Changes

Neighborhood headmen (''[[nanushi]]'') of areas within [[Edo]] answered to the ''machi doshiyori'', and oversaw the ''[[goningumi]]'' (five-person collective responsibility groups), and guardhouses and gatehouses within their respective neighborhoods.<ref>Katô Takashi, "Governing Edo," in James McClain (ed.), ''Edo & Paris'', Cornell University Press (1994), 46.</ref>

Neighborhood headmen (''[[nanushi]]'') of areas within [[Edo]] answered to the ''machi doshiyori'', and oversaw the ''[[goningumi]]'' (five-person collective responsibility groups), and guardhouses and gatehouses within their respective neighborhoods.<ref>Katô Takashi, "Governing Edo," in James McClain (ed.), ''Edo & Paris'', Cornell University Press (1994), 46.</ref>

The positions of ''machidoshiyori'' were dominated since the 1610s by three families: the Naraya, Kitamura, and Taruya families. The Naraya and Teruya families had served [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] on the battlefield during the [[Sengoku period]], but gave up samurai status when they settled in Edo. The Kitamura, meanwhile, were dealers in herbal medicines who had previously served the [[Maeda clan]] of [[Kaga han|Kanazawa]] prior to settling in Edo.<ref>Katô, 54.</ref>

The positions of ''machidoshiyori'' were dominated since the 1610s by three families: the Naraya, Kitamura, and Taruya families. The Naraya and Taruya families had served [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] on the battlefield during the [[Sengoku period]], but gave up samurai status when they settled in Edo. The Kitamura, meanwhile, were dealers in herbal medicines who had previously served the [[Maeda clan]] of [[Kaga han|Kanazawa]] prior to settling in Edo. Though commoners, the ''machidoshiyori'' were granted the privileges of wearing swords, and the Taruya and Kitamura were permitted to use their surnames in formal contexts. All three enjoyed audiences with the shogun on [[Tokugawa seasonal observances|New Year's]] each year, and were granted mansions near [[Nihonbashi]], just outside the gates of [[Edo castle]]. Though they held no official [[stipend]], all three families periodically enjoyed sizable monetary loans from the shogunate.<ref>Katô, 54-55.</ref>

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