2.

6 Feudal/Tokugawa Japan
• CJ: Begin
Japan Notes
• Do Now:
Copy the
diagram of
Japanese
social
classes. (8-
10 min.)
• Bigger
version of
diagram will
be on next
slide
Japan is an archipelago in Asia.
E. Napp
Terms and time periods to know
• Feudalism: a system in which nobles hold
lands given to them by a monarch in return
for service/allegiance; lower aristocrats
(vassals) in turn hold lands given to them
by higher lords in exchange for
service/allegiance; peasants live on lands
belonging to lords/aristocrats and give
them service in exchange for military
protection
Terms and time periods to know
• The ancestors of the modern
Japanese people migrated
to the Japanese Archipelago
from mainland Asia around
the 3rd century BCE.
• Over the 4th-9th centuries CE,
Japan became unified under
an imperial dynasty.
Terms and time periods to know
• By the 1100s, the Emperor of Japan’s
power was diminishing, and the position of
emperor became a figurehead.
• Noble families refused to pay taxes to the
emperor. They instead used their money
to acquire land and finance their own
armies.
• For the next several centuries, leading
families will compete against each other to
gain the shogunate (position of shogun)
Terms and time periods to know
• Sengoku (“Warring States”) Period (1467-
1615): A period of near-constant conflict
and fighting as daimyos (lords) struggle for
power
• Edo/Tokugawa Period (1615-1867): Period
of peace started by first Tokugawa
shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu; capital moved
from Kyoto to Edo (modern Tokyo)
 Four divisions of
society/Shinokosho system
• These divisions of society were based on the
Confucian system in China
– Shi: warriors (aristocrats, government
officials)
– No: peasants (commoners that produced
necessary items such as food)
– Ko: artisans
– Sho: merchants
• Not included in these classes: Emperor and
Imperial court; Buddhist and Shinto priests
 EMPEROR
• Emperor and imperial family highest on
social ladder
• Religious leader
– Direct descendant of goddess Amaterasu
• Figurehead (leader in name only); in
reality, under control of Shogun’s clan
– No political Power
• ALL classes of society provided for
Emperor and his court.
• Japanese Imperial lineage still exists
today
Naruhito, 126th Emperor of
Japan, and Empress Masako
 Shogun
Shogun • Supreme military and political
leader; true ruler of Japan
• Highest-status in warrior class
• Clans fought to acquire this
status
• Those of other classes under him
provided for his needs
• Shogun gave protection and
privileges
– Portion of land
– Produce on land
 7 World History
th

• CJ: Continue Feudal • Do Now—answer this

Japan question: what was
• In class the role of the
– Japanese social Emperor in feudal
classes Japan?
– Video
 Daimyo
Daimyo • Part of warrior class
• Means “Great Name”
• Shogun’s representatives;
supposed to govern provinces on
his behalf
• Required to demonstrate loyalty
to Shogun by spending part of
the year in the capital
• Wealthiest lived in huge castles
surrounded by moats
 Samurai
Samurai • Professional warriors
• Loyal to shogun and daimyo
• Lived in Daimyo’s castles or on
their own estates
• Fairly high social status but little
political power
• In times of peace, served as
officials and bureaucrats

Satsuma Samurai
 Seppuku

Seppuku - Ritual suicide: the act of killing one's self by

slitting open his belly. Seppuku came to be the 'official'
manner of suicide for a samurai, and was prohibited
for all other classes.

In time, seppuku came to take on religious

connotations, but in essence the exceedingly painful
manner of dying it brought was a mark of grime pride
to the samurai-a final test of his bravery.

When a female member of a samurai house committed

seppuku, she almost always did so by slitting her own
throat
 Ronin
Ronin • Wandering Samurai
• Had no Daimyo
• Paid soldiers
• Worked as
– body guards for rich merchants
– Paid soldiers during civil wars
• Low social class
• No political power
• Depended on others for
economic well-being
 Peasants
Peasants • Largest class
• Included farmers and fishermen
• Low social status
• No political power
• VERY poor
• Valued because they produced food for
all other classes
• Often made material for clothing
• Paid taxes with rice and work
– Had to pay 2/3 of year’s crop to upper
classes
• Often starved
Artisans • Craftspeople who made variety
of products, such as
– Art
– Cooking pots
– Fishhooks and nets
– Farm tools
– Theater crafts
– Ships and anchors
– Swords, armor, other weapons
• Master artisans highly
respected
• On whole, however, artisans
not as respected as peasants
because they didn’t produce
food
 World History 9/29
• CJ: Continue with • Do Now: read pp.
Japan 522-524 in textbook
(until “Feudalism in
• In class Japan”)
– Notes
– Video
Merchants
• Sold goods and produce made by
others
• Very low social status, since they
produced nothing of value and lived off
the efforts of others’ work
• Often made to live in separate locations;
these neighborhoods became
entertainment districts; not supposed to
mix with other classes except to do
business
• Despite their official status, merchants
and their wealth became increasingly
important and disruptive to the “social
order” in the Tokugawa period
The Lowest of the Low: Eta and
Hinin
• Like Ronin, these
groups fall outside of
the traditional,
“proper” hierarchy of
Japanese society
 Eta
• A class of “untouchables” so low they
Eta were beneath even merchants; name
means polluted ones
• Discrimination because of Buddhist
prohibitions against killing and Shinto
concepts of ritual pollution—
slaughterhouse workers, leather
workers and tanners, undertakers and
gravediggers, executioners
• Hereditary status, required to live in
their own villages separate from the
main towns/cities; descendants still
discriminated against today
 Hinin
• Means “Nonhuman”
• Beggars, street performers,
criminals and ex-convicts, other
social outcasts
• Not hereditary, but often punitive
(punishment for some crimes or
taboos)
• It was (technically) possible to get
out of this status
 World History 10/9
• CJ: Japanese culture • Do Now: begin to
in Feudal Period read pp. 531-533 in
• In class textbook
– Textbook reading
– Word search (due at
end of class!)
 World History 10/10
• CJ: Japanese culture • Do Now: begin to
in Feudal Period, read pp. 534-536 in
continued textbook
• In class
– Textbook reading
– Notes
 Japanese Culture in the Edo
Period
• Edo period: largely
peaceful after several
centuries of war; strict
social policies meant to
promote stability
• Japan begins policy of
isolationism—Sakoku,
literally “closed country”;
cuts off contact with all
European countries
except the Dutch, who
are only allowed at a
single trading port
Japanese Culture in the Edo
Period
• Despite minimal outside
trade and official
disapproval, increased
urbanization leads to
more commerce and
industrialization;
agricultural output starts
to prioritize cash crops
(sesame oil, indigo,
sugarcane, etc.)
• City dwellers (merchants,
artisans, some samurai)
grow in prosperity
 Ukiyo—the “floating world”
• A new city lifestyle is made
possible by this peace and
prosperity, characterized by
seeking pleasure,
entertainment, and cultural
refinement (theater, music,
poetry, woodblock art prints)
• Ukiyo: originally a Buddhist
concept referring to the
temporary, fleeting nature of
the world; becomes used to
describe the urban life, finding
beauty/enjoyment in things
that will inevitably pass away
 Religion in Feudal/Edo Japan
• Shinto: indigenous religion of Japan;
polytheistic, animistic
• Buddhism: brought to Japan via
China/Korea in 7th-8th centuries
• High degree of religious syncretism
(mixing); most Japanese participated in
rituals from both religions
DRAW THIS !!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3sRzY
_RXDk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwC0Q
CWhIX0