Whenever the Tokugawa Bakufu dispatched a newly appointed governor of Kyoto (Shoshidai 所司代) to administer the Kinai region, he would be accompanied by one of the Bakufu's senior councillors (roju 老中), a practice known a hikiwatashi jokyo 引渡上京 (lit. presentation at the capital). This practice found its roots in the original ceremony regarding shoshidai succession, which involved the presentation of a document sealed in vermillion by a senior councillor to the newly appointed governor. Originally, on the occasion of a change of appointee, the newly appointed shoshidai would arrive in Kyoto, while his predecessor was still in residence and go through a short period of transition. The practice of hikiwatashi jokyo then evolved along with a diminution in the power and authority of the office of shoshidai that occurred between the Tenna and Kyoho eras (1681-1736), and became the established precedent as the result of negotiations with the imperial court in 1717 and 1726. As hikiwatashi jokyo took root, it gradually developed into a merely formalized ritual, leading the Bakufu to ultimately decide that it was no longer necessary, resulting in its disappearance in 1806. However, the fact of senior councillors visiting Kyoto was still a practice deemed worthy by the Bakufu for such reasons as impressing upon the people of the Kinai the authority of the Shogunate in Edo. For example, the arrival of senior councillor Matsudaira Noriyasu in the capital during 1850 was met with a report presented to him by the Bakufu's Kyoto town functionary (machi bugyo 町奉行) containing information on the local economy and evaluations of the capital's aristocratic families, which the Bakufu utilized in its policy-making decisions. Moreover, the imperial court took the opportunity of Matsudaira's visit to press it views on the necessity of strengthening the country's coastal and maritime defences. It was in 1857 that the arrival of United States consul general Townsend Harris was announced to the imperial court by senior councillor Wakisaka Yasunori during a hikiwatashi mission. This last example demonstrates that during the last decades of Bakufu governance, characterized by increasing international tension and a rise in the importance of the imperial court, the practice of hikiwatashi jokyo was revived as a means of conducting negotiations with the Emperors.
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