Political economy in Tokugawa Japan: are tozama and fudai meaningful categories?

Regional lords (daimyō) in early-modern Japan were grouped into several categories based on their relationship with the shogunal Tokugawa house. The two largest categories of daimyo were fudai and tozama. Lords whose ancestors had proven their loyalty to the Tokugawa before 1600 were commonly known as fudai, while lords with more suspect allegiances were known as tozama, […]