Chapter 4

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and the Formation of

Edo Castle Rituals of Giving

Cecilia Segawa Seigle

. . . prestations which are in theory voluntary, disinterested and spontane-

ous, . . . are in fact obligatory and interested. The form usually taken
is that of the gift generously offered; but the accompanying behaviour is
formal pretence and social deception, while the transaction itself is based
on obligation and economic self-interest.
Marcel Mauss1

∵
This chapter examines the cultural phenomenon of gift giving and exchanges
that developed in the particular environment of Edo Castle under bakufu
supervision, especially during the reign of the fifth shogun Tsunayoshi, dur-
ing the last quarter of the seventeenth to early eighteenth century. Under the
Tokugawa shoguns, gift giving, a custom that had long existed in Japanese his-
tory, gradually took on a ritualized form. At first it was a natural desire of the
first shogun Ieyasu to reward his subjects as his wealth grew with the victory
over the war lords, daimyo, of the entire country. With the development of the
bakufu bureaucracy, gift giving became socially de rigueur in the upper strata
of society for smoothing relationships. The custom changed slightly in nature
under Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (r. 1680–1709), who devised various strate-
gies to coerce his vassals into presenting him with valuable objects and money.
He transformed gift giving in a way that defined hierarchy within the shogunal
bureaucracy. The kind and pattern of gift giving that developed surrounding
the shogun is the main purpose of this chapter. But as part of the study of the
Ōoku I have been engaged in for many years, I also posit that the ritualization
of gift giving in Edo Castle had sociocultural significance for the women of the

1 Marcel Mauss, The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies, Ian Cunnison,
trans., with an introduction by E. E. Evans-Pritchard (New York: Norton, 1967), 1.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/9789004336117_006

tokugawa tsunayoshi and the formation of edo castle rituals 117

Ōoku, the residence of the shogun’s wife, and other women who lived in the
shogunal castle.2
Over a century and a half after Tsunayoshi, gift-giving activities surrounding
the shogun became ritualized and fossilized. This led to an overemphasis on
the form and appearance of ceremonial gift presentation that has left its mark
on modern Japanese gift practices.
Of course, gift giving is not just limited to Japan. It is a global, ubiquitous
phenomenon, and in many circumstances, gifts reinforce hierarchical struc-
ture. It is difficult to dispute Marcel Mauss’ notion of social and economic
hierarchy and political superiority established by the use of gifts.3 Even in the
late twentieth century, the idea that “more is better and stronger” was extrava-
gantly demonstrated through gross expenditures on political campaigns by
business and industrial organizations. However, the pattern of Tokugawa soci-
ety was rather the reverse of Mauss’ potlatch theory in which the quantity and
quality of giving and the demonstration of wealth determined one’s place in
the hierarchy. I argue that in Edo Japan, once Tokugawa political superiority
was established, its hierarchical structure determined the compulsory amount
and quality of one’s giving, and therefore the phenomenon of potlatch as such
did not develop in Japan. One’s giving was established by social position, and
thus, economic circumstance had no weight on quantitative or qualitative
gift giving.

The Past and the Tokugawa Period

To understand the peculiarity of the gifting customs that developed in Edo

Castle, one should examine past customs. “The collected ancient songs” known
as Jōdai kayō (上代歌謡) and the Manyōshū (万葉集, ca. 759) reveal abundant
examples of gift giving in ancient Japan. For example, simple gifts of local pro-
duce such as chestnuts, mushrooms, and ayu (sweetfish) were presented to the
prehistoric legendary Emperor Ōjin 応神 (dates unknown, fourth century).4
Spontaneous gifts of flowers, shells, or edible plants, sometimes even a natural

2 This chapter was originally intended as part of Cecilia Segawa Seigle and Linda Chance’s
Ōoku: The Secret World of the Shogun’s Women (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2014).
3 Marcel Mauss, The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, Essai sur le
don, W. D. Halls, trans. (London: Routledge, 2000), 6, 8, 10, 12, 29, 37, 66, 75.
4 Kojiki, Jōdai kayo, Nihon koten bungaku zenshū (Tokyo: Shōgakkan, 1970–1976), vol. 1 of
51 vols, 417.