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.

Rank of Han

Han varied by size and therefore by income. Every han was classified by the shogunate mainly by size. But the classification was determined by their political significance and han and daimyo must have behave suitably to their class. Some han were attributed to the highest rank provincial lord, though their han were small. In some situations their highest classification became a financial burden.

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The largest han occupied domains wider than a province and their daimyo were called kokushu, provincial lord. But in Mutsu and Dewa provinces major daimyo were granted this class, though their han occupied the whole province. Maeda, Shimazu, Ikeda, Date and other major daimyo were classified as provincial lord.

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The lowest ranked daimyo were forbidden to build a castle. In the early years of the Edo period the Shogunate enacted the one province, one castle policy but later multiple castles were built in a province.

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