Talk:Han (administrative division)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Japan, a project to improve all Japan-related articles. If you would like to help improve this and other Japan-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the assessment scale.
??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.
Japan To-do:

Here are some suggestions for adding to Han (Japan):

  • Han and provinces and daimyo: comparisons, differences, relationships, historical development
Provinces were settled in an earlier era by the imperial court. It was originally an administrative division. Muromachi Bakufu appointed shugo daimyo each province and they governed the province. Most of shugo daimyo declined in the late Muromachi period and sengoku daimyo replaced them. Most of Sengoku daimyo were lesser samurai thna shugo daimyo but some shugo daimyo like Shimazu in the Satsuma province survived till the Edo period.
In the Edo period the province remained as geographical names. To the contrary, Han was an local govermental structure and therefore meant the area each local goverment could reach their power. Not less numbers Han had exclaves with some reasons. The Han system was determined by the Tokugawa Shoguntate. The size of Han was varied but according to the Tokugawa Bakufu definition each Han had a dominion from which 10,000 koku rice were cropped by a year. And the daimyo was defined as the top of a Han and served directly the Shogun. If a man of a daimyo had a fief of over 10,000 koku, he didn't serve the Shogun but a daimyo, he was therefore no daimyo definitely. But government and dominion of such samurai were called Han, too for convinience.
When the Tokugawa Shogunate fell, Han remained for a few years. But it was abolished at last and replace with the prefecture system which remains still today.
  1. Han and bakufu: again, comparisons, differences, relationships. Duties and obligations. Typical cases and exceptions. Tozama and fudai. Toritsubushi.
The structure of Han and Shogunate was principally similar. Because Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the bakufu kept the govermental structure which had settled by his ancestors when they were a small local daimyo in the Mikawa province. Some daimyo, specially whose ancestors had served the ancestors of the Shogun was a lord of his Han and a bureaucrat of the bakufu. Most of them governed from one to twelve koku fief. Other daimyo had no parmanent office in the bakufu but were appointed a temporal office.
Each daimyo served the Shougun and should admit his right of governance by the Shogunate. The heir of each daimyo should have been admitted in advance by the Shogunate basically. When a son of blood or an adopted son of a daimyo was determined as a heir of his father, the younger went to the Chiyoda castle in Edo, the Shogun's castle and met the Shogun to receive the permission of heritage and his recognition. Principally if this procedure was ignored, the succession was cancelled by the Shogunate, and a Han was abolished. It was called Toritsubushi (scrapping) in Japanese.
Though every daimyo was a man of the Shogun, their relationship were varied. Without personal reliance, the relationship of each Han and the Bakufu was determined and influence the relationship between the founder of the Han and the Shogunate or the ancestors' of the Tokugawa. Roughly there were three classifications, named Shinpan, Fudai and Tozama. There were another classification by size of dominion.
  1. Han government: daimyo, karo, kanjo, metsuke, police, etc.
  2. Han economy: farming, forestry, fishing, commerce, specialty products, monopolies, hansatsu. Taxation.
  3. Han society: samurai, goshi, farmers, trades; castle and village relationships
  4. Han culture: shrines, temples, festivals, performances

Please add more! Fg2 07:16, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

I tried to add some stuffs.
Admittedly, there's a lot that would overlap with topics covered in sankin kotai, daimyo, Edo period, Tokugawa shogunate, but nevertheless, these things are relevant to the subject and should be covered. The relationship between the han and the shogunate needs to be fleshed out - this is a hot topic in scholarship, and one which deserves further coverage. Some brief description of han that served special purposes or bore special distinctions could be described or at least listed, as well as some description of the areas directly administered by the shogunate and not part of any han. A map would be great too. And the history section needs to be made clearer. I'll take a look at this when I get a chance, see what I can do. LordAmeth 12:22, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
These are interesting articles, but sources should be quoted, preferably in-line citations.--Grahamec 02:28, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Kaga had highest kokudaka

Satsuma: 770,000. Obunsha Nihonshi Jiten p. 172 (Satsuma). Kaga: one million koku. Prior to 1639: 1.2 million; one leader split off some holdings making smaller fiefs and keeping a million (plus or minus) for the main fief. (p. 78) Fg2 21:50, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks for the citation & explanation. LordAmeth 09:41, 9 February 2007 (UTC)