were powerful Japanese
magnates,
feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early
Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the
shogun and nominally to the
emperor and the ''
kuge''. In the term, means 'large', and stands for , meaning 'private land'.
From the ''
shugo'' of the
Muromachi period through the
Sengoku to the ''daimyo'' of 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 characte ...
, the rank had a long and varied history. The backgrounds of ''daimyo'' also varied considerably; while some ''daimyo'' clans, notably the
Mōri,
Shimazu and
Hosokawa, were cadet branches of the Imperial family or were descended from the ''kuge'', other ''daimyo'' were promoted from the ranks of the
samurai, notably during the Edo period.
''Daimyo'' often hired samurai to guard their land, and they paid the samurai in land or food as relatively few could afford to pay samurai in money. The ''daimyo'' era ended soon after the
Meiji Restoration with the adoption of the
prefecture system in 1871.
''Shugo-daimyo''
The were the first group of men to hold the title daimyo. They arose from among the ''
shugo'' during the
Muromachi period (approximately 1336 – 1573). The ''shugo-daimyo'' held not only military and police powers, but also economic power within a
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
. They accumulated these powers throughout the first decades of the Muromachi period.
Major ''shugo-daimyo'' came from the
Shiba,
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
...
, and
Hosokawa clan
The is a Japanese Samurai kin group or clan.
Ancestors
# Emperor Jimmu
# Emperor Suizei
# Emperor Annei
# Emperor Itoku
# Emperor Kōshō
# Emperor Kōan
# Emperor Kōrei
# Emperor Kōgen
# Emperor Kaika
# Emperor Sujin
# Emperor Sui ...
s, as well as the
tozama clans of
Yamana,
Ōuchi,
and
Akamatsu. The greatest ruled multiple provinces.
The
Ashikaga shogunate
The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669.
The Ashikaga shogunate was establi ...
required the ''shugo-daimyo'' to reside in
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...
, so they appointed relatives or retainers, called ''
shugodai
were officials during feudal Japan. Shugodai were representatives of provincial shugo when the shugo could not exercise his power, being often away from his province. Unlike shugo, who were appointed from the central power, shugodai were locally ...
'', to represent them in their home provinces. Eventually, some of these in turn came to reside in Kyoto, appointing deputies in the provinces.
The
Ōnin War was a major uprising in which ''shugo-daimyo'' fought each other. During this and other wars of the time, ''kuni
ikki'', or provincial uprisings, took place as locally powerful warriors sought independence from the ''shugo-daimyo''. The deputies of the ''shugo-daimyo'', living in the provinces, seized the opportunity to strengthen their position. At the end of the fifteenth century, those ''shugo-daimyo'' who succeeded remained in power. Those who had failed to exert control over their deputies fell from power and were replaced by a new class, the ''sengoku-daimyo'', who arose from the ranks of the ''shugodai'' and ''
jizamurai
The were lords of smaller rural domains in feudal Japan.Harold Britho, 'The Han', in John Whitney Hall, ed., ''The Cambridge History of Japan, volume 4: Early Modern Period'' (Cambridge UP, 1988), 183–234, They often used their relatively sma ...
''.
''Sengoku-daimyo''
Among the were many who had been ''shugo-daimyo'', such as the
Satake,
Imagawa
was a Japanese samurai 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 Yoshiuji, established himself in t ...
,
,
Toki,
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 ...
,
Ōuchi, and
Shimazu. New to the ranks of the daimyo were the
Asakura,
Amago,
Nagao,
Miyoshi,
Chōsokabe, Hatano, and
Oda. These came from the ranks of the ''shugodai'' and their deputies. Additional ''sengoku-daimyo'' such as the
Mōri,
Tamura, and
Ryūzōji arose from the ''jizamurai''. The lower officials of the shogunate and
rōnin (
Late Hōjō,
Saitō),
provincial officials (Kitabatake), and ''
kuge'' (Tosa Ichijō) also gave rise to ''sengoku-daimyo''.
Edo period
The
Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 marked the beginning of 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 characte ...
. ''
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 Kamak ...
''
Tokugawa Ieyasu reorganized roughly 200 daimyo and their territories into ''
han,'' which were assessed by rice production. Those heading ''han'' assessed at 10,000 ''
koku'' (50,000 bushels) or more were considered daimyo. Ieyasu also categorized the daimyo according to their relation to the ruling Tokugawa family: the ''
shinpan'' were related to the Tokugawa; the ''
fudai'' had been vassals of the Tokugawa or allies in battle; and the ''
tozama'' had not allied with the Tokugawa before the battle (did not necessarily fight against the Tokugawa).
The ''shinpan'' were collaterals of Ieyasu, such as the
Matsudaira, or descendants of Ieyasu other than in the main line of succession. Several ''shinpan'', 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 daimyo'', 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 daimyo'' took positions in the Edo shogunate, some rising to the position of ''
rōjū
The , usually translated as ''Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two ''shō ...
.'' The fact that ''fudai daimyo'' could hold government positions, while ''tozama'' in general could not, was a main difference between the two.
''Tozama daimyo'' held mostly large fiefs far away from the capital, with e.g. the
Kaga ''han'' of
Ishikawa Prefecture, headed by the
Maeda clan
was a Japanese samurai clan who occupied most of the Hokuriku region of central Honshū from the end of the Sengoku period through the Meiji restoration of 1868. The Maeda claimed descent from the Sugawara clan of Sugawara no Kiyotomo and Sugaw ...
, assessed at 1,000,000 ''koku''. Other famous ''tozama'' clans included the
Mori of
Chōshū, the
Shimazu of
Satsuma, the
Date
Date or dates may refer to:
*Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner
** Group dating
*Play date, a ...
of
Sendai, the
Uesugi Uesugi (sometimes written ''Uyesugi'') is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
People
*Uesugi clan, a Japanese samurai clan
**Uesugi Akisada, (1454–1510), a samurai of the Uesugi clan
** Uesugi Harunori (1751–1822), a Ja ...
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-kōtai
''Sankin-kōtai'' ( ja, 参覲交代/参覲交替, now commonly written as ja, 参勤交代/参勤交替, lit=alternate attendance, label=none) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history.Jansen, M ...
'', resulted in peaceful relations.
Daimyo were required to maintain residences in Edo as well as their fiefs, and to move periodically between Edo and their fiefs, typically spending alternate years in each place, in a practice called ''
sankin-kōtai
''Sankin-kōtai'' ( ja, 参覲交代/参覲交替, now commonly written as ja, 参勤交代/参勤交替, lit=alternate attendance, label=none) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history.Jansen, M ...
''.
After the Meiji Restoration
In 1869, the year after the Meiji Restoration, the daimyo, together with the ''kuge,'' formed a new aristocracy, the ''
kazoku''. In 1871, the
han were abolished, and prefectures were established. In this year, around 200 daimyo returned their titles to the emperor, who consolidated their han into 75 prefectures.
Their military forces were also demobilized, with the daimyo and their samurai followers pensioned into retirement.
The move to abolish the feudal domains effectively ended the daimyo era in Japan. This was effectively carried out through the financial collapse of the feudal-domain governments, hampering their capability for resistance.
In the wake of the changes, many daimyo remained in control of their lands, being appointed as prefectural
governors; however, they were soon relieved of this duty and called en masse to Tokyo, thereby cutting off any independent base of power from which to potentially rebel. Despite this, members of former daimyo families remained prominent in government and society, and in some cases continue to remain prominent to the present day. For example,
Morihiro Hosokawa
is a Japanese politician and noble who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994, leading a coalition government which was the first non- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government of Japan since 1955. After a funding scandal in early 1994, h ...
, the former Prime Minister of Japan, is a descendant of the daimyo of
Kumamoto
is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2.
had a population of 1,461,000, ...
.
See also
*
Japanese clans
*
History of Japan
*
Daimyo Clock Museum
References
External links
Lords of the Samurai: Legacy of a Daimyo Family* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080531025513/http://journal.ilovephilosophy.com/Article/Samurai--Ch--333-nin-and-the-Bakufu--Between-Cultures-of-Frivolity-and-Frugality-/2254 Samurai, Chōnin and the Bakufu: Between Cultures of Frivolity and Frugality.]
{{Authority control
Daimyo,
Japanese historical terms