Han (Japan)

Han (Japanese: 藩) were the fiefs of feudal clans of Japan that existed during all the Edo period and for a few years after the Meiji Restoration. The number of han varied; typically, there were around 300 han in the Edo period. Most han were led by a daimyo with an assessment of 10,000 koku or more. The daimyo swore loyalty to the shogun. Sometimes a powerful daimyo let a man govern a domain over 10,000 koku. Those men were definitely not daimyo but their domains were sometimes called han.

Comparison with provinces

Provinces were settled in an earlier era by the imperial court. It was originally an administrative division of the central government. The Muromachi Bakufu appointed a shugo daimyo for each province and they governed the province. Most of the shugo daimyo declined in power in the late Muromachi period and sengoku daimyo replaced them. Most of the sengoku daimyo were lesser samurai than shugo daimyo but some shugo daimyo like Shimazu in Satsuma province survived till the Edo period.

Related Topics:
Muromachi - Bakufu - Satsuma province

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In the Edo period the provinces remained as geographical names. In contrast, the han was a local governmental structure and, therefore, described the area over which each local government could exercise its power. The han system was determined by the Tokugawa Shoguntate: The size of a han varied but according to the Tokugawa Bakufu definition each han had a dominion from which at least 10,000 koku were harvested each year; A daimyo was defined as the head of a han and served the Shogun directly. If a retainer of a daimyo had a fief of over 10,000 koku, he didn't serve the Shogun but that daimyo - he was therefore not a daimyo, by definition. However, the government and dominion of such samurai were still called han, as a matter of convenience.

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When the Tokugawa Shogunate fell, the han system remained in use for a few years into the Meiji period, but were subsequently replaced with the prefecture system which remains in use today.

Related Topics:
Tokugawa Shogunate - Meiji period

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