During the long Tokugawa Shogunate (1616 - 1867), Japan was divided into fiefs which were presided over by feudal lords known as daimyo (dime-yo)- which literally translated means, "great name". The daimyo were divided into two groups based on their relationship with Iwyasu Tokugawa, the founder of Japan's last great feudal house. In the first group were those who had been allied with Ieyasu before the battle of Sekigahara in 1603. The second group was made up of
those who had opposed him or were neutral.

There were also three ranks of daimyo, depending on the revenues of their fiefs and whether or not they owned a castle. The three classes were kokushu (koe-ku-shu) - provincial lords whose fiefs produced at least 300,000 koku (koku = 4.96 bushels) of rice, joshu (joe-shu) or castle-owning lords whose annual income was 100,000 to 300,000 koku of rice, and ryoshu (rio-shu), or lords without castles, with incomes from 10,000 to 100,000 koku of rice.

The Tokugawa Shogunate gave the daimyo 13 articles of law called Buke-Shohatto to follow. These articles controlled such matters as castle repairs, road repairs, and marriage. The first two articles ordered the samurai to devote themselves to literature and arms and to refrain from debauchery. Articles 3-5 covered how the daimyo were to govern their fiefs. Articles 6-8 prohibited conspiracies or other activities by the daimyo against the shogunate. Articles 9-11 prescribed the clothing that each class was to wear, the vehicles that each could use, and the manners appropriate to each class. The last two articles, 12-13, called for the samurai to live in a frugal manner and for the daimyo to promote reatiners on the basis of merit.

Thus the daimyo were responsible to the Tokugawa Shogunate for upholding the policies of the central government and were restricted in matters having to do with the security of the shogunate. The daimyo were privileged to exercise absolute power in most areas within their domains - particularly the lives and fortunes of their subjects - but they were controlled in all areas of national interest by the laws of the shogun and could be removed by the shogunate government.