Changes

==Precedents==

==Precedents==

The ''sankin kôtai'' system can be linked to a number of precedents in earlier periods, including in the relationships between ''[[gokenin]]'' ("housemen") and the [[Kamakura shogunate]], and between ''[[shugo|shugo daimyô]]'' and the [[Muromachi shogunate]]. Systems practiced in a number of [[Sengoku period]] domains provide an even stronger example, closer to the Edo period practice both chronologically, and logistically. In many regions in the Sengoku period, it was not unusual for retainers, granted a small sub-fief by their lords, to be required to appear before the lord at New Year's, or on other regular occasions, to demonstrate their obedience; of course, Sengoku retainers were also obliged to provide warriors, arms, horses, and/or other equipment to their lord's armies. The practice of keeping ''daimyô's'' wives and heirs hostage in Edo also grew out of Sengoku era practices regarding [[hostages]]. Yet, no such system was ever implemented in earlier periods as widely, and as systematically, as under the Tokugawa shogunate.<ref name=honjin49>Watanabe Kazutoshi 渡辺和敏, "Sankin kôtai to honjin" 参勤交代と本陣, ''Honjin ni tomatta daimyô tachi'' 本陣に泊まった大名たち, Toyohashi, Aichi: Futagawa-juku honjin shiryôkan (1996), 49.</ref>

The ''sankin kôtai'' system can be linked to a number of precedents in earlier periods, including in the relationships between ''[[gokenin]]'' ("housemen") and the [[Kamakura shogunate]], and between ''[[shugo|shugo daimyô]]'' and the [[Muromachi shogunate]]. Systems practiced in a number of [[Sengoku period]] domains provide an even stronger example, closer to the Edo period practice both chronologically, and logistically. In many regions in the Sengoku period, it was not unusual for retainers, granted a small sub-fief by their lords, to be required to appear before the lord at New Year's, or on other regular occasions, to demonstrate their obedience; of course, Sengoku retainers were also obliged to provide warriors, arms, horses, and/or other equipment to their lord's armies. The practice of keeping ''daimyô's'' wives and heirs hostage in Edo also grew out of Sengoku era practices regarding [[hostages]]. Yet, no such system was ever implemented in earlier periods as widely, and as systematically, as under the Tokugawa shogunate.<ref name=honjin49>Watanabe Kazutoshi 渡辺和敏, "Sankin kôtai to honjin" 参勤交代と本陣, ''Honjin ni tomatta daimyô tachi'' 本陣に泊まった大名たち, Toyohashi, Aichi: Futagawa-juku honjin shiryôkan (1996), 49-50.</ref>

Some scholars identify the first performances of ''sankin'' under the Tokugawa as a series of meetings in the earliest years of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu|Tokugawa Ieyasu's]] hegemony between Ieyasu and certain prominent ''tozama daimyô''. As [[Maeda Toshiie]] and others were received in audience by Ieyasu and formally bowed before him and declared their submission to his authority, they were performing "''sankin''": coming to their lord's castle and sitting in attendance, or in service, to their lord, the shogun. Building upon the ceremonial and socio-political / ideological (i.e. feudal) precedents of the preceding age, such audiences set the model, to some extent, for the form, and meaning, of ''sankin kôtai'' audiences going forward.<ref name=honjin49/>

Some scholars identify the first performances of ''sankin'' under the Tokugawa as a series of meetings in the earliest years of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu|Tokugawa Ieyasu's]] hegemony between Ieyasu and certain prominent ''tozama daimyô''. As [[Maeda Toshiie]] and others were received in audience by Ieyasu and formally bowed before him and declared their submission to his authority, they were performing "''sankin''": coming to their lord's castle and sitting in attendance, or in service, to their lord, the shogun. The lords of the [[Tohoku|northern]], [[Chugoku region|central]], and [[Saikoku region|western]] regions were obliged to journey to [[Sunpu]] and Edo in [[1609]], and to declare their submission and loyalty. Many of these ''daimyô'' had been loyal to the [[Toyotomi clan]], or still were, and had not been directly defeated in battle by the Tokugawa; thus, obliging them to formally declare their submission and loyalty was an important step towards securing Tokugawa hegemony. Building upon the ceremonial and socio-political / ideological (i.e. feudal) precedents of the preceding age, such audiences set the model, to some extent, for the form, and meaning, of ''sankin kôtai'' audiences going forward.<ref name=honjin49/>

==Implementation & Logistics==

==Implementation & Logistics==