were ''

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 ...

'' officials of 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 ...

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 character ...

Japan, this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not ''

daimyō 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 nominall ...

''.Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868'', p. 325. Conventional interpretations have construed these Japanese titles as "commissioner" or "overseer" or "governor". This ''

bakufu , 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 Kamakura ...

'' title identifies a magistrate or municipal administrator with responsibility for governing and maintaining order in what were perceived to be important cities. The ''machi-bugyō'' were the central public authority in the Japanese urban centers of this period. These ''bakufu''-appointed officers served in a unique role, which was an amalgam of chief of police, judge, and mayor. The ''machi-bugyō'' were expected to manage a full range of administrative and judicial responsibilities.Cunningham, Don. (2004)
''Taiho-Jutsu: Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai'', p. 42.
/ref> The ''machi-bugyō'' was expected to be involved in tax collection, policing, and firefighting; and at the same time, the ''machi-bugyō'' needed to play a number of judicial roles – hearing and deciding both ordinary civil cases and criminal cases. Only high-ranking ''

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.'' Howev ...

'' were appointed to the position of ''machi-bugyō'' because of the critical importance of what they were expected to do. The ''machi-bugyō'' were considered equal in rank to the minor ''daimyō''. There were as many as 16 ''machi-bugyō'' located throughout Japan.

Shogunal city

During this period, a number of urban cities—including

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; 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 metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

, Nikkō, and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

—were considered important; and some were designated as a "shogunal city". The number of such "shogunal cities" rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration.

List of ''machi-bugyō''

: *

Ōoka Tadasuke was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate (''machi-bugyō'') of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate (Yamada bugyō) prio ...

, 1782–?. * Yozou Torii, 1841-1844 (Minamimachi-bugyo) *

Tōyama Kagemoto was a hatamoto and an official of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period of Japanese history. His ancestry was of the Minamoto clan of the Mino Province. His father, Kagemichi, was the magistrate of Nagasaki. Biography During his youth, K ...

, 1840–1843 (Kitamachi-bugyō), 1845–1852 (Minammachi-bugyō) * Ido Satohiro, 1849–1856. * Izawa Masayoshi, 1858. *

Oguri Tadamasa Oguri Kozukenosuke (Oguri Tadamasa, 16 July 1827 – 27 May 1868) was a statesman of the Tokugawa government in the last stage of the Edo period, and he is often regarded as a rival of Katsu Kaishu. At the time when the power of the Tokugawa g ...

, 1862–1863. *

Abe Masatō was the 7th Abe ''daimyō'' of Shirakawa Domain, and an important official in the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa shogunate. Early life as a ''hatamoto'' Masatō was born the younger son of Abe Shōzō, a 3000 ''koku'' ''hatamoto'' retainer of Shira ...

, 1863–1864. *

Inoue Kiyonao Inoue (kanji: , historical kana orthography: ''Winouhe'') is the 16th most common Japanese surname. Historically, it was also romanized as Inouye, and many Japanese-descended people outside of Japan still retain this spelling. A less common varia ...

, 1863, 1866–1868.Beasley, p. 333.

Notes

References

* Beasley, William G. (1955)
''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868''.
London:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

. eprinted_by_RoutledgeCurzon,_London,_2001.___(cloth).html" ;"title="RoutledgeCurzon.html" ;"title="eprinted by RoutledgeCurzon">eprinted by RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2001. (cloth)">RoutledgeCurzon.html" ;"title="eprinted by RoutledgeCurzon">eprinted by RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2001. (cloth)* Murdoch, James. (1996)
''A History of Japan''.
p. 334. * Cullen, Louis M. (2003)
''A History of Japan, 1582–1941: Internal and External Worlds''.
Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

. (cloth) -- (paper) * Cunningham, Don. (2004)
''Taiho-Jutsu: Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai''.
Tokyo:

Tuttle Publishing Tuttle Publishing, originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company, is a book publishing company that includes Tuttle, Periplus Editions, and Journey Editions.

. (cloth) * Hall, John Wesley. (1955)
''Tanuma Okitsugu: Forerunner of Modern Japan''.
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

. * Jansen, Marius B. (1995)
''Warrior Rule in Japan''.
Cambridge:

Shogunal city

List of ''machi-bugyō''

Notes

References

See also