Daimyo (大名, daimyō, Japanese pronunciation: [daimʲoː] (listen)) were powerful Japanese magnates,[1] feudal lords[2] who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to the emperor and the kuge. In the term, dai (大) means 'large', and myō stands for myōden (名田), meaning 'private land'.