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The shogunate continued, in some cases, to allocate mansions to the ''daimyô'', but ''daimyô'' also often seized lands from peasants to build their mansions.
The shogunate continued, in some cases, to allocate mansions to the ''daimyô'', but ''daimyô'' also often seized lands from peasants to build their mansions.
Following the [[Meiji Restoration]], many ''daimyô'' abandoned their mansions, either immediately once their feudal obligations to maintain residence in the city were relaxed (in [[1862]]) and then abolished (in [[1868]]), or some years later, following the [[abolition of the han]], abolition of the [[samurai]] class, and attenuation of their [[stipends]]. While some were certainly maintained, either by their previous ''daimyô'' owners or by new Meiji elites who took them over as government offices or officials' residences, many others simply fell into disrepair. [[Oki Takato|Ôki Takatô]], the first governor of [[Tokyo]], attempted to make good use of the newly empty land by organizing the widespread planting of [[mulberry]] trees and [[tea]]. As much as 9% of former mansion grounds were planted in this way; other sites became offices or residences for the Meiji government.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', UC Press (1998), 39.</ref>
In the end, it might be argued that the large areas of land held by the ''daimyô'' mansions had a positive result for the development of Tokyo into a modern city in the [[Meiji period]] and beyond, as it left many large areas in central parts of the city open to be developed into public parks, universities, government buildings, and so forth.
Today, indeed, many of the most prominent ''daimyô's'' mansions have since become the sites of universities, public gardens, or the like. To name some examples, [[Doshisha University|Dôshisha University]] is based on the former site of the [[Satsuma han]] mansion in Kyoto; [[Tokyo University]]'s main campus was formerly the mansion of the lords of [[Kaga han]]; the [[Akasaka Detached Palace]] was built on the former site of the mansion of the [[Kii Tokugawa clan|Kishû Tokugawa]]; and the garden of [[Tokugawa Yorifusa]] of [[Mito han]], [[Koishikawa Korakuen|Koishikawa Kôrakuen]], continues to be maintained today as a historic site & garden open to the public.
==Selected Mansions==
==Selected Mansions==