ry autumn on the pretext of enjoying the sport of
falconry, and to remain in Yedo until the next spring. In February,
1605, the Tokugawa chief's return to Kyoto from the Kwanto capital
was made the occasion of a great military display. Both Ieyasu and
Hidetada travelled at the same time with a following of 170,000
soldiers, who were encamped outside the city whence they marched in,
ten thousand daily, during seventeen consecutive days. This martial
parade is said to have produced a great effect upon the nobles of the
Kinai and the western provinces. But Ieyasu did not long retain the
office of shogun. In 1605, he conveyed to the Imperial Court his
desire to be relieved of military functions, in favour of his son
Hidetada, and the Emperor at once consented, so that Hidetada
succeeded to all the offices of his father, and Ieyasu retired to the
castle of Sumpu, the capital of Suruga. His income was thenceforth
reduced to 120,000 koku annually, derived from estates in the
provinces of Mino, Ise, and Omi. But this retirement was in form
rather than in fact. All administrative affairs, great or small, were
managed in Sumpu, the shogun in Yedo exercising merely the power of
sanction. Ieyasu made, frequent journeys to Yedo under the pretext of
hawking but in reality for government purposes.

THE YEDO BAKUFU

It was on the 30th of August, 1590, that Ieyasu made his first formal
entry into Yedo from Sumpu. Yedo Castle had previously been occupied
by an agent of the Hojo clan. It was very small, and its surroundings
consisted of barren plains and a few fishing villages. On the
northwest was the moor of Musashi, and on the southeast a forest of
reeds marked the littoral of Yedo Bay. The first task that devolved
upon Ieyasu was the reclamation of land for building purposes. Some
substantial work was done, yet the place did not suggest any fitness
for the purpose of an administrative centre, and not until the battle
of Sekigahara placed him in command of immense resources, did Ieyasu
decide to make Yedo his capital. He then had large recourse to labour
requisitioned from the feudatories. By these means hills were
levelled, swamps reclaimed, and embankments built, so that the whole
aspect of the region was changed, and sites were provided for the
residences of various barons and for the establishment of shops and
stores whose owners flocked to the new city from Osaka, Kyoto, and
other towns. Thereafter, a castle of colossal dimensio