The Flower of Righteousness Blooms in Blood: Hatamoto and Machiyakko Conflict - Early Edo Period (Kan'ei era)

The Flower of Righteousness Blooms in Blood: Hatamoto and Machiyakko Conflict - Early Edo Period (Kan'ei era)

During the Kan'ei period in the early Edo period, when the shogunate and feudal system was stabilizing, the reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu was a time of control of the samurai and the establishment of order among the townspeople. In the midst of this, a conflict between Hatamoto and Machiyakko, men of different statuses and living areas, unfolded in the playhouses and playgrounds of Edo City.

Hatamoto were middle-ranked warriors who served the shogun directly and were treated as military servants and omemei or higher. While they maintained the prestige of warriors, they tended to live in poverty on a daily basis. Their depression sometimes manifested itself in rough behavior toward the townspeople. In contrast, the townspeople called "machiyakko," who were responsible for such tasks as putting out fires and guarding wooden gates, were proud of their chivalry and prowess in defending the honor of the town. Hatazuin Chobei was the leader of such machiyakko.

Mizuno Jurozaemon was a member of the Mizuno family, the most important vassals of the shogunate, and as a Hatamoto (a shogun), he walked around Edo with authority and military might. The relationship between him and Hatazuin Chobei is said to be either a turf war over a playhouse or a dispute over geisha, but the truth is not clear. However, the conflict between the two men shook the very order of Edo.

The shogunate took these disturbances in the city very seriously and, in accordance with the principle of "kenka ryojoshiki," judged Hatamoto and townspeople equally, regardless of their position. In other words, although Chobei was a righteous chieftain of the townspeople, the shogunate considered his behavior to be "unreliable," and his death at the hands of Mizuno was tacitly accepted as one form of "seiyo-defeat.

Behind this event lay the breath of an era in which the culture of the townspeople was beginning to gain strength. Edo was not only a town of warriors, but was also transforming into a city of culture, where the everyday life and entertainment of the townspeople were being woven together. Hatazuin Chobei will be passed down to posterity as a chivalrous man who bears the pride of the town, rather than as a townsman who is subordinate to the order.

This structure, in which lawlessness by Hatamoto was tolerated and the righteousness of Machiyakko was condemned, symbolized the conflict between law and order in the shogunate system, and was one manifestation of the political contradiction that the city of Edo faced. The death of Hatazuin Chobei was one of the pride of the early Edo period, which bloomed at the intersection of righteousness and law.