Explain Why Were The Daimyo Considered A Threat By The Tokugawa Shogunate

Midterm 1: Why were the Daimyo considered a threat by the Tokugawa Shogunate? The Daimyo were considered a threat by the Tokugawa Shogunate because they were afraid of the Daimyo would get to powerful and become a threat to the regime. The word Daimyo can be split up into two parts “dai” which means large and “myo” which means private ground. When put together they mean powerful territorial lords. During this time the Daimyo owned an extensive amount of land in Japan and were the highest in the social hierarchy, being right under the Shogun. Their duty was to govern an area of Japan and provide justice and to serve the Shogun. Many of the Daimyo were members of the Tokugawa family, others were “fudai” who were long time supporters of the Tokugawa cause, some were also family of the Tokugawa clan. There were other Daimyo who were accepted by the Tokugawa after

For example, they tried to clear out all the Daimyo’s money and resources. The Tokugawa government were not allowed to get taxed from the domains but ended up charging the Daimyo lords for compulsory public work and enforced loans, to take away power so they were unable to create an army. The government made sure they played a big role in the life of the Daimyo’s. All marriages in the Daimyo caste were approved by them and sometimes even arranged marriages between members of the Tokugawa family and Daimyo lords as a way to keep their eye on them and to keep the loyalty of the Daimyo. Another way that the Tokugawa Shogun kept an eye on the Daimyo’s because they were such a threat was that every other year a Daimyo lord was required to attend the Shogunal headquarters in Edo; doing this also drained them financially because they would have to get a house in Edo, get food, and entertain the