''Daikan'' (代官) was an

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

in ancient Japan that acted on behalf of a ruling

monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

or a

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

at the post they had been appointed to. Since the Middle Ages, ''daikan'' were in charge of their territory and territorial tax collection. In the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, ''daikan'' were local governors in charge of the government and security of domain and shogunate territories.

History

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, ''azukaridokoro'' and ''ukesho'' referred to ''daikan'' of a feudal and ''

Shōen A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...

'' lord, and ''shugo-dai'' and ''jitō-dai'' referred to ''daikan'' of '' shugo'' and '' jitō'' governors, respectively. In the Azuchi-Momoyama period, territorial rulers in charge of local tax collection were called ''daikan''.

Edo period

In the

, high-ranking ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

'' retainers of the

shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

were appointed ''daikan'' to govern the shogunal demesne (天領) across Japan and were given a 50,000-100,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' territory as their own fief. The ''daikan'' worked from their administrative headquarters ('' jin'ya'') at their territory or their mansion in Edo, under the Commissioner of Finance ('' kanjō bugyō''), and had a dozen of ''tetsuki'' and ''tedai'' officials under their service. Hereditary succession of the position was common. In 1867, at the end of the Edo period, there were 37 ''daikan''. ''Daikan'' who had a bad reputation for self-interest were dismissed by the shogunate, as the harsh collection of annual taxation led to the escape of farmers, which in turn reduced the amount of collectable taxation. Some of them were dismissed and punished for causing starvation during famines. On the other hand, other ''daikan'' gained a great reputation, such as Suzuki Shigenari, who continued to appeal to the shogunate for a reduction or exemption of annual taxation at the cost of his own life in order to save the people of the domain from heavy taxes, and Ido Masaaki, who also saved the people from famine by introducing ''ganzo'' to the territories under his control. In the latter half of the Edo period, the feudal domains or vassals of the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

followed the shogunal example and appointed their own ''daikan'', district

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

s, who were called ''gun-dai'' or ''kōri bugyō''.

References

{{Authority control Government of feudal Japan Officials of the Tokugawa shogunate