Police forces in Edo during the Tokugawa era
Greetings! It's nice to meet you all. This site is amazing and has given me already a lot of information that'll help me on my personal project about an AU in the time/place mentioned in the header.
What I still need is specific information on how the police worked in Edo during the Tokugawa era. Most books I found about this time in Edo only provide very few details about the police's work, how they lived, who they married, if they had special rituals etc. For example, all I know about the yoriki in charge of police under the machi bugyō is that they were looked upon by their fellow samurai and their own superiors because of their indirect connection to executions, and the usual segegration to the chonin made them even more an isolated group. They even lived in separate quarters. The yoriki were thus a tightly-knit group who tried to partially compensate their low social status with their groomed appearance.
I know even less about the machi bugyō, and the dōshin. And I can't find a clear definition between okappiki and komono either; several sources claim contradicting 'facts' about the latter two.
What I still need is specific information on how the police worked in Edo during the Tokugawa era. Most books I found about this time in Edo only provide very few details about the police's work, how they lived, who they married, if they had special rituals etc. For example, all I know about the yoriki in charge of police under the machi bugyō is that they were looked upon by their fellow samurai and their own superiors because of their indirect connection to executions, and the usual segegration to the chonin made them even more an isolated group. They even lived in separate quarters. The yoriki were thus a tightly-knit group who tried to partially compensate their low social status with their groomed appearance.
I know even less about the machi bugyō, and the dōshin. And I can't find a clear definition between okappiki and komono either; several sources claim contradicting 'facts' about the latter two.