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Samurai Movies (11)

December 2, 2021

One of the most unique policies in the Edo period was 'sankin-kotai'. 'Sankin' means greeting the Tokugawa Shogunate, 'koutai' means 'rotation'. The Tokugawa Shougunate implemented the law, 'Buke-sho-hatt', and demanded that each han's lord, daimyo, had to live for a year in their residence in Edo every other year. As for his wife and the chosen successor (normally his eldest son) had to live in their Edo residence not every other year but every year. It would be until the successor became the lord. They were kind of hostages. He had never heard of 'sankin-kotai' type of systems in other countries. Because of this system, there were around 270 hans' residences in Edo. The Tokugawa Shogunate gave a piece of property to each han in which they had to build a residency. The authority also demanded that each han should report beforehand when they left their han and got to Edo. If they didn't, there would be a penalty. Recently he watched a movie named, "Super-High-Speed Sankin-Koutai". It was a great movie.   A daimyo of this han, a small poor han of 15,000 koku, was ordered to come to the Shogun's residence to explain something. But, the daimyo and his retainers had just arrived in his han after 'sankin-kotai'. It was a kind of harassment by one of the chief vassals of Tokugawa. He felt hostility toward the lord and thought that if the lord couldn't attend the meeting day, he could suggest taking away the load's land of 15,000 koku (and residence) as a penalty. The lord sensed the vassal's plot and decided to leave as soon as possible, but the meeting day was in just 5 days. But it was not only a time problem. If a daimyo had a trip to Edo, one would need the status of 'sankin-kotai'. It means that it should be a parade, in which a samurai would be in formal costume riding on a horse or walking, the daimyo riding in a palanquin, a small wagon carried on two men's shoulders. At some checking points in the main towns, officers would check how they followed the status. He had heard that even the number of horses in the parade were decided depending on hans' koku. As the han was very poor, the leading retainer, who was famous for his smartness, gave some unique ideas. When they went to remote places, they would just run in minimum size, when they came to checking points, they would ask local people to join the parade in uniform and with items like spears and lacquer painted boxes. They even would use scarecrows to increase the number. And, it worked! The daimyo and his entourage made it on time.   He had read that there was an interesting story about 'sankin-kotai' in his han. It was the third lord's time, in the early 17C. It was the lord's first 'sankin-kotai'. His father passed away a couple of years before. It meant that this third lord had been living in Edo until that time. He came to his hometown for the first time a couple of years before the 'sainkin-koutai' and had lived there until then. The parade started a day in the spring time that they had reported to the Tokugawa Shogunate, but arrived in Edo 10 days later than the due day. Soon, it became a big problem. It was bad timing because the 'Buke-sho-hatt' had just been implemented, and the Tokugawa Shogunate wanted to show their authority and strong attitude to the other hans.   The Shogun was furious and the lord was confined in his Edo residence. The news spread to the other hans as well as to his home han. There were rumors that the han would lose their land and their citizens, which would be the hardest penalty.   The confinement of the lord lasted for one and a half years! And luckily, the confinement was short-lived. He had read that the lord's father, the second lord, had taught one of the Shogun's close relatives, and using this connection, they petitioned for generous favors. It was said to be the biggest crisis for this han throughout the Edo period. (To be continued ...)

No.457



*implement :実行する、施行する
*property :不動産、地所、財産
*residency :邸宅
*vassal :家臣
*hostility :敵意
*plot :企み
*palanquin :籠（かご）
*entourage :側近の人たち
*due :期限の
*confine :監禁する
*short-lived :短い期間の
*petition :嘆願する
*generous :寛容な