Castle lord - Jodai

From the Middle Ages to the early modern period, a person who managed a castle on behalf of the lord while the lord was away was called the Rusuigashira or O-rusuigashi. As the power of the daimyo expanded during the Warring States period, the amount of land under the treasury (under the Edo Shogunate, it was called Tenryo) increased, and the daimyo came to directly control strategic castles, instead of giving them to meritorious retainers as in the past. At this time, the old retainers who managed and guarded the castles were called castle daimyo. The Edo Shogunate directly controlled four castles, Osaka, Nijo, Sunpu, and Fushimi (later abolished), and appointed fudai daimyo as castle daimyo, rotating them every few years and assigning castle guards to protect the castles. The Osaka castle daimyo was an important position that supervised the daimyo of the western provinces, and for a fudai daimyo, serving as this position was a path to success as an old retainer. In various feudal domains, the senior retainers who managed and guarded the castle while the feudal lord was on duty were called castle lords or castle lord elders.

[Negishi Shigeo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中世から近世にかけて城主の留守(るす)中に城主にかわって城を管理する者。留守居頭、大(おお)留守居などともいう。また戦国期の大名権力の拡大に伴い、蔵入地(くらいりち)（江戸幕府では天領）が増加すると、要衝の城を従来のように功臣に与えず、大名が直接支配するようになったが、この際、城の管理・守衛をさせた老臣を城代と称した。江戸幕府は大坂、二条、駿府(すんぷ)、伏見(ふしみ)（のち廃止）の4城を直轄として、譜代(ふだい)大名らを城代に任命し、数年ごとに交替させ、城番を付属して城を守護させた。大坂城代は西国大名を監督する重職で、譜代大名にとってこれを勤めることは老臣への出世コースになった。諸藩では藩主の参勤中に城を管理・守衛した老臣を、城代、城代家老などと称した。

［根岸茂夫］

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