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A daimyo procession at Kasumigaseki in Edo. Utagawa Hiroshige II, 1863, public domain

The Alternate Attendance System in Tokugawa Not only did alternate attendance enable shoguns to exert their authority over regional lords, it had a profound political, social, economic and cultural impact on Tokugawa Japan. Sandra Wilson Academic Chair of History, Murdoch University

Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power in Japan after more than regime assumed that the domainal lords who had 100 years of endemic fighting among warlord states and fought on the losing side at Sekigahara would continue samurai houses. The Tokugawa shoguns restored central to be hostile. Nor was there any guarantee that domains authority through a complex system of political, social that had supported Ieyasu would always be loyal to the and military controls, combining a central administration Tokugawa house. The daimyo, moreover, maintained based in Edo with about 250 semi-autonomous domains their own armies and collected their own taxes, and thus governed by daimyo (domainal lords). might present a serious threat to the (government), especially if several of them joined forces. The shoguns managed to retain power until the 1860s, but they remained vigilant over potential enemies and The shoguns exerted their authority over the daimyo by alert to signs of social and political instability. Ieyasu threatening to confiscate their land or transfer it to new had assumed power not through peaceful means but by domains, by controlling key marriages and succession, defeating his enemies in battle in 1600 at Sekigahara. and by other means as well. However, the single most He and his successors were acutely aware, especially important way they sought to control the daimyo was the during the seventeenth century, that they, too, could be system known as alternate attendance. overthrown. Based on much earlier but more limited practices, The Tokugawa shoguns sought to maintain peace alternate attendance was formalised and made and stability—thus cementing their own power—by considerably more comprehensive in the 1630s and controlling all segments of the population. The greatest 1640s, after which it remained essentially intact until danger, however, was posed by the daimyo. The new 1862.1 It required daimyo to:

Sandra Wilson, 'The Alternate Attendance System in Tokugawa Japan,’ Agora 55:3 (2020), 23–27 agora 55:3 (2020) 23 T

• travel from the provinces every second On the Road year according to a schedule in which The daimyo procession was essentially a they were assigned a specific time slot for military display, with samurai in service their journey to the daimyo marching along the roads to and from Edo. Many processions were • ‘attend’ the shogun’s court spectacular displays of the daimyo’s wealth • remain in Edo, usually for a year and power, which was signalled not only by the size of the military contingent but also • leave their wives and most of their by the splendour of the soldiers’ uniforms, children behind when they returned to the ornamentation of weapons, and the their domains. array of lacquered boxes bearing the The system of alternate attendance codified daimyo’s crest and containing costly gifts for and expanded older forms of feudal service the shogun as well as other goods. Daimyo owed by vassals (in this case, daimyo) to were also accompanied by large numbers their lords (shoguns). Essentially it was a of ancillary attendants, including personal 1 Regulations for daimyo form of military service required of daimyo servants, secretaries, poets, concubines, visits to the capital appear in return for the domains granted to them doctors, veterinarians, cooks and porters. in the 1615 ‘Laws of Military Lords might travel with a portable bathtub Households (Buke by the shogun, and the right to rule those shohatto),’ which lands. and toilet, and with their pets: all required established the people to carry them and care for them.4 fundamental rules for the The continued presence of family members whole military class. An While a normal retinue would consist of in the capital was a way of guaranteeing amendment to these laws, 150–300 people, major daimyo would be proclaimed in 1635, the good behaviour of the daimyo while accompanied by more than 1000 warriors institutionalised the system they were in the provinces, and again and servants. In the case of the large domain of alternate attendance. institutionalised and extended earlier Both documents appear in of Tosa, the retinue often numbered more practices. Family members were effectively Japan: A Documentary than 2000 people; Kaga, the biggest domain hostages—the wives of daimyo spent almost History, Vol. 1 —The Dawn of outside the Tokugawa family, had 3500 men History to the Late Tokugawa all of their married lives in Edo, and in 1802.5 Period, David J. Lu, ed. daughters of daimyo spent their whole lives (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, there.2 Many daimyo themselves were born 2015), 206–208. Because a daimyo knew he would travel and raised in Edo. 2 Constantine Nomikos along the route to Edo every other year, it Vaporis, Tour of Duty: was worth his while to spend money in his Samurai, Military Service in The daimyo paid all their own expenses own domain on roads, bridges and other Edo, and the Culture of Early on their journeys and in Edo. A hugely facilities. While this contributed to rural Modern Japan (Honolulu: expensive system, alternate attendance was development, it also depleted the daimyo’s University of Hawai’i Press, designed to drain the coffers of the daimyo, 2008), 1–2, 12–13. financial reserves. thus restricting their economic capacity 3 Constantine N. Vaporis, to threaten the shogun’s government, and Journeys from the more distant provinces ‘Lordly Pageantry: The keeping them under the eye of shogunate Daimyo Procession and could take a considerable amount of time. Political Authority,’ Japan officials. The procession to and from Tosa, in , Review, 17 (2005): 34. might require a month each way.6 Along the Alternate attendance also functioned as a 4 Ibid., 16–17. road, the daimyo retinue spent money on ‘performance’ that underlined the authority food and water for the travellers and horses, 5 Constantine N. Vaporis, ‘To of the central government. Constantine Edo and Back: Alternate as well as on accommodation and luggage Attendance and Japanese Vaporis points to the contrast with the services. Culture in the Early Modern Queen’s royal progresses in Elizabethan Period,’ Journal of Japanese England (1558–1603). While Queen Elizabeth As people had to spend money across a large Studies, 23: 1 (1997), 29, 31; I displayed her authority when travelling geographical distance, daimyo processions James L. McClain, Japan: A Modern History (New York: around the country, the Japanese shogun contributed to the growth of a money W.W. Norton, 2002), 39. displayed his by staying in one place and economy in Japan (as opposed to barter or compelling others to travel to him.3 other forms of exchange), and to a reduction 6 Vaporis, Tour of Duty, 36.

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The 53 Stations of the Tokaido by Utagawa Hiroshige II (c. 1833–1834). This image is the first in the series, and depicts a procession led by standard-bearers setting out over the Nihonbashi bridge in Edo. Public Domain

in the number of currencies. Some Life in Edo standardisation of the spoken language also The duties of the daimyo and his retainers resulted, as people had to make themselves once in Edo were not onerous: the main point understood to others who used a variety of was simply to be there, and to be seen to be at dialects. the command of the shogunate. The daimyo attended receptions and ceremonies at Edo On the major routes, specialist towns grew Castle, and engaged in gift-giving and other up to service the needs of travellers. These rituals. For instance, they might be required ‘post-stations’ provided lodging, stabling, to make a pilgrimage to the Tokugawa family food, medicines and entertainment. shrine at Nikko, or to the mausoleum of Effectively, they became tourist towns. By Hidetada (the second Tokugawa shogun) the late Tokugawa period there were 250 in the southern part of Edo. They could be such towns at intervals of 5–10 km along the obliged to provide retainers for guard duty around Edo Castle, to help protect Tokugawa main routes. On the most heavily travelled family temples from fire, to repair roads 7 Conrad Totman, Early road, the Tokaido, which ran from Kyoto to within the Tokugawa jurisdiction, or to Modern Japan (Berkeley: Edo, there were 179 post-stations.7 University of California carry out works on river banks under the Press, 1993), 154; Vaporis, direction of the shogunate. Retainers might Alternate attendance also promoted the Tour of Duty, 27. also be required to undertake tasks at their growth of the larger urban centres on the 8 Nakai Nobuhiko and James domain’s compounds.9 way to Edo, especially Osaka—one of Japan’s L. McClain, ‘Commercial Change and Urban Growth ‘three metropolises’ along with Kyoto Alternate attendance had an enormous in Early Modern Japan,’ in and Edo—through which many daimyo impact on the city of Edo, helping to Cambridge History of Japan, retinues passed. By the mid-seventeenth transform it from the castle town of a single Vol. 4, John Whitney Hall, ed. century, Osaka had become a major centre (Cambridge: Cambridge daimyo to the central city of Japan. Edo’s University Press, 1991), 559; of commerce and manufacturing. The city’s population had already been boosted by Totman, Early Modern Japan, rapid growth was prompted especially by the establishment there of the shogun’s 154; Vaporis, Tour of Duty, its emergence as the main rice market for government. From a village of 100–200 2–3. western Japan. In Osaka, daimyo sold the people before Ieyasu’s victory at Sekigahara, 9 McClain, Japan, 39; Vaporis, rice they had received as tax, or other goods, Edo had grown to 30,000 people by 1600 Tour of Duty, 13. to obtain cash for the expenses associated and by 1610 had reportedly become ‘a clean, 10 Totman, Early Modern Japan, with their travel and residence in Edo.8 well-organized city’ of 150,000.10 67, 153.

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The 53 Stations of the Tokaido by Utagawa Hiroshige II (c. 1833–1834). This image is the final in the series, and depicts a daimyo procession arriving at Kyoto. Public Domain

Alternate attendance brought a further land reclamation projects. Later, in the influx of people, not only the travellers period (1868–1912), the government from the provinces but also commoners confiscated most of these properties and from surrounding areas to provide for their converted them into government offices, needs. By 1720 it was the largest city in the military installations, embassies and other world, and probably the first city with a educational and cultural facilities.13 population of one million.11 Edo became a major centre of consumption. Because of the obligation to reside in the The presence of large numbers of warrior capital in alternate years and to leave their families in the city required a huge array 11 Ibid., 153; Satoru Nakamura, families there at other times, the daimyo and volume of consumer goods and services. ‘The Development of Rural spent enormous sums on lavish Edo Merchants and artisans flocked to the capital Industry’, in Tokugawa residences while also maintaining their Japan: The Social and to provide them. Economic Antecedents of castles in the domains. Many daimyo had Modern Japan, Chie Nakane three or more residences in Edo to house Cultural life also flourished. While in Edo, and Shinzaburo Oishi, eds., the people necessary to support them— the daimyo and his retainers had much free trans. Conrad Totman one in the central city area and others in time since little was required of them in (Tokyo: University of Tokyo suburban locations. The extra residences terms of official duties. They could spend it Press, 1990), 84. could contain large numbers of people. on recreation, study, cultural activities and 12 Vaporis, ‘To Edo and Back,’ In 1684, Tosa domain had more than 1000 military training. From around the mid- 29, 30. permanent staff residing in Edo, not seventeenth century, Edo became a cultural 13 Hidenobu Jinnai, ‘The counting the travellers who came with the centre to rival Kyoto, long considered the Spatial Structure of Edo,’ in daimyo’s retinue. About 25–30 per cent of cultural capital of Japan.14 The mixing of so Nakane and Oishi, eds., Tokugawa Japan, 143. Edo’s population, or more than 250,000 many people in Edo helped to break down people in the early eighteenth century, lived barriers among people from different parts 14 Nishiyama Matsunosuke, in more than 600 compounds established by of the country and from different social Edo Culture: Daily Life and 12 Diversions in Urban Japan, the daimyo across the city. classes, and promoted the exchange of 1600–1868, Gerald Groemer, ideas among them. The system of alternate trans. and ed. (Honolulu: In Edo and its outskirts, the great attendance thus played an important part in University of Hawai’i Press, urban daimyo mansions prompted the the emergence of a shared ‘national’ culture 1997), 11, 29–30; Vaporis, Tour development of new land, including large and a greater level of national integration, a of Duty, 238.

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development that would later assist the Meiji authority of the central administration and government in its extensive programme of by diverting wealth to peaceful pursuits. modernisation.15 It succeeded in draining daimyo finances. As much as 70–80 per cent of a daimyo’s The obligations of the alternate attendance total income, which came from rice and system were drastically relaxed in 1862. This other produce paid as tax by farmers in was a sign of weakening shogunate control his domain, might be spent on expenses over the daimyo, together with a recognition relating to the obligation to travel to and 15 Vaporis, Tour of Duty, of the danger of foreign intrusion. Daimyo reside in Edo. Most daimyo became indebted 205–236. 18 were relieved of much of the expense of to Edo’s merchants and money-lenders. 16 Henry D. Smith II, ‘The alternate attendance so that they could Edo–Tokyo Transition: In spend money to strengthen coastal defences. The system also generated far-reaching Search of Common The time that daimyo spent in Edo was economic and social change throughout Ground,’ in Marius B. Jansen reduced to 100 days every three years, and the 250 years of Tokugawa rule. Alternate and Gilbert Rozman, eds., Japan in Transition: From daimyo families were permitted to return to attendance amplified the political power Tokugawa to Meiji (Princeton: the provinces.16 As a result, Edo lost half of of the shogunate, promoted urbanisation Princeton University Press, its population in less than seven years.17 and stimulated economic growth. It helped 1986), 349–350. to create a national economy centred on 17 Vaporis, Tour of Duty, 173. Conclusion Edo and Osaka, and contributed to the 18 Toshio G. Tsukahira, ‘Sankin Alternate attendance almost certainly did development of a ‘national’ culture in kotai,’ in Kodansha help the shogunate to maintain military Japan in the seventeenth, eighteenth and Encyclopedia of Japan, Vol. 7 control over the daimyo by reinforcing the nineteenth centuries. (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983), 14.

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