Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
and made sure that faithful followers and relatives, including those who had fought with
himatSekigaharain1600,weregivenlandsinstrategicpositions—formingaringofbuffer
estates round Edo, a string of others protecting the great routes of Japan or keeping watch
on possible lines along which potentially hostile lords might advance on Edo. These lat-
ter would be from the “outside” lords, who had surrendered to him at Sekigahara or after-
wards. The majority of these were great landowners, and were, in fact, far more wealthy
thantheTokugawaadherents.However,theShogunhimselfheldgreatestates,andalsoad-
ministered the main cities of Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka.
Thus the political control of the country worked through the officials of the directly
held lands and through the vassaldom of the lords, who lived under threat of dispossession
or transfer as punishment for disloyalty or misconduct. There were controls on the amount
of fortification permitted; lords were encouraged to spy on their neighbors and report on
suspiciousactivities,whilesocialcontactwasfrownedon.Theninadditionthereweregov-
ernment inspectors, whose function was to keep a watchful eye on the lords and make sure
that they conducted their affairs in a manner to be approved.
YetanotherweaponintheShogun'sarmoryforcontrollingthetopstrataofsocietywas
the compulsory attendance at his court in Edo. In the early days of Tokugawa rule its pos-
sible opponents had to leave hostages in Edo as surety for their good behavior, but later a
unified system was evolved. This required alternate residence of one year in Edo and one
on his home territory for every large landowner (except for those whose lands were either
near by or most distant from the center of government), involving an annual journey one
way orthe other.Appropriate residences had to be maintained in Edo, where the wives and
familiesofthelordshadtostay.Thismeasure,alongwiththeprovidingofgarrisonsforthe
Tokugawa castles and enforced assistance with certain public works, assured both political
andeconomiccontrolofthewealthyoverlords,sincetheconstanttraveltoandfro,coupled
with the maintaining of two establishments in the style that was obligatory for a great lord,
involved considerable outlay of income, time, and effort.
The rest of the population in town and country was controlled in two ways. First,
there were officials appointed by local authorities or by the central government, and these
workedthroughofficers whocouldbetermed “policemen.” Theothermethod wasthrough
a system of responsibilities, so that an ordinary Japanese could rarely contravene the ac-
cepted code of behavior without involving others in punishment for his offence: the head
ofafamily answered foritsmembers, groupsofhouseholdsforeachindividual household,
the headman for his village, and any group might be punished for the misdeeds of one of
its members.
There was no semblance of a constitution. As regards criminal justice, magistrates had
a code to guide them, but this was never published as a whole, although notices about cer-
tain crimes were posted from time to time. In principle, there was no punishment without
