One of the reasons why people looked down on them was because they were selling things that other people had made, and taking money from other people in a dishonest way. Merchants were also in the lowest social class in feudal Japanese hierarchy. Some of the professions of this social class included musicians, actors, entertainers, singers, painters and sculptors. Although they became more powerful throughout the feudal period, at the beginning, they were considered one of the lowest sub categories in the hierarchy. ArtisansĪrtisans, often known as craftsmen, were ranked below peasants in the feudal Japanese society. Unlike those in higher social classes, they were forced to dress very simple often made from hemp. However, due to the price of the food and the taxes they had to pay, they could rarely afford to eat rice. Although peasants in feudal Japan were often poor, they were regarded highly of as they produced rice for samurais and daimyos. Peasants were ranked at the top of the lower class, including farmers and fishermen. The sub categories within the lower class included, peasants, artisans and merchants. As the name suggests, this was the lowest social class of all. The majority of the population, roughly 90% of the people in feudal Japan were in the lower class. Freelance workers in today’s society are often compared to ronins who worked for multiple employers. There could have been a number of different reasons to how these soldiers became ronins, for example, due to the death of their previous daimyo from losing a battle. Ronins were simply those samurais who did not belong to any masters, daimyo. Ronins were the lowest class in the noble military class in the feudal Japanese era. How powerful a daimyo depended significantly on how many samurais he had.Ī visual hierarchy of the feudal Japanese social structure. When their daimyo either died, defeated in a battle, the samurais under the daimyo became ronins. Samurai warriors were very royal to their leaders or more suitably called employers. Samurais were seen as brave and privileged class in feudal Japan as only less than 10 percent of the people in the period belonged in this social class. Samurais were also known as buke or bushi. Samurais, best described as warriors or soldiers in feudal Japan were those hired by daimyo in order to protect them from other daimyos. Some of the most legendary military figures in feudal Japan were daimyos including Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi who were both seen as strong country rulers. They had a lot of advantages over others, for instance, they were exempt from paying any taxes. The word daimyo originally meant large private land owners. How strong the shoguns completely depended on how many daimyo they had under them. Daimyos were in fact more powerful than shoguns at times. Daimyosĭaimyos, also known as feudal warlords, were categorised just below and reported directly to the shogun, making them also very powerful rulers. Some of the notable shoguns in feudal Japan include, Minamoto no Yoritomo, Shikaga Takauji, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Yokugawa Yoshonobu who became the last shogun. Shoguns were Japan’s ruler until its abolishment just before the beginning of the Meiji period. The shoguns were appointed by the emperor and simply meant a ‘general’ originally, however, the shoguns gained the highest rank during the feudal period due to their physical strengths. They were also the military and political leader of feudal Japan and held the most power. The shogun was the highest class in the noble class. The sub categories of the military class included the shogun, the daimyos, the samurais and the ronins. Although the noble class was below the royal class in the feudal Japan hierarchy, the people in this class were the ones ran the country in reality, making them more powerful figures. The nobles, those in the military class are equivalent to the middle class in today’s society. Again in reality, they were not very powerful compare to the ones in the military class during the feudal period in Japan. The royal family members were classed the second highest social class in the royal class. The royal family were those who were related to the emperor. However, as the time went on towards the end of the feudal Japan in the Edo period, the emperor regained the power. The emperor was seen more like a figurehead, and had large symbolic religious influential figure to the Japanese people. The emperorĪlthough the emperor was classed as the leader of feudal Japan, he actually had very little power and control over the country, as the government was dominated by the military force. The royal class was at the top of the chain, and it was also the one included the emperor and his family members. An illustration of daimyo Kyogoku Takatomo, a high ranking figure in feudal Japanese hierarchy.
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