Robinson 1 The Tokugawa Administration The Tokugawa dynasty ruled Japan from the period 1600-1868 that was

known as the Tokugawa or Edo period, as Edo was the Capital city at this time (ONeill, 115). This clan came to power via Iyasus victory in the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 over the forces loyal to the house of Toyotomi (Gordon, 11). This was the last warrior clan to rule Japan, ending with the restoration of Imperial power in 1868 (ONeill, 115). The warriors of this clan were known as samurai, a Japanese word meaning one who serves, the military elite that went on to establish themselves as the ruling class of military nobility over Japan since 1185-1868 (ONeill, 106). They were also called bushi, another word for warrior (ONeill, 108). The Tokugawa regime was known for its elaborate system of civil administration based on the Confucian philosophy (Totman, 98). This system was also established in order to maintain peace and consolidate power (Gordon, 9). It is the organs of this regime that will be analyzed in detail throughout this essay. Before one can analyze of the organs of the Tokugawa administration one must first define the word administration then have a background understanding of this government via the understanding of the polity of the regime and the basic political unit thereof. The word administration is basically defined as the running or activity of an organization. (Administration, def. 1). The Tokugawa polity was the Bakuhan, the political system in which the bakufu ruled the state through regional leaders called daimyo, of whom ruled territories called Han (4, Hall). This government is considered essentially feudalistic despite the controversy over using this European term to describe an Asian regime (8, Hall).

Robinson 2 Feudalistic regimes are those in which monarchs grant territories, called fiefs, to individuals, called vassals, in exchange for the support of said regimes, militarily or otherwise (Heath, 4). One logical reason for why the two definitions are similar is that they both involve the rule of overlords through regional leaders. This therefore means that the unit of power in both regimes would be land as the more land as the vassal or daimyo ruling over the most land would have the largest population to tax, the largest number of men to add to his armies and the largest harvest of crops to receive. The strategic ness of the territory would also contribute to power. The basic political unit of this regime was the house (Totman, 98). Membership of and status within the house was based on lineage and it was normally subdivided into three groups (Totman, 98). The head group was the main family, composed of the patrilineal descendants of the houses founder (Totman, 98). Next in line in terms importance were the families that were closely related to the main family (Totman, 98). The lowest ranking families were the vassal or nonconsanguineous subordinate families (Totman, 98). Many houses contributed to national governance (Totman, 98). The ruling house during this time was the house of Tokugawa known as the Bakufu (Totman, 98). The word Bakufu is Japanese for tent government (Gordon, 3). In English the bakufu is usually called the shogunate (Varley, 62). Totman states via implication that the bakufus main family was descended patrilineally from its founder Ieyasu (98). The head of this family was called the shogun, a title equivalent to that of generalissimo (Gordon, 3). His full title was Seii tai shogun, this title according to McClain translates as Great barbarian-Subduing Field Marshal, (16). The Shoguns were military dictators at this time (ONeill, 106). They passed laws,

Robinson 3 adjudicated disputes and levied taxes (McClain, 21). They also gave financial and/or other aid to daimyos whose regions were affected by natural disasters (McClain, 27). They ruled either directly or indirectly through trusted vassals (Totman, 99). The legitimization of the shogunate status of the Tokugawa house came from the emperor in 1603 (Gordon, 11). The emperor was the source of this political legitimacy as he was the religious leader of the state upon whom was bestowed heavens mandate, a mandate derived from Confucian and Shinto beliefs (Craig, 41). The monarchys religious role reflected in its title, tenno, which translates to Heavenly Sovereign (McClain, 12). In exchange for being granted this status the Tokugawa Bakufu had to guarantee that the imperial court's security (Totman, 99). The imperial court, composed of the emperor and members of the nobility, was based in Kyoto (Gordon, 14). They were also obliged to preserve domestic order and supervise the samurai estate (McClain, 21). It is important to note that the emperors were the original main rulers but whose role eroded to that of figure head (ONeill, 106). The emperors' role at this time was largely the continuation of the ceremonial, religious role of priests played by their ancestors, the Yamato clan (Gordon, 3). Below the main family were the daimyo families (Totman, 98). According to Gordon the word daimyo means great name (3). The daimyo were the regional military lords who governed at least three quarters of Japan during the Tokugawa regime (Totman, 99). They all had two administrative roles in common (McClain, 26).

Robinson 4 The first one was to serve the interests of the shogun such the supply of military services as well as resources such as manpower, money and materials for the purpose of infrastructural development (McClain, 26). The other role was to govern their han in an autonomous manner (McClain, 26). Examples of this is that each daimyo had his own army, policed his own borders, passed his own laws, oversaw religious groups, levied his own tax rate, and interfered with the personal lives of his subjects as he saw fit within his jurisdiction (McClain, 26). They werent totally autonomous as they were accountable to the Shogunate (McClain, 24). This is because the Tokugawa shoguns could reduce the size of or confiscate the territories of daimyo considered to be ineffective or hostile towards the regime as well as to reward the daimyo who pleased them new or expanded territories (McClain, 24). They also transferred daimyo to different regions (McClain, 24). Daimyo were divided into groups with functions and privileges based on their relationship with the shogun (Totman, 99). The highest ranking daimyo families were members of the bakufu known as shimpan or cadet families (Totman, 99). These were twenty three families descended by adoption or birth from Ieyasu (McClain, 24). The gosanke or the Three Successor Houses, the families of the Mito, Kii, and Owari regions, were the shimpan families whose offspring could be proclaimed shogun if the previous shogun died without a suitable direct heir (McClain, 24). The cadet families were given large fertile regions of land at strategic points on the periphery of Japan (Totman, 99). The gosanke received larger territories that most of the other cadet families (McClain, 25).

Robinson 5 The daimyo families with the lowest status in the bakufu were from the fudai or vassal families (Totman, 99). These families were descended from the vassals Ieyasu had prior to becoming shogun (McClain, 25). Most of them received modest lands that were generally located close to the directly ruled Tokugawa domains in central Japan (Totman, 99). This caste was also the pool from which the many bureaucratic positions were recruited (Totman, 103). Among them for example were positions in two conciliatory boards that the shogun sought counsel and assistance from: the senior and junior councilors (McClain, 28 & 29). The senior councilors, a board of high and middle ranking daimyo, exercised power over major national issues such as defense and the supervision of the imperial court (McClain, 28). The junior councilors were selected from among the lower ranked fudai daimyo and they exercised power over domestic issues (McClain, 28&29). One can infer from these examples that the importance of the positions given to them was based on status. The last group of daimyo families to mention did not belong to the bakufu but to separate houses called tozama (outside) houses (Totman, 99). The Shimazu clan was one such House (Ravina, 17). These families were descended from daimyo who did not swear allegiance to the Tokugawa regime until after it took over Japan and some had fought against the Ieyasu in Sekigahara (Totman, 99).They were considered unreliable and were excluded from the bakufu (Totman, 99).They were initially allowed to administrate over their traditional lands but were then sent to rule regions that were on the far edges of the three main islands by Ieyasus grandson Iemitsu, who then placed fudai and Shimpan daimyos in charge of the areas around Edo as a way to prevent them from rebelling (Gordon, 13).

Robinson 6 The level of administration below the daimyo was that of the samurai under his command (Craig, 38). These warriors became vassals through the granting of small fiefs to the samurai by the daimyo during the wars of unification in exchange for loyalty (Gordon, 14 & 15). After the wars ended these samurai were incorporated into regional polities by their respective daimyo that resembled the shogunate (Totman, 104). This was done to maintain the peace by giving those jobs as there was no war to fight (Totman, 104). This made Tokugawa regime the most bureaucratized Shogunate (Totman, 103). These samurai vassals were divided into two main groups: the shi and the sotsu (Craig, 38). The shi were the higher ranked samurai who gained the more important posts (Craig, 38). They worked with the daimyo to set policies and maintain goals (Craig, 38). The middle and some of the lower shi served as officials beneath them (Craig, 38). Sotsu were the lower ranked samurai who were either regional soldiers or servants of the shi (Craig, 38). The early eighteenth century saw the blurring of this distinction as middle ranking samurai became more involved in policy making (Craig, 38). Below the samurai were the non samurai (ONeill, 114). They were divided into three groups in descending order of status based on their occupations: farmers, artisans and merchants (ONeill, 114). These groups played an insignificant role in the bakuhan as only lowest jobs werent reserved for the hereditary, stratified military elite (Trotman, 103). The jobs the non warriors got, jobs that were delegated by samurai officials, were to regulate the economic activity of merchants and to keep

Robinson 7 order (Gordon, 16). One example of such an administrative position would be as a member of a group of city elders whose job it was to collect taxes, enforce laws and investigate crimes (Gordon, 16). In conclusion, based on the analysis of its organs, The Tokugawa administration was a highly autocratic, bureaucratic, aristocratic and centralized regime.

Robinson 8

Works Cited "Administration." Entry 1. Oxford Dictionaries. 2001. N. pag. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1219994#m_en_us1219994>. Craig, Albert M. "The Central Government." Japan in Transition. Ed. Marius B. Jansen and Gilbert Rozman. Second ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988. 3667. Print. Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan from Tokugawa Times to the Present. First ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 9-16. Print. Hall, John W. "Introduction." Vol. 4. The Cambrige History of Japan. Ed. John W. Hall and James L. McClain. Sixth ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 6 vols. 1-38. Print. Heath, Ian. Armies of Feudal Europe. Second ed. Lancing: Flexiprint Ltd, 1989. 4-45. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/29393652/Armies-of-FeudalEurope-1066-1300>. McClain, James L. Japan: A Modern History. First ed. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2002. 5-47. Print. O'Neill, Tom. "The Samurai way." National Geographic Dec. 2003: 98-131. Print. Ravina, Mark. The last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Takomori. First ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2004. 13-42. Print. Totman, Conrad. "Tokugawa Japan.". An Introduction to Japanese Civilization.

Robinson 9 Ed. Arthur E. Tiedman. First ed. New York: Colombia University Press, 1974. 13 vols. 98-130. Print. Varley, H. P. "Age of Militant Houses." An Introduction to Japanese History. Ed. Arthur E. Tiedman. First ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974. 61-96. Print.