ABSTRACT
The Mori family traced its origins to the succeeding Nara Period and emerged from obscurity in the Kamakura Period, rising to national prominence under the capable guidance of Motonari. Despite the rapid construction of the Tensho and Keicho Periods, the new cities were actually planned and executed using theoretical and technical models developed prior to the rise to national prominence of the Tokugawa family by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The outcome of the post battle negotiations from 1600 were a studied result in political manipulation which secured a Tokugawa hegemony which endured until 1868. The Tokugawa application of the system of social divisions developed under the Toyotomi regime to urban construction dictated a degree of commonality among the domain capitals of the reorganised national structure. Tokugawa policy and Choshu attitudes were thus antithetical and supported the Tokugawa fear of a resurgence of the outer lords of Choshu and Satsuma.
