The Tokugawa shogunate carried out a clever policies of dividing and ruling that many former feudal loads were forced to ruin by the enactment of 'confiscation of territories,' and that the places of strategic importance across Japan were set under the direct control of shogunate (shogunal demesne) avoiding influence of feudal loads (daimyo), who were classified into three groups, namely 'family daimyo' (a feudal load of a Tokugawa family branch or affiliation) with large territories, 'hereditary vassal daimyo' with small territories and the rights to participate in the state administration, and 'outside' daimyo (a feudal load who was not a hereditary vassal of the Tokugawa family) with the territories inserted between domains of 'family daimyo.'
大名の多くが「所領没収」で姿を消し、全国の要所は直轄領（天領）として大名を置かず、多数の親藩大名に大領を持たせ、その合間に外様大名を配置し、譜代大名には小領と中央政治に関与する権利を与えるという絶妙の分割統治策を実施した。