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In addition to simply being resident in Edo for a certain period of time, the performance of ''sankin kôtai'' involved formal audiences with the shogun, in which the ''daimyô'' would officially present himself to the shogun, as performance of military duty, in observance of feudal fealty to his lord. During a ''daimyô's'' time in [[Edo castle]], only the ''daimyô'' himself and a certain number of higher-ranking retainers would actually enter the castle; the remainder of his retinue, some considerable number of middle- and low-ranking samurai, would remain outside the castle, sitting around on the ground, eating, drinking, chatting, sleeping, etc.

In addition to simply being resident in Edo for a certain period of time, the performance of ''sankin kôtai'' involved formal audiences with the shogun, in which the ''daimyô'' would officially present himself to the shogun, as performance of military duty, in observance of feudal fealty to his lord. During a ''daimyô's'' time in [[Edo castle]], only the ''daimyô'' himself and a certain number of higher-ranking retainers would actually enter the castle; the remainder of his retinue, some considerable number of middle- and low-ranking samurai, would remain outside the castle, sitting around on the ground, eating, drinking, chatting, sleeping, etc.

The ''sankin kôtai'' system came gradually to an end in the [[Bakumatsu period]]. Obligations were relaxed in [[1862]], leading to a great many samurai leaving the city.

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>

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