His father is preparing to accompany the daimyo to the capital.

他的父亲正在为陪同大名前往首府做准备。

Samurai must accompany the daimyo to Edo.

武士必须跟随大名前往江户。

The daimyo rules the domain, and about 1,500 samurai retainers serve him.

藩地由大名（诸侯）管辖，其手下有约 1500 名武士家臣效力。

But the practice doesn't just affect the daimyo — it determines much of the rhythm of life in Japan.

但是这样的制度不仅会影响到大名——也决定了日本多数人的生活节奏。

Kira and the two daimyo did not get along. We are not sure exactly what the reason was.

Kira和大名相处得并不好，我们也不确定到底是什么原因。

And the shogun exerted his power throughout the land with the help of 300 feudal lords called daimyo.

幕府将军在300位被称为“大名(日本封建时代的大领主)”的封建领主的帮助下在全国范围内行使权力。

Basically, it meant that the daimyo had to split their time between their own domains and Edo Castle.

说白了，这意味着大名必须在自己的领地和江户城之间来回。

The daimyo's wife and children live in the capital full time, where they serve as hostages to ensure his loyalty.

大名的妻子和孩子会在江户长期居住，作为幕府的人质，确保大名的忠诚。

Weirdly enough, even though the other elders all rallied their armies against Tokugawa, his biggest threat was a fourth daimyo named Ishida Mitsunari.

奇怪的是, 尽管其他长老都团结起来反对德川，但他最大的威胁是第四个大名，名叫石田三成。

And this only further motivated the daimyo and samurai, who were ready to give the Tokugawa the boot.

而这只会进一步激发大名和武士的积极性，他们准备给德川开除。

In that case, the daimyo's concubines were all jealous and they fought and fought without end.

她们明争暗斗 没完没了所以这位平户大名 把她们赶出了府邸。

The costly treks back and forth keep the daimyo subordinate and prevent them from building up their own military forces to challenge the shogunate.

成本高昂的来回跋涉能使大名保持服从，并阻止他们累积军事力量对幕府进行谋反。

So the daimyo of Hirado drove them away from his castle, and peace came into his life again.

于是他的生活重归平静，你觉得这个故事有什么意义吗。

Therefore, he surrounded himself at all times by a host of guards provided by a daimyo named Uyesugi Sama who was his father-in-law.

因此，他一直被他的岳父(一个名叫“Uyesugi Sama”的大名)手下的一群守卫保护着。

The Tokugawa bakufu wasn't much for centralization, as power was mainly in the hands of local lords called daimyo.

德川幕府不太适合集权，因为权力主要掌握在称为大名的地方领主手中。

One of the things that made this hereditary class so interesting was that each samurai was entitled to an annual salary from the daimyo called a stipend.

让这个世袭阶级如此有趣的事情之一是每个武士都有权从大名那里获得称为津贴的年薪。

So the Tokugawa didn't give up without a fight, but the civil war between the stronger daimyo and the bakufu eventually led to the end of the shogunate.

所以德川并没有不战而罢，但是实力更强的大名和幕府之间的内战最终导致了幕府的灭亡。

As with kings and lesser nobles anywhere, the central bakufu had trouble controlling the more powerful daimyo, who were able to build up their own strength because of their control over local resources.

与任何地方的国王和小贵族一样，中央幕府很难控制更强大的大名， 因为他们能够控制当地资源而能够建立自己的实力。

His family (and, most importantly, his heir) stayed in Edo whenever the daimyo left to look after his fiefdom and they were basically hostages of the shogun to ensure that the lord behaved himself.

无论大名何时离开江户，他的家人(最重要的是，他的继承人)都会留在江户，可以说就是幕府将军的人质，以此来约束幕府领主的行为。

The long sword is for training and combat, while the short sword has a sole, solemn purpose — to commit ritual suicide, or seppuku, if he dishonors himself, his family, or the daimyo.

长刀用于训练与战斗，短刀则有着唯一的庄严目的——如果他使自己、家人或大名蒙羞的话，就要用短刀切腹自尽。