were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 in Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually fudai

Fudai

was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...

 daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

, but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not daimyō. Conventional interpretations have construed these Japanese titles as "commissioner" or "overseer" or "governor."

Under the control of Rōjū

Roju

The ', usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Rōjū...

, this bakufu title identifies a magistrate or municipal administrator with responsibility for governing and maintaining order in the shogunal city of Osaka, Settsu Province

Settsu Province

was a province of Japan, which today comprises the eastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or .Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province.-History:...

, and Kawachi Province

Kawachi Province

was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province...

.

The Osaka machi-bugyo were the central public authorities in this significant urban center. These men were bakufu-appointed officials fulfilling a unique role. They were an amalgam of chief of police, judge, and mayor. The machi-bugyo were expected to manage a full range of administrative and judicial responsibilities.

Each machi-bugyo was involved in tax collection, policing, and firefighting; and at the same time, each played a number of judicial roles –- hearing and deciding both ordinary civil cases and criminal cases. Each machi-bugyo worked by relay, changing on duty and off duty monthly. Machi-bugyo which is on duty accept new tasks. Another machi-bugyo which is off duty does not accept new tasks, but still working to deal with tasks which had been accepted. By this alternation system, bakufu let two bugyos watch each other, and decentralized the massive power of machi-bugyo, therefore prevented injustice.

In this period, the machi-bugyo were considered equal in status to the minor daimyō. At any one time, there were as many as 16 machi-bugyo located throughout Japan; and there was always at least one in Osaka.

Shogunal city

During this period, Osaka ranked with the largest urban centers, some of which were designated as a "shogunal city." The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration.