<P> The bakuhan taisei (幕 藩 体制) was the feudal political system in the Edo period of Japan . Baku is an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning "military government"--that is, the shogunate . The han were the domains headed by daimyō . </P> <P> Vassals held inherited lands and provided military service and homage to their lords . The bakuhan taisei split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and provincial domains throughout Japan . Provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the han in exchange for loyalty to the shōgun, who was responsible for foreign relations and national security . The shōgun and lords were all daimyōs: feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, and territories . The shōgun also administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the House of Tokugawa . Each level of government administered its own system of taxation . </P> <P> The emperor, nominally a religious leader, held no real power; this was invested in the shōgun . The shogunate had the power to discard, annex, and transform domains . The sankin - kōtai system of alternative residence required each daimyō to reside in alternate years between the han and the court in Edo . During their absences from Edo, it was also required that they leave family as hostages until their return . The huge expenditure sankin - kōtai imposed on each han helped centralize aristocratic alliances and ensured loyalty to the shōgun as each representative doubled as a potential hostage . </P> <P> Tokugawa's descendants further ensured loyalty by maintaining a dogmatic insistence on loyalty to the shōgun . Fudai daimyō were hereditary vassals of Ieyasu, as well as of his descendants . Tozama ("outsiders") became vassals of Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara . Shinpan ("relatives") were collaterals of Tokugawa Hidetada . Early in the Edo period, the shogunate viewed the tozama as the least likely to be loyal; over time, strategic marriages and the entrenchment of the system made the tozama less likely to rebel . In the end, it was the great tozama of Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa, and to a lesser extent Hizen, that brought down the shogunate . These four states are called the Four Western Clans, or Satchotohi for short . </P>

How did the tokugawa shoguns kept control of daimyo during the period of their rule
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