Editing Tokugawa shogunate (section)

==== Policies to control the daimyos ====
The main policies of the shogunate on the ''daimyos'' included:

* The principle was that each ''daimyo'' (including those who were previously independent of the Tokugawa family) submitted to the shogunate, and each ''han'' required the shogunate's recognition and was subject to its land redistributions.<ref name="brown 1997" />{{Rp|192–93}} ''Daimyos'' swore allegiance to each shogun and acknowledged the Laws for Warrior Houses or ''buke shohatto''.<ref name="mikiso perez 2015">{{Cite book |last1=Hane |first1=Mikiso |title=Premodern Japan: a historical survey |last2=Perez |first2=Louis G. |date=2015 |publisher=Westview Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group |isbn=978-0-8133-4965-7 |edition=2nd |location=Boulder, CO}}</ref>
* The ''[[sankin-kōtai]]'' (参勤交代 "alternate attendance") system, required ''daimyos'' to travel to and reside in Edo every other year, and for their families to remain in Edo during their absence.
* The ''ikkoku ichijyō rei'' (一国一城令), allowed each daimyo's ''han'' to retain only one fortification, at the ''daimyo's'' residence.<ref name="brown 1997" />{{Rp||page=194}}
* The [[Buke shohatto|Laws for the Military Houses]] (武家諸法度, ''buke shohatto''), the first of which in 1615 forbade the building of new fortifications or repairing existing ones without ''bakufu'' approval, admitting fugitives of the shogunate, and arranging marriages of the daimyos' families without official permission.<ref name="brown 1997" /> Additional rules on the samurai were issued over the years.<ref name="brown 1997" /><ref name="mikiso perez 2015" />

Although the shogun issued certain laws, such as the ''buke shohatto'' on the ''daimyōs'' and the rest of the samurai class, each ''han'' administered its autonomous system of laws and [[taxation]].<ref name="perez 2009" /> The ''shōgun'' did not interfere in a ''han''<nowiki/>'s governance unless major incompetence (such as large rebellions) was shown, nor were central taxes issued.<ref name="perez 2009" /> Instead, each ''han'' provided feudal duties, such as maintaining roads and official courier stations, building canals and harbors, providing troops, and relieving famines.<ref name="perez 2009" /> ''Daimyōs'' were strategically placed to check each other, and the ''sankin-kōtai'' system ensured that ''daimyōs'' or their family were always in Edo, observed by the shogun.<ref name="perez 2009" />
[[File:Edo P2.jpg|thumb|[[Edo Castle]], 17th century]]

The shogunate had the power to discard, annex, and transform domains, although they were rarely and carefully exercised after the early years of the shogunate, to prevent ''daimyōs'' from banding together.<ref name="perez 2009" /> The ''sankin-kōtai'' system of alternative residence required each ''daimyō'' to reside in alternate years between the ''han'' and the court in Edo.<ref name="perez 2009" /> During their absences from Edo, it was also required that they leave their family as hostages until their return. The hostages and the huge expenditure ''sankin-kōtai'' imposed on each ''han'' helped to ensure loyalty to the ''shōgun''.<ref name="perez 2009" /> By the 1690s, the vast majority of daimyos would be born in Edo, and most would consider it their homes.<ref name="brown 1997" /> Some daimyos had little interest in their domains and needed to be begged to return "home".<ref name="brown 1997" />

In return for the centralization, peace among the daimyos was maintained; unlike in the [[Sengoku period]], daimyos no longer worried about conflicts with one another.<ref name="brown 1997" /> In addition, hereditary succession was guaranteed as internal usurpations within domains were not recognized by the shogunate.<ref name="brown 1997" />