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Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (Imperial Restoration and Yoshida Domain) 606
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Revering the Emperor, they employed the secret stratagem of suppressing the tail (reducing the power of large domains). It is understood that by the time of Taiyū-kō (Tokugawa Iemitsu), the intention of restoring the ancient system of prefectures had already arisen. They prohibited the construction of large ships and castle-building, established checkpoints at key locations, and kept wives and children together as hostages near the shogun's seat, gradually using these secret stratagems to bring the realm under control. For the several hundred years since then, because no foreign threats came, internal troubles did not arise either. However, in the current situation where foreign threats demand full attention, since the prohibitions on large ships and the hostage-wife system have already relaxed, the checkpoints and fortifications serve no purpose. Once having suffered humiliation from foreign barbarians with no time to redress the shame, both the hostage-wife decree and the tail-suppression strategy are, in my estimation, effectively impossible to implement in the Kantō. From now on, the best course is to thoroughly uphold the Emperor, turn the imperial radiance outward, distribute appropriate stipends according to the principle of "holding the jewel as lord and killing with men," bring all these parties under control, make the jewel (Emperor) sacred, make the sacred a protector of the shogun himself, issue decrees to the domains concerning hostage requirements and land surrenders pointing to shrines, make one-third of the realm shrine domain, distribute the remaining two-thirds among the domains, establish firm sacred precincts in strategically deep and vast locations, have the shogun become the permanent chief administrator, designate hereditary retainers and others as shrine priests and shrine families, designate the Three Domains and other large domains as heads for each province. Then the great principles being thus established, and with all minor matters also under the Lord (Emperor), the whole of the imperial nation will be mutually complete, the tail will also be appropriately positioned, and I believe the natural principles of reason and circumstances described in the foregoing text will be achieved. In general, governing the interior cannot be understood by remaining inside alone — it is only after going outside that one can understand how to govern the interior and what is best from without. In ancient times, because the Fujiwara clan fought for power, it ultimately became the age of warriors. Now, even if Satsuma and Chōshū fight against the Matsudaira (Tokugawa) house, it will ultimately become the age of foreign barbarians. As if the arteries and veins connecting hands, feet, head, and abdomen of a single body achieve proper circulation, only then can the full strength reach the entire imperial nation and the body function as one. At that point, armies to punish crimes and forces to chastise wrongdoers, with just one sweep in the direction of intention, may perhaps extinguish both domestic troubles and foreign threats.
Question: To begin with, is the imperial nation the nation of the Court or of the bakufu? Are the domains subjects of the Court or of the bakufu? It is said that the shogun's direct territories and the landholdings of the various domains should be surrendered to the Court and that a decree making the domains royal subjects might be issued — what do you say?
Answer: The imperial nation is the nation of the Court, and the domains are subjects of the bakufu. If there is a decree for land surrender and royal subjects, then it follows the path of establishing the national foundation as described in the foregoing text. Even if surrendered once, there is good reason to have it returned again. Even if they become royal subjects, there is no hardship in following the bakufu's intentions and not losing the bonds of loyalty between lord and subject.
Secretly considering: Since the founding of the realm, through several thousand years of peace, once the Court grew weary of the disorder of the world, and gradually the noble ranks (Emperor and court nobles) retired into seclusion, the Fujiwara clan and other successive ministers —
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— bearing titles such as regent, similarly went into seclusion. During this time, warriors became the caretakers of the realm, and retainers and servants were made to handle the politics of the land. From that time onward, through cycles of order and disorder, it eventually became the age of the Tokugawa. In its beginning, the Ashikaga had a tail too large to control; it was a world of the strong devouring the weak, with major domains dividing the land and strife not ceasing. The single Tokugawa domain rose from the eight Kantō provinces, swallowed up the various domains, and swept away the conflict. Above all, having become an enormous domain, they distributed enfeoffments among their traditional retainers and followers within the domain territory. When the few remaining domains that had not been subjugated gradually came to respectfully await instructions, the imperial nation was unified. Invoking the imperial prestige of the noble ranks, they were further commissioned as guardians against overseas threats. Therefore a control station for the realm was established in Kantō — this is the bakufu. That being the case, the imperial nation is fundamentally the imperial domain of the Court, the warrior houses are the realm's caretakers in this world, and the bakufu is the control station of the realm. The bakufu's direct territory is the domain territory of the Tokugawa house alone, and the various domains within that domain territory are in fact to be considered retainers of the Tokugawa house. (Note: The eight Kantō provinces upon entry were also Toyotomi domain territory; this matter should be argued at length.) However, the few domains not subjugated, as mentioned above, though they observed the proprieties of lord and subject with the bakufu, were originally merely waiting respectfully for instructions and did not fall under direct domain administration — these might perhaps be called Court subjects to a small degree. Of course: "Beneath the whole sky, there is no land that is not the king's land; across all the shores of the realm, there is no one who is not the king's subject." Whether one is a direct retainer or not has always been unclear in the first place, so this should be set aside for now without further argument. Furthermore, at a juncture when the world situation demands the imperial nation be entirely renewed at once, the discipline of the aforementioned control station having repeatedly lost its proper tension, and from the time when the guardianship duties became temporarily inadequate, the nobles of the Court all temporarily withdrew, harboring the inner intention to take up again the loosened cord of royal authority. Accordingly, several major surviving domains sought to pursue on their own plans of serving the Emperor and overthrowing the bakufu. After all, those who steal royal land and make private use of royal subjects are not limited to the Tokugawa house alone — the several surviving domains are all similarly situated. Although the Court's provisions and the government's revenues have hitherto been maintained by the single Tokugawa domain, since the noble ranks were originally in quiet retirement, it was at the level of providing meals and tea, so that even the government's revenues were effectively the same as extending household management. In any case, though it sufficed, from when foreign intercourse became active, it was of course insufficient. Now that the Emperor has descended (made a progress) and royal governance has been restored, everyone must restore the entire realm to royal land and royal subjects. After all, since all this time the noble ranks were in comfortable retirement, if we take the view that everyone managed their own territories and made private use of them without the need to report this — acting as caretakers of the realm — this might be called the most equitable course. Nevertheless, the Tokugawa house maintained the imperial nation for over two hundred years; the Court was able to enjoy peaceful retirement because of this, and the common people through this...
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Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (Imperial Restoration and Yoshida Domain) 607