Bugyō


Bugyō was a title assigned to samurai officials in feudal Japan. Bugyō is often translated as commissioner, magistrate, or governor, and other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given official's tasks or jurisdiction.

Pre-Edo period

In the Heian period, the post or title of bugyō would be applied only to an official with a set task; once that task was complete, the officer would cease to be called bugyō. However, in the Kamakura period and later, continuing through the end of the Edo period, posts and titles came to be created on a more permanent and regular basis. Over time, there came to be 36 bugyō in the bureaucracy of the Kamakura shogunate.
In 1434, Ashikaga Yoshinori established the Tosen-bugyō to regulate foreign affairs for the Ashikaga shogunate.
In 1587, a Japanese invading army occupied Seoul; one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's first acts was to create a bugyō for the city, replicating a familiar pattern in an unfamiliar setting.

Edo period

During the Edo period, the number of bugyō reached its largest extent as the bureaucracy of the Tokugawa shogunate expanded on an ad hoc basis, responding to perceived needs and changing circumstances.

List

  • Edo machi-bugyō – Magistrates or municipal administrators of Edo.
  • * Kita-machi-bugyō – North Edo magistrate.
  • * Minami-machi-bugyō – South Edo magistrate.
  • Fushin-bugyō – Superintendents of Public Works.
  • Gaikoku-bugyō – Commissioners in charge of trade and diplomatic relations with foreign countries after 1858.
  • Gunkan-bugyō – Commissioners in charge of naval matters.
  • Gusoku-bugyō – Commissioners in charge of supplying the shogunal armies.
  • * Bugu-bugyō – Commissioners in charge of supplying the shogunal armies, replaced Gusoku-bugyō.
  • Hakodate bugyō – Overseers of the port of Hakodate and neighboring territory of Ezo.
  • Haneda bugyō – Overseers of the port of Haneda; commissioners of coastal defenses near Edo.
  • Hyōgo bugyō – Overseers of the port of Hyōgo.
  • Jisha-bugyō – Ministers or administrators for religious affairs; overseers of the country's temples and shrines.
  • Jiwari-bugyō - Commissioners of surveys and surveying.
  • Kanagawa bugyō – Overseers of the port of Kanagawa.
  • Kanjō-bugyō – Ministers or administrators for shogunal finance.
  • * Gundai – Deputies.
  • * Daikan - Deputies.
  • * Kane-bugyō – Superintendents of the Treasury.
  • * Kura-bugyō – Superintendents of Cereal Stores.
  • * Kinza – Gold za or monopoly office.
  • * Ginza – Silver za or monopoly office.
  • * Dōza – Copper za or monopoly office and.
  • * Shuza – Cinnabar za or monopoly office.
  • Kanjō-ginmiyaku – Comptrollers of Finance.
  • Kantō gundai – Kantō deputies.
  • Kinzan-bugyō – Commissioners of mines.
  • Kyoto shoshidai -- Shogunal representatives at Kyoto.
  • * Kyoto machi-bugyō – Magistrates or municipal administrators of Kyoto.
  • * Fushimi bugyō – Magistrates or municipal administrators of Fushimi.
  • * Nara bugyō – Governors of Nara.
  • Machi-bugyō – Magistrates or municipal administrators in shogunal cities: Edo, Kyoto, Nagasaki, Nara, Nikkō, and Osaka.
  • Nagasaki bugyō – Governor of Nagasaki.
  • Niigata bugyō – Overseers of the port of Niigata.
  • Nikkō bugyō – Overseers of Nikkō.
  • Osaka jōdai – Overseers of Osaka Castle.
  • * Osaka machi-bugyō – Magistrates or municipal administrators in shogunal cities like Osaka.
  • * Sakai bugyō – Overseers of the town of Sakai.
  • Rōya-bugyō – Commissioners of the shogunal prison.
  • Sado bugyō – Overseers of the island of Sado.
  • Sakuji-bugyō – Commissioners of works.
  • Shimoda bugyō – Overseers of the port of Shimoda.
  • Sumo-bugyō – Ancestors of the function of. Officials during the Kamakura shogunate in charge of refereeing sumo matches at the imperial court.
  • Sunpu jōdai – Overseers of Sunpu Castle.
  • Uraga bugyō – Overseers of the port of Uraga.
  • Yamada bugyō -- Representatives of the shogunate at Ise.
  • Zaimoku-ishi bugyō - Overseer of construction materials for the Shōgun's properties
  • Zen bugyō – Overseer of victuals for the Shōgun's table

    Meiji period

In the early years of the Meiji Restoration, the title of bugyō continued to be used for government offices and conventional practices where nothing else had been created to replace the existing Tokugawa system. For example, the commander-in-chief of artillery under the early Meiji government was called the Hohei-bugyō. As the new government passed its numerous reforms, the term bugyō was soon phased out of usage.