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''Sankin-kōtai'' (, now commonly written as ) was a policy 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 ...
during most of the
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 ...
, created to control the daimyo, the feudal lords of Japan, politically, and to keep them from attempting to overthrow the regime. It required most daimyo to alternate between living in their domain and in the shogunate's capital, Edo, every year. This made the daimyo subject to constant surveillance from the shogunate. This also forced the daimyo to have residences in both their domain and Edo. The cost of maintaining several lavish residences as well as the journeys to and from Edo was a constant drain on the finances of the daimyo, which greatly increased the shogunate's control over them and kept them militarily weak. The daimyo were also required to keep their wife and children in Edo permanently to act as hostages.


History

Toyotomi Hideyoshi had earlier established a similar practice of requiring his feudal lords to keep their wives and heirs at
Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Layout Th ...
or the nearby vicinity as hostages to ensure their loyalty. Following the Battle of Sekigahara and the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, this practice was continued at the new capital of Edo as a matter of custom. It was made compulsory for the '' tozama daimyōs'' in 1635, and for the '' fudai daimyōs'' from 1642. Aside from an eight-year period under the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune, the law remained in force until 1862.


Predecessors

The ''sankin-kōtai'' system was a natural outgrowth of pre-existing practices which were expanded by the Tokugawa shogunate to further their own political interests. Much of the reason the newly created shogunate could impose ''sankin-kōtai'' on the defeated ''daimyo'' with ease was due to these immediate predecessors.


Kamakura period

The Tokugawa period philosopher Kumazawa Banzan wrote in his ''Daigaku wakumon'' that the Kamakura shogunate had its own version of alternate attendance, which made ''
gokenin A was initially a vassal of the shogunate of the Kamakura and the Muromachi periods.Iwanami Kōjien, "Gokenin" In exchange for protection and the right to become '' jitō'' (manor's lord), a ''gokenin'' had in times of peace the duty to protect ...
'' visit the shogun's court in
Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...
for fifty days once every three years. Kumazawa claimed that his account was based on records preserved by the descendants of ancient Kamakura families. Modern scholars have been unable to confirm the existence of such detailed rules, but there is evidence that, at least in principle, Kamakura period ''gokenin'' owed some kind of service at the shogun's court. The obligatory ''ōyuka'' service required ''gokenin'' to attend at the shogun's court for one month. They were also required to attend on special occasions such as comings of age, weddings, and funerals. The principal duty of the ''gokenin'' was ', which was periodic guard duty at
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 ...
and Kamakura. It originated as a public duty of the warrior class, requiring performance of guard service in Kyoto in one out of every three years. In 1186,
Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...
made this service mandatory for ''gokenin'' and reduced the duration to six months, and then later to three. In 1275, a similar arrangement was instituted at Kamakura, making ''gokenin'' in eastern Japan serve there for one month annually. Important ''gokenin'' who frequently performed guard service there maintained residences in Kamakura, even those from remoter regions in western Japan. It was also frequent practice for '' shugo'' and '' jitō'' to have their sons serve in the shogun's court, acting as hostages. In some cases, families were kept in Kamakura. These obligations on the Kamakura ''gokenin'' had a limiting effect on local independence, like the more rigid ''sankin-kōtai'' system that emerged in the Edo period. Shimmi Kichiji claimed that the prolonged absence of the ''gokenin'' from their fiefs due to their obligatory attendance at the capital delayed the development of true feudalism in Japan.


Description

The details changed throughout the 26 decades of Tokugawa rule, but generally, the requirement was that the ''daimyōs'' of every ''han'' move periodically between Edo and his fief, typically spending alternate years in each place. His wife and heir were required to remain in Edo as hostages while he was away. The expenditures necessary to maintain lavish residences in both places, and for the procession to and from Edo, placed financial strains on the daimyo, making them unable to wage war. The frequent travel of the daimyo encouraged road building and the construction of inns and facilities along the routes, generating economic activity. There were a number of exceptions for certain ''fudai daimyōs'' in the vicinity of Edo, who were allowed to alternate their attendance in Edo every six months instead. Temporary exceptional dispensations were also occasionally granted due to illness or extreme extenuating circumstances. In principle, the ''sankin-kōtai'' was a military service to the shōgun. Each ''daimyō'' was required to furnish a number of soldiers (
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 ...
) in accordance with the '' kokudaka'' assessment of his domain. These soldiers accompanied the ''daimyō'' on the processions to and from Edo. With hundreds of ''daimyōs'' entering or leaving Edo each year, were almost daily occurrences in the shogunal capital. The main routes to the provinces were the '' kaidō''. Special lodgings, the , were available to ''daimyōs'' during their travels.


Effects


Economic

The expense of maintaining lavish residences in both Edo and their domain as well as the costly annual journeys to and from Edo was disastrous for the daimyo and greatly enhanced the political control imposed by the ''sankin-kōtai'' system. As the main source of money for most daimyo was mainly dependent on the rice surplus, which was sharply limited by the relative inflexibility of the productive capacity of the ''han'', the incomes of the daimyo were unable to keep up with the increasing financial needs of the daimyo, forcing them to go into debt. ''Sankin-kōtai'' expenses regularly made up 70 to 80 percent of the total annual expenditures of daimyo. Economic programs, efforts to increase production, and special taxes were all attempted, but offered no permanent solution. By the Genroku period, practically every daimyo was deep in debt due to the extravagant spending universal during this period. Even the wealthiest feudatory, the
Maeda clan The 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 through Sugawara no Kiyotom ...
of Kaga, began to encounter financial difficulties at this time.


Similar practices

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
instituted a similar practice upon the completion of his palace at Versailles, requiring the
French nobility The French nobility () was an Aristocracy, aristocratic social class in France from the France in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages until its abolition on 23 June 1790 during the French Revolution. From 1808 to 1815 during the First French Empire, ...
, particularly the ancient '' Noblesse d'épée'' ("nobility of the sword") to spend six months of each year at the palace, for reasons similar to those of the Japanese shōguns. The nobles were expected to assist the king in his daily duties and state and personal functions, including meals, parties, and, for the privileged, rising from and getting into bed, bathing, and going to church.


See also

* Dutch missions to Edo * Ryukyuan missions to Edo


References


Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sankin kotai Edo period Japanese historical terms