In the days of the Tokugawa Shogunate, hawking was a sport practised by the lord of feudal clans. The present study is an attempt to investigate the hawking in the Akita Clan during the Tokugawa Era and to elucidate its characteristics as a sport from a standpoint of the history of physical culture. So far, there has been no systematic study focused on hawking practised by the clan lords. After the examination of the various historical materials of the Akita Clan, following results were obtained. 1) Hawking was practised in the clan during the period 1603 - 1826 by the first lord Yoshinobu through the tenth lord Yoshiatsu. The eleventh and the twelfth lords, however, did not go hawking because of his early death and the disturbance immediately before the fall of the Tokugawa Regime, respectively. 2) The first lord was the most enthusiastic about hawking and held it over 655 days in his lifetime. From the second lord to the tenth, the total number of the days of thier hawking events confirmed by the official documents are 95, 238, 74, 15, 8, 5, 26, 25 and 4, respectively. Additional number of the days for hawking by each lord can be suggested, since some deficiency is found in the historical documents. 3) The number of hawking fields in the clan was over 70, and the favored ones were Abukawa, Taihei, Soegawa, Kariwano, Shimosuji and Semboku. Such remote fields as Odate and Asamai,110 km north and 60 km south of the lord's castle respectively, were suitable for the long term hawkings. 4) Hawking by the clan lords was held mainly in July and between November and February. The latter period is cold season, but there remain some documents which show that the lords were too enthusiastic about hawking to care about unfavorable weather. They usually departed for hawking early in the morning and occasionally returned home late at night. 5) An exclusively appointed hawker was in charge of raising and training hawks which were usually brought from the Matsumae Clan (Hakodate), because it was difficult to catch hawks in the Akita Clan. 6) Hawking was an event conducted by the lord, which required 10 to over 200 followers. In hawking, the followers, moving forward in a body, roused game from cover and a hawker released his hawk, but the detailed procedure of the actual hawking is still unknown. However, the hawking held at Yotsugoya, for example, had a minute plan for hawking carefully organized and had a similarity with their military training. 7) The kinds of game caught in each hawking were mainly bean geese, pheasants and wild ducks, and its number ranged several to over one hundred. The game caught was either given to the retainers or served at a banquet after the hawking. 8) Hawks and game captured by hawking formed a very high proportion of the total amount of gifts exchanged between the clan lords and the Tokugawa tycoon. Especially the hawks and game presented by the tycoon were a great honor to the clan and a celebration was held for it. 9) In order to secure game, the birds were protected in the hawking fields, and the lord's common people were prohibited from entering the fields and using a hawk there. 10) The frequency of hawking was overwhelmingly larger than that of other kinds of pastime and events enjoyed by the lord, such as martial arts, horsing, archery and noh (classic Japanese drama), and viewing of folk dancing and fireworks. Since several documents of the clan unexceptionally say, "Our lord was in quite a good humor after hawking", it is reasonable to speculate that each lord took great delight in hawking. Hawking was a large-scale event, costing a great deal and requiring an elaborate preparation, but it should be claimed that it played an important role in the govemment of the clan and it was the most fascinating sport among the lords of the Akita Clan during the Tokugawa Era.
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