Highest rank of samurai retainer; literally "banner man."

(hah-tah-MOH-toh) A high-ranking samurai who often serves as the personal guard to a daimyo.

A was a 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 gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa house, and the gokenin were the lower vassals.