Hatamoto

• Japanese: 旗本 (hatamoto)

Hatamoto, lit. "bannermen," were a class of roughly six thousand middle-ranking samurai of the Edo period who, instead of serving a daimyô or being daimyô themselves, were direct retainers of the Tokugawa shogun.

They held small territories in fief, enjoyed stipends of anywhere from 100 to nearly 10,000 koku, and many held various middle- or upper-middle-level government posts. Some had their own retainers in turn. As many as 1/4 of the hatamoto, however, were unable to secure government posts, while many others were severely underemployed for extended periods, working only half-days, or only on a month-to-month basis.

References

• Craig, Teruko (trans.). Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai. University of Arizona Press, 1988. p.xii.