Hancho (domain office) (藩庁)
Hancho is a political term used during the Edo period.
Summary
Hancho was a place (a castle or a mansion) where the office of a domain was set up under the shogunate system.
Daimyo (feudal lord) and hanshi (feudal retainer of domain) were stationed in hancho to handle the domain's administrative affairs.
Large scale domains set up their own hancho in a castle, and small domains in a mansion called jinya.
Among them were some domains which did not set up their own hancho, and they were called ''mujinya (domains without regional government office).''
The towns that developed around hancho were called jinyamachi, and those that developed around a castle jokamachi (castle towns).