Under the command of each Town Lord, there are several to a dozen Patriarchs.
The task of the Patriarchs is to manage the various towns under the jurisdiction of the Town Lord.
Some Patriarchs are appointed by the Town Lord, but some are also hereditary.
Though the Town Elders, Town Leaders, and Patriarchs shoulder the heavy responsibility of assisting the Magistrate's Office in managing Edo, they are not officials.
The reason is simple: they are civilians without swords at their waist, not Samurai.
"Non-Samurai cannot hold official positions"—this was an iron law of Edo-period Japan.
Although they perform the functions of "officials," they do not have the title of "officials."
From the Town Elders down to the Patriarchs, their official title is "Town Official," not an official, just a bunch of people who do odd jobs for the Samurai lords, at best a group of "servants."
