Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan Revised Ed. edition

Alternate attendance (sankin kotai) was one of the central institutions of Edo-period (1603-1868) Japan and one of the most unusual examples of a system of enforced elite mobility in world history. Tour of Duty renders alternate attendance as a lived experience, for not only the daimyo but also the samurai retainers who accompanied them.