Japanese title
Enomoto Takeaki
, a
hatamoto
of the late
Edo period
A
hatamoto
(
旗本
, "Guardian of the banner")
was a high ranking
samurai
in the direct service of the
Tokugawa shogunate
of feudal
Japan
.
[1]
While all three of the
shogunates
in
Japanese history
had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as
gokenin
. However, in the
Edo period
,
hatamoto
were the upper
vassals
of the Tokugawa house,
[2]
and the
gokenin
were the lower vassals. There was no precise difference between the two in terms of
income
level, but a
hatamoto
had the right to an
audience
with the
shogun
, whereas
gokenin
did not.
[3]
The word
hatamoto
literally means "origin/base of the flag", with the sense of 'around the flag', it is described in Japanese as 'those who guard the flag' (on the battlefield) and is often translated into English as "
bannerman
". Another term for the Edo-era
hatamoto
was
jikisan hatamoto
(
直?旗本
)
, sometimes rendered as "direct shogunal
hatamoto
", which serves to illustrate the difference between them and the preceding generation of
hatamoto
who served various lords.
History
[
edit
]
The term
hatamoto
originated in the
Sengoku period
. The term was used for the direct retainers of a lord; as the name suggests, the men who were grouped "around of the flag". Many lords had
hatamoto
; however, when the Tokugawa clan achieved ascendancy in 1600, its
hatamoto
system was
institutionalized
, and it is to that system which is mainly referred to now when using the term.
In the eyes of the Tokugawa shogunate,
hatamoto
were
retainers
who had served the
family
from its days in
Mikawa
onward.
[4]
However, the ranks of the
hatamoto
also included people from outside the
hereditary
ranks
of the Tokugawa house. Retainer families of defeated formerly grand families like the
Takeda
,
H?j?
, or
Imagawa
were included, as were cadet branches of lord families.
[5]
Also included were heirs to lords whose domains were
confiscated
, for example Asano Daigaku, the brother of
Asano Naganori
,
[4]
local power figures in remote parts of the country who never became
daimy?s
; and the families of
Kamakura
and
Muromachi periods
Shugo
(Governors): some of these include the
Akamatsu
,
Bessh?
(branch of the Akamatsu),
H?j?
,
Hatakeyama
,
Kanamori
(branch of the Toki),
Imagawa
,
Mogami
(branch of the Ashikaga),
Nagai
,
Oda
,
?tomo
,
Takeda
,
Toki
, Takenaka (branch of the Toki),
Takigawa
,
Tsutsui
, and
Yamana
families.
[6]
The act of becoming a
hatamoto
was known as
bakushin toritate
(
幕臣取立て
)
.
Many
hatamoto
fought in the
Boshin War
of 1868, on both sides of the conflict.
The
hatamoto
remained retainers of the main
Tokugawa clan
after the fall of the shogunate in 1868, and followed the Tokugawa to their new domain of
Shizuoka
. The
hatamoto
lost their status along with all other samurai in Japan following the
abolition of the domains
in 1871.
Ranks and roles
[
edit
]
Hijikata Toshiz?
of the
Shinsengumi
became a
hatamoto
shortly before the end of the Edo period
The division between
hatamoto
and
gokenin
, especially amongst
hatamoto
of lower rank, was not rigid, and the title of
hatamoto
had more to do with rank rather than income rating. In the context of an
army
, it could be compared to the position of an
officer
. Throughout the Edo period,
hatamoto
held the distinction that if they possessed high enough rank, they had the right to personal audience with the
shogun
(these
hatamoto
were known as
ome-mie ij?
). All
hatamoto
can be divided into two categories, the
kuramaitori
, who took their incomes straight from Tokugawa granaries, and the
jikatatori
, who held land scattered throughout Japan.
[7]
Another level of status distinction amongst the
hatamoto
was the class of
k?tai-yoriai
, men who were heads of
hatamoto
families and held provincial fiefs, and had alternate attendance (
sankin-k?tai
) duties like the
daimy?s
. However, as
k?tai-yoriai
were men of very high income in terms of the spectrum of
hatamoto
stipends, not all
jikatatori hatamoto
had the duty of alternate attendance. The dividing line between the upper
hatamoto
and the
fudai daimy?s
'?the domain lords who were also vassals of the Tokugawa house?was 10,000
koku
.
[3]
At the beginning of the 18th century, about 5,000 samurai held the rank of
hatamoto
; over two thirds of these had an income of less than 400 koku and only about 100 earned 5,000 koku or more. A
hatamoto
with 500 koku had seven permanent non-samurai servants, two swordsmen, a lancer, and an archer on standby.
[8]
Infrequently, some
hatamoto
were granted an increase in income and thus promoted to the rank of
fudai daimy?
. One example of such a promotion is the case of the Hayashi family of Kaibuchi (later known as
J?zai han
), who began as
jikatatori hatamoto
but who became
fudai daimy?s
and went on to play a prominent role in the
Boshin War
, despite their domain's relatively small size of 10,000
koku
.
The term for a
hatamoto
with income of about 8,000
koku
or greater was
taishin hatamoto
("greater
hatamoto
").
The
hatamoto
who lived in Edo resided in their own private districts and oversaw their own
police
work and
security
. Men from
hatamoto
ranks could serve in a variety of roles in the Tokugawa administration, including service in the police force as
yoriki
inspectors,
[9]
city
magistrates
, magistrates or
tax collectors
of direct Tokugawa house land, members of the
wakadoshiyori
council, and many other positions.
[10]
The expression "eighty thousand
hatamoto
"
(
旗本八万旗
,
hatamoto hachimanhata
)
was in popular use to denote their numbers, but a 1722 study put their numbers at about 5,000. Adding the
gokenin
brought the number up to about 17,000.
Famous
hatamoto
[
edit
]
Famous
hatamoto
include
Jidayu Koizumi
,
Nakahama Manjir?
,
?oka Tadasuke
,
T?yama Kagemoto
,
Katsu Kaish?
,
Enomoto Takeaki
,
Hijikata Toshiz?
,
Nagai Naoyuki
, and the two Westerners
William Adams
and
Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn
.
Hatamoto
and the martial arts
[
edit
]
Hatamoto
patronized the development of the martial arts in the Edo period; many of them were involved in the running of
dojo
in the
Edo
area and elsewhere. Two
hatamoto
who were directly involved in the development of the martial arts were
Yagy? Munenori
and
Yamaoka Tessh?
. Munenori's family became hereditary sword instructors to the
shogun
.
In popular culture
[
edit
]
Hatamoto
appeared as figures in popular culture even before the Edo era ended.
[
citation needed
]
Recent depictions of
hatamoto
include in the TV series
Hatch?bori no Shichinin
, the manga
F?unjitachi Bakumatsu-hen
, and
Osamu Tezuka
's manga
Hidamari no ki
. The real-time strategy video game series
Age of Empires
features
hatamoto
in its
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
expansion, again in
Age of Empires IV
as Samurai Bannermen, in both games they are especially powerful variants of the samurai.
In the
novel
(and later
television series
) Shogun, the protagonist Pilot John Blackthorne, loosely based on
William Adams
, eventually rises in the service of Lord Toranaga to become samurai and hatamoto.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Nussbaum, Louis Frederic
et al.
(2005).
Hatamoto
in
Japan encyclopedia,
p. 297.
, p. 297, at
Google Books
; n.b., Louis-Frederic is pseudonym of Louis-Frederic Nussbaum,
see
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File
[
permanent dead link
]
.
- ^
Ooms, p. 190.
- ^
a
b
Ogawa, p. 43.
- ^
a
b
Ogawa, p. 35.
- ^
Ogawa, pp. 35?36.
- ^
Ogawa, p. 35
- ^
Ooms, p. 92.
- ^
"Sword Prices, Origami, and Samurai Income by Markus Sesko | NIHONTO"
. 13 April 2018.
- ^
Sasama, p. 45.
- ^
Bolitho, p. 118.
References
[
edit
]
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This bureaucracy evolved in an
ad hoc
manner, responding to perceived needs.
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