KOKE

KOKE

A kōke (高家?) was a noble ranking below a daimyo in Japan during the Edo period. Their lands were assessed at less than ten thousand koku, making them ineligible for the rank of daimyo.

Unlike hatamoto, whose duties were military, the kōke had certain privileged missions. For example, they carried the shogun's messages to the Imperial court in Kyoto; they treated the Imperial envoys at Edo; they represented the Shogun at certain ceremonies in Nikkō; they regulated the ceremonies to be observed in the shogunal palace.

The shogunate appointed men of ancient great dispossessed families. The office was hereditary. Most of them descended from Kamakura period to Sengoku period shugo (governors), among them the Takeda, the Imagawa, the Kyogoku, the Rokkaku, the Ōtomo, and the Hatakeyama. But some families were not so prestigious, like the Yokose, the Yura, the Ōsawa, and the Kira.

In 1700, the master of ceremonies in the shogunal palace was Kira Yoshinaka, a descendant of Ashikaga Yoshiuji (1189–1254). Asano Naganori, daimyo of Ako attempted to kill him, and the Forty-seven Ronin successfully killed him in one of Japan's most famous vendettas.

The kōke were instituted in 1608 and in the mid-19th century they numbered 26. Some families had several branches among the kōke, like the Takeda who had two lateral branches with that title. Below the koke, about 10 families bore the title of omote-kōke.