Changes

==New Year==

==New Year==

[[File:Ohiroma.JPG|center|thumb|750px|A model of the ''Ôhiroma'', Edo castle's largest audience hall, on display at the Edo-Tokyo Museum]]

[[File:Ohiroma.JPG|center|thumb|1000px|A model of the ''Ôhiroma'', Edo castle's largest audience hall, on display at the Edo-Tokyo Museum]]

New Year's observances at [[Edo castle]] included the [[shogun]]'s reception of ''daimyô'' and other retainers, among others, on the first three days of the new year. All ''daimyô'' resident in [[Edo]] at the time were obliged to appear at the castle on each of these first three days. These practices were first put into place by [[Tokugawa Hidetada]], and were continued by his successor, becoming standard practice by the time of Shogun [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]] (r. [[1716]]-[[1751]]).<ref>Walthall, 353n13.</ref>

New Year's observances at [[Edo castle]] included the [[shogun]]'s reception of ''daimyô'' and other retainers, among others, on the first three days of the new year. All ''daimyô'' resident in [[Edo]] at the time were obliged to appear at the castle on each of these first three days. These practices were first put into place by [[Tokugawa Hidetada]], and were continued by his successor, becoming standard practice by the time of Shogun [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]] (r. [[1716]]-[[1751]]).<ref>Walthall, 353n13.</ref>

Festival days specifically associated with commemorating or celebrating events related to the shogunate included:

Festival days specifically associated with commemorating or celebrating events related to the shogunate included:

*''Kashô'' 嘉祥, celebrated on 6/16. A celebration of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu|Tokugawa Ieyasu's]] victory in the [[1573]] [[battle of Mikatagahara]]. After the battle, his retainer Ôkubo Fujigorô supposedly gifted Ieyasu with an amount of sweets, as a gift in celebration of the victory; Ieyasu then distributed the sweets among some number of his other retainers, and in commemoration or reenactment of this event, every year on ''kashô'', the shogun would receive retainers in audience in the Ôhiroma (Grand Audience Hall) of [[Edo castle]], and would distribute sixteen types of sweets, including ''[[manju]]'' and ''[[yokan|yôkan]]'', to his retainers.<ref name=edojo>''Edojô'' 江戸城, Tokyo: Gakushu Kenkyusha (1995), 120.</ref>  

*''Kashô'' 嘉祥, celebrated on 6/16. A celebration of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu|Tokugawa Ieyasu's]] victory in the [[1573]] [[battle of Mikatagahara]]. After the battle, his retainer Ôkubo Fujigorô supposedly gifted Ieyasu with an amount of sweets, as a gift in celebration of the victory; Ieyasu then distributed the sweets among some number of his other retainers, and in commemoration or reenactment of this event, every year on ''kashô'', the shogun would receive retainers in audience in the Ôhiroma (Grand Audience Hall) of [[Edo castle]], and would distribute sixteen types of sweets, including ''[[manju]]'' and ''[[yokan|yôkan]]'', to his retainers.<ref name=edojo/>  

*''[[Hassaku]]'' 八朔, celebrated on 8/1. This date was a harvest festival traditionally, but in the Tokugawa period was simultaneously observed as a celebration of Tokugawa Ieyasu's first victorious entry into [[Edo]] in [[1590]].<ref name=edojo/> A celebration of the autumn harvest, and of the first fruits of the agricultural year, ''hassaku'' was also a traditional occasion for samurai (as well as Imperial Court nobles, and others) to give gifts to their lords or superiors, as a show of gratitude for their favor. This was one of two annual festivals during which ''daimyô'' presented swords, as a show of fealty, to the shogun.

*''[[Hassaku]]'' 八朔, celebrated on 8/1. This date was a harvest festival traditionally, but in the Tokugawa period was simultaneously observed as a celebration of Tokugawa Ieyasu's first victorious entry into [[Edo]] in [[1590]].<ref name=edojo/> A celebration of the autumn harvest, and of the first fruits of the agricultural year, ''hassaku'' was also a traditional occasion for samurai (as well as Imperial Court nobles, and others) to give gifts to their lords or superiors, as a show of gratitude for their favor. This was one of two annual festivals during which ''daimyô'' presented swords, as a show of fealty, to the shogun.