Changes

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. This occurred particularly frequently in the first fifty years or so of Tokugawa control, with 281 instances of clans being moved from one domain to another, and 213 instances of clans losing ''daimyô'' status, and their domains, entirely during that fifty-year period. The latter was most often due to the absence of an heir; though shogunate policies were relaxed later on, initially, deathbed adoptions were not permitted.<ref>Schirokauer, et al. ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 131.</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. This occurred particularly frequently in the first fifty years or so of Tokugawa control, with 281 instances of clans being moved from one domain to another, and 213 instances of clans losing ''daimyô'' status, and their domains, entirely during that fifty-year period. The latter was most often due to the absence of an heir; though shogunate policies were relaxed later on, initially, deathbed adoptions were not permitted.<ref>Schirokauer, et al. ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 131.</ref>

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''. It is important to remember that the ''kokudaka'' represents the ''total'' agricultural output of the territory; it includes the vast proportion of that production which is simply consumed by the population, and thus is not a direct indicator of the extent of the wealth of the ''daimyô'' or of domain finances. Domain expenses could be quite sizable, with ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' costing many domains a very sizable portion of their funds, and various infrastructural and other maintenance costs likewise comprising a considerable amount. In [[1747]], the lord of Kaga han is said to have spent 171,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' (roughly equivalent to 171,000 ''koku'') on domain expenditures, including maintenance on his residences in his castle-town of [[Kanazawa]] and [[Kaga Edo mansion|in Edo]].<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 58.</ref>

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''. The largest of these domains were exceptionally large, however, with Kaga's ''kokudaka'' being only 1/4 that of the shogunate itself, and the territories of [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]], [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], and Kaga combined being home to fully 1/12th of Japan's population in the 1860s, even taking into account the millions who lived in Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto.<ref>Mark Ravina, ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 17.</ref>

 

It is important to remember that the ''kokudaka'' represents the ''total'' officially assessed agricultural output of the territory; it includes the vast proportion of that production which is simply consumed by the population, and thus is not a direct indicator of the extent of the wealth of the ''daimyô'' or of domain finances. The ''kokudaka'' also excludes a lot of production which for one reason or another is not officially recorded; for this reason, the ''kokudaka'' cannot be taken as a direct reflection of the actual amount of food or wealth available within the domain.<ref>And, further, the ''kokudaka'' divided by population can therefore not be taken as an accurate reflection of how much food, per capita, subjects of that domain had to eat on average. Most peasants, on average, can be assumed to have been producing, or otherwise obtaining, more rice or other grain than was reflected in the ''kokudaka''.</ref>

 

Domain expenses could be quite sizable, with ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' costing many domains a very sizable portion of their funds, and various infrastructural and other maintenance costs likewise comprising a considerable amount. In [[1747]], the lord of Kaga han is said to have spent 171,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' (roughly equivalent to 171,000 ''koku'') on domain expenditures, including maintenance on his residences in his castle-town of [[Kanazawa]] and [[Kaga Edo mansion|in Edo]].<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 58.</ref>

[[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>

[[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>