hatamoto

thumb|right|Enomoto Takeaki, a of the late [[Edo period ]] A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as . However, in the Edo period, were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa house, and the were the lower vassals. There was no precise difference between the two in terms of income level, but a had the right to an audience with the , whereas did not. The word literally means "origin/base of the flag", with the sense of 'around the flag', it is described in Japanese as 'those who guard the flag' (on the battlefield) and is often translated into English as "bannerman". Another term for the Edo-era was , sometimes rendered as "direct shogunal ", which serves to illustrate the difference between them and the preceding generation of who served various lords.

==History== The term originated in the Sengoku period. The term was used for the direct retainers of a lord; as the name suggests, the men who were grouped "around of the flag". Many lords had ; however, when the Tokugawa clan achieved ascendancy in 1600, its system was institutionalized, and it is that system which is chiefly referred to now when using the term.