new military chief, and was borne by his
descendants, the Tokugawa family, until the great revolution of 1868,
when the mikado again seized his long-lost authority.

Before this period, civil war had for centuries desolated Japan. After
1615 war ceased in that long distracted land and peace and prosperity
prevailed. What were the steps taken by the new shogun to insure this
happy result? It arose through the establishment of a well-defined
system of feudalism, and the bringing of the feudal lords under the
immediate control of the shogun.

Japan was already organized on a semi-feudal system. The land was
divided between the great lords or daimios, who possessed strong
castles and large landed estates, with a powerful armed following, and
into whose treasuries much of the revenue of the kingdom flowed. These
powerful princes of the realm were conciliated by the conqueror. Under
them were daimios of smaller estate, many of whom had joined him in his
career; and lower still a large number of minor military holders, whose
grants of land enabled them to bring small bodies of followers into the
field.

Iyeyasu's plan was one of conciliation and the prevention of hostile
union. He laid his plans and left it to time to do his work. Some of the
richest fiefs of the empire were conferred upon his sons, who founded
several of its most powerful families. The possessions of the other
lords were redistributed, the land being divided up among them in a way
to prevent rebellious concentration, vassals and adherents of his own
being placed between any two neighboring lords whose loyalty was in
doubt. To prevent ambitious lords from seizing Kioto and making prisoner
the mikado, as had frequently been done in the past, he surrounded it on
all sides with strong domains ruled by his sons or friends. When his
work of redistribution was finished, his friends and vassals everywhere
lay between the realms of doubtful daimios. A hostile movement in force
had been rendered nearly impossible.

Below the daimios came the _hatamoto_, or supporters of the flag, direct
vassals of the shogun, of whom there were eighty thousand in Japan,
mostly descendants of proved warriors and with a train of from three to
thirty retainers each. These were scattered throughout the empire, but
the majority of them lived in Yedo. They formed the direct military
dependence of the shogun, and held most of the military and civil
positions. Under them again were the _go