan.
Origins
Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yosh ...
, the Kyōgoku, the Rokkaku Rokkaku ( ja, 六角, "six corners" or "hexagon") can refer to several things:
* Rokkaku Chuu (市立六角中学校), a fictional school that appears on ''The Prince of Tennis''
*Rokkaku clan, a clan of samurai
* ''Rokkaku dako'', a type of six-co ...
, the Ōtomo, the Toki, the Isshiki Isshiki (written: 一色) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*, Japanese manga artist
*, Japanese actress
*, Japanese samurai and ''daimyō''
*, Japanese samurai and ''daimyō''
Fictional characters:
*Akane Isshiki, pr ...
and the Hatakeyama Hatakeyama (written: 畠山 or 畑山) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*, Japanese rhythmic gymnast
*, Japanese electronic musician
*, Japanese baseball player
*, Japanese rugby union player
*, Japanese shogi player
...
(a full list is given below). Some families were less prestigious, like the Yokose, the Yura, the Ōsawa, and the Kira. By the end of the shogunate in the mid-19th century, the occupancy of the office numbered 26.[ Some families had several branches among the ''kōke,'' like the Takeda who had two lateral branches with that title.
The ''kōke'' families had land income assessed at less than ten thousand ]koku
The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...
which ranked them below a daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
lord,[ but were higher ranked than the run-of-the-mill ]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 ...
(Tokugawa bannermen). Unlike the ordinary hatamoto whose duties were military, the ''kōke'' had certain privileged missions. Note that ''kōke'' is still treated as part of the hatamoto in some sources.
Below the ''kōke'', about 10 families bore the title of .
List
* Arima clan
The is a Japanese samurai family. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 6-7 of 80">"Arima," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', pp. 2-3 DF__...
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