were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 in Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually fudai

Fudai

was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...

 daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

. Conventional interpretations have construed these Japanese titles as "commissioner" or "overseer."

This bakufu tile identifies an official with responsibility for public works—for construction projects which involved civil engineering like land reclamation projects, for excavation of moats and canals, and for the collection of stone and the erection of castle walls. As a result of the experiences involved in castle building in the Momoyama period and early-Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

, Tokugawa architectural practice, such as the construction of the mausoleum complex at Nikkō, was seen as a subordinate to the massive task of wall building which was seen as an essential security measure in troubled times. This position was made permanent in 1652.

Sakuji-bugyō created in 1632

In response to the perceived importance of the wall-building and moat-dredging work of the fushin-bugyō, the position of sakuji-bugyō was created in 1632 as part of an effort to tighten administrative controls over other construction activities in what had previously been an ad hoc army of builders in a diverse array of trades