Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(10) (b). Samurai at the poulterer's. A samurai is leaving the shop, and is replacing in his
girdle his large sword, removed to allow him to sit comfortably while conducting his busi-
ness with the shopkeeper, who is obsequiously seeing him off the premises. Outside the
shop, the samurai 's servant, his kimono tucked into the back of his girdle, waits patiently
for his master.
Land was measured not so much by area, as by the estimate of the amount of rice it
wouldproduceinayear.Theunitofriceusedforthispurposewasthe koku ,whichisequi-
valenttoaboutfivebushels,andwould,infact,feedonepersonforayear;atthebeginning
of the seventeenth century surveys indicated that the annual national production was about
25 million koku . This was distributed by the Shogun, after keeping about one-fifth of it for
his own use, among the lords of the domains—that is to say, land producing this amount
was allocated either to the directly held territories, or to the lords, a small amount being
granted to the Emperor. The highest allocation was to the “outside” lords of Kaga, who
had their castle in Kanazawa near the north coast: they received 1,300,000 koku. Shimazu,
of Satsuma (in Kyūshū), had 730,000, and altogether there were, at the beginning of the
period, some 270 lords with 10,000 koku or over. These lords were the daimyō, the great
landholders; and just as the Shogun kept some for himself and distributed the rest, so did
the daimyō, keeping some of his income for himself and his family and allotting the rest to
his vassals in sub-fiefs. The superior vassals had areas of land placed under their control;
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