were 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 characte ...

Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually '' fudai'' ''

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 nominal ...

'', but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not ''daimyō''.Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868'', p. 325. Conventional interpretations have construed these Japanese titles as "commissioner", "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 the shogunal city of Kyoto. The Kyoto ''machi-bugyō'' were the central public authorities in this significant urban center. These men were ''bakufu''-appointed officials fulfilling a unique role. They were 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> As in Edo, there were two ''bugyō-sho'' offices in Kyoto, ''higashi machi-bugyō-sho'' on the east and ''nishi machi-bugyō-sho'' on the west of the city; in Kyoto they were called ''higashi o-yakusho'' and ''nishi o-yakusho''. In Kyoto as well as in Edo they worked on a monthly rotating schedule. The duties of Kyoto ''machi-bugyō'' had been administered by Osaka ''gundai'' before 1669, when ''machi-bugyō'' system was introduced to Kyoto under the supervision of Kyoto ''shoshidai''. Each ''machi-bugyō'' was involved in tax collection, policing, and firefighting; and at the same time, each played a number of judicial roles –- hearing and deciding both ordinary civil cases and criminal cases. In this period, the ''machi-bugyō'' were considered equal in status to the minor ''daimyō''. At any one time, there were as many as 16 ''machi-bugyō'' located throughout Japan; and there was always at least one in Kyoto.

Shogunal city

During this period, Kyoto ranked with the largest urban centers, some of which were designated as a "shogunal city." The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration. All three cities, Kyoto, Osaka and Sumpu had ''machi-bugyō''. Other major "shogunal cities", or shogun ''chokkatsu-ryō'' had ''ongoku bugyō'' or ''bugyō'' to remote "shogunal cities"; from north to south,

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

, Niigata, Sado,

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 ...

Kanagawa is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanagaw ...

, Uraga, Shimoda, Yamada,

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 ...

, Fushimi,

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

, Hyōgo and

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

. Fushimi ''bugyō'' was appointed from ''daimyō'', and those for other "shogunal cities" was ''hatamoto''.

List of Kyoto ''machi-bugyō''

''Higashi machi-bugyō''

* Miyazaki Shigenari, 1665–1673. * Nagai Naomune, 1862–1864.Beasley, p. 338. *

Ikeda Nagaoki , formally "Ikeda Chikugo no kami Nagaoki", was the governor of small villages of Ibara, Bitchū Province (Okayama Prefecture), Japan, during the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was, at 27, the head of the Second Japanese Embassy to Europe ...

, 1863.

''Nishi machi-bugyō''

: * Amemiya Masatane, 1665–1671.

Notes

References