Rise of the Castle Towns

I. The importance of the castle town

A. Provincial capitals

Tokyo and Osaka

finding your way in Japan

B. Setting the stage for Tokugawa [Edo] Japan

hostages, residences and alternate attendance [sankin-kotai]

house codes and Neo-Confucian law

cadastral surveys and taxation

religion and government

from landed warrior to salaried bureaucrat

urban lifestyle

chonin [townspeople]

labor, time, and money

police, sewage and other services

leisure and pleasure

C. The shape of the castle town

II. House codes and Neo-Confucian law

A. Inequality under the law

samurai [bushi]

peasants

artisans

merchants

non-persons

B. Sources of Sengoku law

bakufu legal codes [Kamakura and Ashikaga]

ikki contracts

wills, family codes and house codes

legal and moral strictures

unigeniture and other criteria for inheritance

family and vassal obedience

practical response to threats to authority

III. Bushido in black and white

A. Defining the center of loyalty

the "manly way" [otoko-do]

judging one's superiors

the right of repudiation

honor, feuds and vengeance

alternative loyalties

family

ikki affiliations

religious affiliations

B. Tactics to focus loyalty on the daimyo

seniority: fudai and tozama retainers

promotion and rewards

the rule of law

alternative route for redress?

the assumed guilt of all concerned

the value of being a victim

strict hierarchy

honor and seppuku

atonement and redemption

to avoid execution

protest

from ie [family house] to kokka [political house]

C. Contradictions in law and ethics

Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure