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The feudal domains ruled by ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' in the [[Edo period]] are today most commonly referred to as ''han''. The ''han'' were largely autonomous in terms of their internal affairs, but were subject to numerous strictures imposed by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], as well as taxation and ritual obligations.
The feudal domains ruled by ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' in the [[Edo period]] are today most commonly referred to as ''han''. The ''han'' were largely autonomous in terms of their internal affairs, but were subject to numerous strictures imposed by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], as well as taxation and ritual obligations.
[[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], the first Tokugawa shogun, officially acknowledged 185 domains in the early 17th century; by the mid-18th century, the number of domains stabilized around 260, but the total number of distinct domains that existed at one time or another over the course of the Edo period exceeds 540.<ref name=kodansha>"Han." ''Encyclopedia of Japan''. Kodansha.</ref>
Though many ''daimyô'' continued to hold their ancestral territory as their ''han'', in theory all ''han'' were fiefs granted by the shogunate. The shogunate reserved the right to give and take away lands from ''daimyô'', and often made use of this power, reassigning a given territory to a different samurai clan, and assigning the former lords of that territory to a different domain elsewhere in the archipelago, or simply denying them a territory entirely.
The power or status of each ''han'' (and of their ''daimyô'') was determined by its ''[[kokudaka]]'', normally a measure of agricultural or commercial production in units of ''[[koku]]''; in some cases, domains were assigned a ''kokudaka'' out of proportion to their agricultural production, in recognition of their importance strategically, diplomatically, or otherwise. The smallest domains, by definition, had a ''kokudaka'' of at least 10,000 ''koku'', while the largest, [[Kaga domain]], boasted a ''kokudaka'' of 1,000,000 ''koku''. The vast majority of domains were closer to the lower end of this range, and only a handful of domains were assessed in the hundreds of thousands of ''koku''.
[[Matsumae han]], on the island of [[Ezo]] ([[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]]) was the only ''han'' to not have a designated ''kokudaka'', hold its land in fief from the shogunate, or have definite geographical borders.<ref>[[David Howell|Howell, David]]. "Ainu Ethnicity and the Boundaries of the Early Modern Japanese State." ''Past & Present'', No. 142 (Feb., 1994), pp69-93.<br>[[Tessa Morris-Suzuki|Morris-Suzuki, Tessa]]. "Creating the Frontier: Border, Identity, and History in Japan's Far North." ''East Asian History'' 7 (June 1994). p4.</ref>
==Terminology==
==Terminology==
The term ''han'' was only first applied to these domains in the [[Meiji period]], as they were being [[abolition of the han|abolished]] (廃藩置県, ''haihan chiken''), and as "modern" historians began to write "modern" histories of Japan. During the Edo period, the term ''han'' was not used, and domains were instead referred to by a number of terms including ''[[kuni]]'' (国, "country", "state"), ''ryô'' or ''ryôbun'' (領・領分, "territory", "portion of territory"), ''shiryô'' (私領, "private territory"), ''ie'' (家, ''house''), ''zaisho'' (在所, "place where one is resident"), ''fu'' or ''seifu'' (府・政府, "government"), and ''kôgi'' (公儀, "government", "public affairs"), among others. The use of these terms was often governed by [[omote and uchi|''omote'' and ''uchi'']] (or "external" and "internal") concerns; a term such as ''kuni'' might be used in internal domain documents to refer to the domain, but when speaking to the shogunate about one's domain, ''kuni'' would be used to refer to Japan as a whole, and another term, such as ''zaisho'', would be used to the ''daimyô's'' humble appointed territory.<ref>Roberts. pp11ff.</ref>
The term ''han'' was only first officially applied to these domains in the [[Meiji period]], as they were being [[abolition of the han|abolished]] (廃藩置県, ''haihan chiken''), and as "modern" historians began to write "modern" histories of Japan. The term derives from the use of the same character (C: ''fān'')<ref>"藩 fān." ''Pocket Pro Chinese-Japanese Dictionary'' ポケプロ中日辞典. Shogakukan, Inc.</ref> being used during China's ancient [[Zhou Dynasty]] to refer to fiefs or domains of that time.<ref name=kodansha/>
During the Edo period, the term ''han'' was not used for the most part, and domains were instead referred to by a number of terms including ''[[kuni]]'' (国, "country", "state"), ''ryô'' or ''ryôbun'' (領・領分, "territory", "portion of territory"), ''shiryô'' (私領, "private territory"), ''ie'' (家, ''house''), ''zaisho'' (在所, "place where one is resident"), ''fu'' or ''seifu'' (府・政府, "government"), and ''kôgi'' (公儀, "government", "public affairs"), among others. The use of these terms was often governed by [[omote and uchi|''omote'' and ''uchi'']] (or "external" and "internal") concerns; a term such as ''kuni'' might be used in internal domain documents to refer to the domain, but when speaking to the shogunate about one's domain, ''kuni'' would be used to refer to Japan as a whole, and another term, such as ''zaisho'', would be used to the ''daimyô's'' humble appointed territory.<ref>Roberts. pp11ff.</ref>
==Governance and Organization==
==Governance and Organization==
