 Nearest the castle were the huge estates of the Eight Houses (chief vassals) and their own retainers.For every 100 koku of income, a samurai was given about 550 square metres of land, and average of the "middle-class" samurai was 800, which is huge compared to modern Japanese housing.The richest vassal family, the Hondas, had a 50,000 "koku" income.