View source for Hatamoto

{{short description|Japanese title}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
[[Image:Takeaki Enomoto.gif|thumb|right|[[Enomoto Takeaki]], a {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} of the late [[Edo period]] ]]
A {{nihongo|'''''hatamoto'''''|[[wikt:旗本|旗本]]||"Guardian of the banner"}} was a high ranking [[samurai]] in the direct service of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] of feudal [[Japan]].<ref>Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005). {{lang|ja-latn|Hatamoto}} in {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|''Japan encyclopedia,'' p. 297.|page=297}}; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see'' [https://archive.today/20120524174828/http://dispatch.opac.ddb.de/DB=4.1/PPN?PPN=128842709 Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File].</ref> While all three of the [[Shōgun|shogunates]] in [[History of Japan|Japanese history]] had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as {{lang|ja-latn|[[gokenin]]}}. However, in the [[Edo period]], {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} were the upper [[vassal]]s of the Tokugawa house,<ref>Ooms, p. 190.</ref> and the {{lang|ja-latn|gokenin}} were the lower vassals. There was no precise difference between the two in terms of [[income]] level, but a {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} had the right to an [[audience (meeting)|audience]] with the {{lang|ja-latn|[[shogun]]}}, whereas {{lang|ja-latn|gokenin}} did not.<ref name="Ogawa, p. 43">Ogawa, p. 43.</ref> The word {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} literally means "origin/base of the flag", with the sense of 'around the flag', it is described in Japanese as 'those who guard the flag' (on the battlefield) and is often translated into English as "'''bannerman'''". Another term for the Edo-era {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} was {{nihongo|'''''jikisan hatamoto'''''|直参旗本}}, sometimes rendered as "direct shogunal {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}}", which serves to illustrate the difference between them and the preceding generation of {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} who served various lords.

==History==
The term {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} originated in the [[Sengoku period]]. The term was used for the direct retainers of a lord; as the name suggests, the men who were grouped "around of the flag". Many lords had {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}}; however, when the Tokugawa clan achieved ascendancy in 1600, its {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} system was [[institutionalize]]d, and it is that system which is chiefly referred to now when using the term.

In the eyes of the Tokugawa shogunate, {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} were [[retainer (medieval)|retainers]] who had served the [[family]] from its days in [[Mikawa Province|Mikawa]] onward.<ref name="Ogawa, p. 35">Ogawa, p. 35.</ref> However, the ranks of the {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} also included people from outside the [[hereditary]] [[Ranks of nobility and peerage|rank]]s of the Tokugawa house. Retainer families of defeated formerly  grand families like the [[Takeda family|Takeda]], [[Hōjō clan|Hōjō]], or [[Imagawa clan|Imagawa]] were included, as were cadet branches of lord families.<ref>Ogawa, pp. 35–36.</ref> Also included were heirs to lords whose domains were [[confiscate]]d, for example Asano Daigaku, the brother of [[Asano Naganori]],<ref name="Ogawa, p. 35"/> local power figures in remote parts of the country who never became {{lang|ja-latn|[[daimyō]]s}}; and the families of [[Kamakura period|Kamakura]] and [[Muromachi period]]s {{lang|ja-latn|[[Shugo]]}} (Governors): some of these include the [[Akamatsu clan|Akamatsu]], [[Besshō]] (branch of the Akamatsu), [[Hōjō clan|Hōjō]], [[Hatakeyama clan|Hatakeyama]], [[Kanamori clan|Kanamori]] (branch of the Toki), [[Imagawa clan|Imagawa]], [[Mogami clan|Mogami]] (branch of the Ashikaga), [[Nagai clan|Nagai]], [[Oda clan|Oda]], [[Ōtomo clan|Ōtomo]], [[Takeda clan|Takeda]], [[Toki clan|Toki]], Takenaka (branch of the Toki), [[Takigawa clan|Takigawa]], [[Tsutsui clan|Tsutsui]], and [[Yamana clan|Yamana]] families.<ref>Ogawa, p. 35</ref> The act of becoming a {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} was known as {{nihongo||幕臣取り立て|'''''bakushin toritate'''''|{{lit|promoted to the [[shogunate]]|lk=yes}}}}.

Many {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} fought in the [[Boshin War]] of 1868, on both sides of the conflict.

The {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} remained retainers of the main [[Tokugawa clan]] after the fall of the shogunate in 1868, and followed the Tokugawa to their new domain of [[Shizuoka Domain|Shizuoka]]. The {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} lost their status along with all other samurai in Japan following the [[Abolition of the han system|abolition of the domains]] in 1871.

==Ranks and roles==
[[Image:Photo-Hijikata-Toshizo-c1869.png|thumb|left|[[Hijikata Toshizō]] of the [[Shinsengumi]] became a {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} shortly before the end of the Edo period]]

The division between {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} and {{lang|ja-latn|gokenin}}, especially amongst {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} of lower rank, was not rigid, and the title of {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} had more to do with rank rather than income rating. In the context of an [[army]], it could be compared to the position of an [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]]. Throughout the Edo period, {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} held the distinction that if they possessed high enough rank, they had the right to personal audience with the {{lang|ja-latn|shogun}} (these {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} were known as {{lang|ja-latn|ome-mie ijō}}). All {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} can be divided into two categories, the {{lang|ja-latn|kuramaitori}}, who took their incomes straight from Tokugawa granaries, and the {{lang|ja-latn|jikatatori}}, who held land scattered throughout Japan.<ref>Ooms, p. 92.</ref> Another level of status distinction amongst the {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} was the class of {{lang|ja-latn|kōtai-yoriai}}, men who were heads of {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} families and held provincial fiefs, and had alternate attendance ({{lang|ja-latn|[[sankin-kōtai]]}}) duties like the {{lang|ja-latn|daimyōs}}. However, as {{lang|ja-latn|kōtai-yoriai}} were men of very high income in terms of the spectrum of {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} stipends, not all {{lang|ja-latn|jikatatori hatamoto}} had the duty of alternate attendance. The dividing line between the upper {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} and the {{lang|ja-latn|[[fudai daimyō]]s}}'—the domain lords who were also vassals of the Tokugawa house—was 10,000 {{lang|ja-latn|[[koku]]}}.<ref name="Ogawa, p. 43"/>

At the beginning of the 18th century, about 5,000 samurai held the rank of {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}}; over two thirds of these had an income of less than 400 koku and only about 100 earned 5,000 koku or more. A {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} with 500 koku had seven permanent non-samurai servants, two swordsmen, a lancer, and an archer on standby.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nihonto.com/samurai-income/|title=Sword Prices, Origami, and Samurai Income by Markus Sesko &#124; NIHONTO|date=13 April 2018}}</ref>

Infrequently, some {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} were granted an increase in income and thus promoted to the rank of {{lang|ja-latn|fudai daimyō}}.  One example of such a promotion is the case of the Hayashi family of Kaibuchi (later known as [[Jōzai han]]), who began as {{lang|ja-latn|jikatatori hatamoto}} but who became {{lang|ja-latn|fudai daimyōs}} and went on to play a prominent role in the [[Boshin War]], despite their domain's relatively small size of 10,000 {{lang|ja-latn|koku}}.

The term for a {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} with income of about 8,000 {{lang|ja-latn|koku}} or greater was {{lang|ja-latn|taishin hatamoto}} ("greater {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}}").

The {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} who lived in Edo resided in their own private districts and oversaw their own [[police]] work and [[security]]. Men from {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} ranks could serve in a variety of roles in the Tokugawa administration, including service in the police force as {{lang|ja-latn|[[yoriki]]}} inspectors,<ref>Sasama, p. 45.</ref> city [[magistrate]]s, magistrates or [[tax collector]]s of direct Tokugawa house land, members of the {{lang|ja-latn|[[wakadoshiyori]]}} council, and many other positions.<ref>Bolitho, p. 118.</ref>

The expression {{nihongo|"eighty thousand ''hatamoto''"|旗本八万旗|hatamoto hachimanhata}} was in popular use to denote their numbers, but a 1722 study put their numbers at about 5,000. Adding the {{lang|ja-latn|gokenin}} brought the number up to about 17,000.

==Famous {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}}==
Famous {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} include [[Jidayu Koizumi]], [[Nakahama Manjirō]], [[Ōoka Tadasuke]], [[Tōyama Kagemoto]], [[Katsu Kaishū]], [[Enomoto Takeaki]], [[Hijikata Toshizō]], [[Nagai Naoyuki]], and the two Westerners [[William Adams (pilot)|William Adams]] and [[Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn]].

=={{lang|ja-latn|Hatamoto}} and the martial arts==
{{lang|ja-latn|Hatamoto}} patronized the development of the martial arts in the Edo period; many of them were involved in the running of {{lang|ja-latn|[[dojo]]}} in the [[Edo]] area and elsewhere. Two {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} who were directly involved in the development of the martial arts were [[Yagyū Munenori]] and [[Yamaoka Tesshū]]. Munenori's family became hereditary sword instructors to the {{lang|ja-latn|shogun}}.

==In popular culture==
{{lang|ja-latn|Hatamoto}} appeared as figures in popular culture even before the Edo era ended.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Recent depictions of {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} include in the TV series {{lang|ja-latn|Hatchōbori no Shichinin}}, the manga {{lang|ja-latn|Fūunjitachi Bakumatsu-hen}}, and [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s manga {{lang|ja-latn|Hidamari no ki}}. The real-time strategy video game series ''[[Age of Empires]]'' features {{lang|ja-latn|hatamoto}} in its ''[[Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties]]'' expansion, again in [[Age of Empires IV]] as Samurai Bannermen, in both games they are especially powerful variants of the samurai.

In the [[Shōgun (novel)|novel]] ''Shōgun'' (subject of a 1980 [[Shōgun (1980 miniseries)|television series]], and a 2024 [[Shōgun (2024 TV series)|remake]]), the protagonist Pilot [[John Blackthorne]], loosely based on [[William Adams (pilot)|William Adams]], eventually rises in the service of Lord Toranaga to become samurai and hatamoto.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|3}}

==References==
* [[Harold Bolitho|Bolitho, Harold]]. (1974). ''Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan''. New Haven: Yale University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-300-01655-0}}; [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/185685588 OCLC 185685588]
* Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia''. Cambridge: [[Harvard University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-01753-5}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48943301/editions?editionsView=true&referer=br OCLC 48943301]
* Ogawa, Kyōichi (2003). {{lang|ja-latn|Edo no hatamoto jiten}}. Tokyo: Kōdansha. ({{ISBN|4-06-273616-0}})
* Ooms, Herman (1975). ''Charismatic Bureaucrat: a Political Biography of Matsudaira Sadanobu, 1758–1829''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ({{ISBN|0-226-63031-5}})
* Sasama, Yoshihiko (1995). {{lang|ja-latn|Edo machi bugyō jiten}}. Tokyo: Kashiwa-shobō.

{{Tokugawa Organization Chart}}
{{Tokugawa officials}}

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