Sankin-kôtai

Under the era Edo, the sankin-kôtai (, literally: rotation (, kôtai ) of services (, sankin )) was a system of alternate residence of the Daimyô () which obliged them to spend one year out of two to Edo and to leave their wife and their children there when they turned over to the han (, stronghold). This system existed already during the era Muromachi but it was institutionalized in 1635. It softens by a reform on the methods of service in 1862 and knew a vain attempt at re-establishment of the old criteria in 1865. Its effects are characterized by a concentration of the capacity, a vassalisation and an impoverishment of the daimyô which were each time to pay their travelling expenses and a national circulation of the goods.

With the hundreds of daimyô going each year to Edo, the processions of daimyô (, daimyô gyôretsu ) were quasi-daily in the capital shogunale. The main roads towards the province were the Kaidô . Special residences, the Honjin (), were at the disposal of the daimyô during their voyages.

Sources

  • Japan: Dictionary and civilization , Louis Frederic, Editions Robert Laffont, Collection Books, 1470 p, (1999) ISBN 2-221-06764-9
  • History of Japan and the Japanese - Volume 2: From 1945 to our days, Edwin O. Reischauer, Editions of the Threshold, Collection Points History, 312 p. (1997) ISBN 2-02-031883-0

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