Daimyo Title

Lore & Background

The shugo daimyō (守護大名) were the first group of men to hold the title daimyō. They arose from among the shugo during the Muromachi period (approximately 1336–1573). The shugo-daimyo held not only military and police powers, but also economic power within a province. Major shugo-daimyō came from the Shiba, Hatakeyama, and Hosokawa clans, as well as the tozama clans of Yamana, Ōuchi, Takeda and Akamatsu. The greatest ruled multiple provinces. The Ashikaga shogunate required the shugo-daimyō to reside in Kyoto, so they appointed relatives or retainers, called shugodai, to represent them in their home provinces. The Ōnin War was a major uprising in which shugo-daimyō fought each other. At the end of the fifteenth century, those shugo-daimyō who succeeded remained in power. Those who had failed to exert control over their deputies fell from power and were replaced by a new class, the sengoku-daimyō, who arose from the ranks of the shugodai and jizamurai.

In Their Own Story

Whereas the shugo daimyo of the Muromachi period received their legitimacy from the shogunate, the sengoku daimyo of the Sengoku period were de facto independent lords. Their samurai and the peasants of their domains were loyal to them, not the shogun. In other words, they were warlords. Among the sengoku daimyō (戦国大名) were many who had been shugo-daimyō, such as the Satake, Imagawa, Takeda, Toki, Rokkaku, Ōuchi, and Shimazu. New to the ranks of the daimyo were the Asakura, Amago, Nagao, Miyoshi, Chōsokabe, Hatano, and Oda. These came from the ranks of the shugodai and their deputies. Additional sengoku-daimyō such as the Mōri, Tamura, and Ryūzōji arose from the jizamurai. The lower officials of the shogunate and rōnin (Late Hōjō, Saitō), provincial officials (Kitabatake), and kuge (Tosa Ichijō) also gave rise to sengoku-daimyo.

Reader's Guide

The Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 marked the beginning of the Edo period. Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu reorganized roughly 200 daimyo and their territories into han, which were assessed by rice production. Those heading han assessed at 10,000 koku (50,000 bushels) or more were considered daimyo. Ieyasu also categorized the daimyo according to their relation to the ruling Tokugawa family: the shinpan were related to the Tokugawa; the fudai had been vassals of the Tokugawa or allies in battle; and the tozama had not allied with the Tokugawa before the Battle of Sekigahara. Daimyo were required to maintain residences in Edo as well as their fiefs, and to move periodically between Edo and their fiefs, typically spending alternate years in each place, in a practice called sankin-kōtai. In 1869, the year after the Meiji Restoration, the daimyo, together with the kuge, formed a new aristocracy, the kazoku. In 1871, the han were abolished, and prefectures were established. Around 200 daimyo returned their titles to the emperor, who consolidated their han into 75 prefectures.

Did You Know?

• The term daimyo combines dai (大) meaning 'large' and myō from myōden (名田) meaning 'private land'.
• Shugo-daimyō were required by the Ashikaga shogunate to reside in Kyoto, appointing shugodai to represent them in their home provinces.
• After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu reorganized roughly 200 daimyo into han assessed by rice production, with 10,000 koku as the threshold for daimyo status.
• Daimyo were required to practice sankin-kōtai, spending alternate years in Edo and their fiefs.
• In 1871, around 200 daimyo returned their titles to the emperor, who consolidated their han into 75 prefectures.