were

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

officials of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan. The office 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 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 no ...

''.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 rulers 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, except during parts of the Kamak ...

'' 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 Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

'' 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 (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

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

Nikkō is a Cities of Japan, city in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city's population was 80,239, in 36,531 households. The population density was 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Nikkō is a popular destination for Japanese and ...

, and

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

—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 () of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate () prior to his tenure as South Ma ...

, 1717–1736 ( Yedo-bugyō), 1736-1748 (Temple-bugyō). * Yozou Torii, 1841-1844 (Minamimachi-bugyō). * Tōyama Kagemoto, 1840–1843 (Kitamachi-bugyō), 1845–1852 (Minammachi-bugyō). * Ido Satohiro, 1849–1856. * Izawa Masayoshi, 1858. * Oguri Tadamasa, 1862–1863. * Abe Masatō, 1863–1864. * Inoue Kiyonao, 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 publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. 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 was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. (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 an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

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

Shogunal city

List of ''machi-bugyō''

Notes

References

See also