Under the system of “alternate attendance (of feudal lords in Edo)”, a vassal that followed a feudal lord and moved to live in Edo without their family was known as an Edo Kinban, or “on duty in Edo”. They lived in tenement houses within the clan residence complex, and used their excessive free time on leisure pursuits and sightseeing in Edo, and eating and drinking in an attempt to disguise their lonely, solitary lives there. Their image became the object of ridicule as the archetypal country bumpkin and boor in Edo senryu (poetry) and literature. In recent years, however, analysis has progressed of diaries and cashbooks left by duty samurai from various clan domains, which are gathering interest as materials for researching Edo from the perspective of comparative cultural theory.