Toyotomi Bakuhan System Reforms

Timeline

1. 1582–1585Capital region and central provinces · JapanFollowing Oda Nobunaga's land surveys, Hideyoshi carried out the Taikō kenchi nationwide, quantifying land and corvée through the koku system and establishing lords' direct dominion over the peasants of their fiefs, forming the fiscal basis of the bakuhan system.
2. 1588All of Japan · JapanThe 1588 sword hunt edict forbade peasants and townspeople from wearing swords, concentrating the right to bear arms in the samurai class and strengthening the status hierarchy—a key step in the policy of separating soldiers from farmers.
3. 1585–1590Jurakudai · Osaka · KinkiHideyoshi redistributed daimyo domains through transfers, increases, and reassignments, and controlled castle-town commerce and transport centered on Jurakudai and Osaka Castle, forming a proto-bakuhan structure in which the central authority stood above the various domains.