Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan

335 Pages·2008·11.74 MB·English

by  Constantine Nomikos Vaporis

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Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and (cid:69)(cid:60)
the Culture of Early Modern Japan
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constantine nomikos vaporis
(cid:74)(cid:69)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:22)(cid:69)(cid:60)(cid:22)(cid:58)(cid:75)(cid:74)(cid:79)

(cid:74)(cid:69)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:22)(cid:69)(cid:60)(cid:22)(cid:58)(cid:75)(cid:74) (cid:79)
Samurai, Military Service in Edo,
and the Culture of Early Modern Japan
Constantine Nomikos Vaporis
university of hawai‘i press | honolulu
© 2008 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vaporis, Constantine Nomikos.
Tour of duty : samurai, military service in Edo,
and the culture of early modern Japan / Constantine
Nomikos Vaporis.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8248-3205-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Sankin kotai. 2. Daimyo. 3. Japan — History —
Tokugawa period, 1600 – 1868. I. Title.
DS871.5.V37 2008
952'.025 — dc22 2008007212
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed
on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Council on
Library Resources.
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins
Printed by Edwards Brothers
For Maria, always

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
(cid:39) Beginnings 11
(cid:40) The Road to Edo (and Back) 36
(cid:22)(cid:41) The Daimyo Procession 62
(cid:42) Assignment: Edo 102
(cid:43) Daimyo Compounds: Place and Space 128
(cid:44) Life in the Capital 172
(cid:45) Carriers of Culture 205
Conclusion 237
Notes 241
Works Cited 291
Index 313

Acknowledgments
This study has required its own form of alternate attendance, with nu-
merous changes in residence between Japan and America. During this time I
have incurred a proverbial mountain of debt to many people and institutions.
A Japan Foundation grant allowed me to make an initial research trip to Japan
in 1989–1990 to explore various archives to determine whether there were suf-
ficient materials for a monographic study. At that time I made the first of many
trips to Kōchi, where I was welcomed warmly by the scholars at the Kōchi Pre-
fectural Library. A Travel Grant from the Northeast Asia Council (NEAC) of the
Association for Asian Studies and several grants from the Directed Research Ini-
tiative Fund (DRIF) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
allowed me to maintain some momentum on the project while teaching almost
year-round. More sustained work was undertaken in Japan under a Fulbright
Scholar’s grant in 1993–1994 and from the National Endowment for the Hu-
manities (NEH), with additional support from UMBC, in 1997–1998. Additional
funding came from the American Philosophical Society, and an NEH Travel-to-
Collections grant paid for a visit to the Mitsui Map Collection in Berkeley.
An invitation to become a Visiting Scholar at the International Research
Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in 2003–2004 gave me a year in
comfort to focus completely on research and writing among a fine community
of international scholars. More than a few people pointed out to me the incon-
gruity of spending a year in Kyoto to work on a study that has much to do with
Edo. Nevertheless, the beautiful foothills of Katsurazaka were a perfect loca-
tion to contemplate the movements of the daimyo and their entourages on the
highways of Tokugawa Japan. The hikes with family and long-distance runs
with friends afforded much opportunity to see the bamboo forests and hidden
temples for which Kyoto is justly famous. The final writing and revisions were
completed during a semester’s sabbatical leave from UMBC.
There are numerous people I would like to thank for their encouragement and
support. At UMBC, the former and current chairs of the History Department,
John Jeffries and Kriste Lindenmeyer, the latter of whom arranged a subven-
tion for some of the images which appear herein. Deans John Jeffries and Scott
Bass also jointly provided a generous subvention. While at Nichibunken, the
camaraderie and intellectual stimulation provided by many of the other visiting