Changes

==Bakumatsu==

==Bakumatsu==

The ''sankin kôtai'' system came gradually to an end in the [[Bakumatsu period]]. Obligations were relaxed in [[1862]], leading to many ''daimyô'' abandoning their Edo mansions, or at least severely reducing the number of retainers they had stationed there. By some estimates, as many as 360,000 people left Edo in the 1860s to return to their home domains, representing too a severe decline in commercial demand for goods and services, and thus having a dramatic impact on the city's economy as well.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 39.</ref>

The ''sankin kôtai'' system came gradually to an end in the [[Bakumatsu period]]. Obligations were relaxed in [[1862]], allowing ''daimyô'' to come to Edo only once every three years (instead of every other year), allowing those of ''[[Edo_castle#Omote|tamari-no-ma-zume]]'' rank or equivalent to stay in the city only 100 days (instead of closer to a full year), and allowing them to send their wives and heirs back to their home provinces (rather than having them be hostages in Edo).<ref name=honjin54/> This led to many ''daimyô'' abandoning their Edo mansions, or at least severely reducing the number of retainers they had stationed there. By some estimates, as many as 360,000 people left Edo in the 1860s to return to their home domains, representing too a severe decline in commercial demand for goods and services, and thus having a dramatic impact on the city's economy as well.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 39.</ref>

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