Daikan

• Japanese: 代官 (daikan)

During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate appointed officials to oversee and administer areas of shogunate land, or tenryô; this post, which we might translate as "governor," "magistrate," or "district administrator," was called daikan in Japanese.

A daikan typically administered an area worth 50,000 to 100,000 koku, and maintained residences both in Edo and in the territory to which he was assigned. Within that territory, he was responsible for overseeing a range of government functions, including infrastructure projects, tax collection, and judicial matters.

References

• Craig, Teruko (trans.). Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai. University of Arizona Press, 1988. p159n2.