Life in the Castle

Rank and Caste System

Up until the 1500s, Japanese society was split into two widely separated groups. There was the nobility, who had all the money and power - and the peons. By the 1550s, the peasants began to riot. Their tax burden was determined by the land they farmed, and no allowances were made for bad weather or crop problems. They had to pay 2/3rds of the "theoretical income" in taxes every year, or else. Many sold their kids into slavery or prostitution to pay their taxes.

As peace came onto the area, a new order settled into the system. Samurai were now administrators rather than military rulers and protectors. "Ikki" formed - community organizations that helped the farmers organize and make decisions. The daimyo, or regional warlords, now got a base pay from their samurai which did not tie directly to give spots of land. This meant the samurai were more autonomous and a daimyo was more of a government post than a controller of actual events in a region.

Many changes were enacted to help bring stability. Several sword hunts ensured that only those who should have weapons did have them. The Iga province - a hotbed of ninja activity - was attacked by government forces and over 4,000 ninja were killed.

Between the work of the Ikki and the desire for peace, more laws were passed to enforce social stability. The lower classes were generally very pleased with these changes. While the laws might be seen to put down the lower classes, from the peasant point of view, they actually said "if you do this, you will be safe from harm". For example, there were rules about non-nobles getting off a horse if approaching a noble who was on foot. As long as the peasant followed the rules, they knew the noble could not take action against them for disrespect.

On the downside, it is very hard for people in most modern, free societies to understand what it meant to live in a caste society. If you were born into a social group, you were stuck there for life. It governed what you could wear, where you could live, who you could talk to, who you could marry, and what you could do. The ONLY way for someone below the priest level to elevate was to become a priest.

The Castes of Feudal Japan:

Eta - 'untouchables' - did tanning, butchering, handling of the dead
Ninja - spies and assassins
Yakuza - mob members, gamblers
Heimin - peasants, merchants, artists
Priests - monks and nuns of Shinto or Buddhist religions
Buke - samurai, daimyo, and other military members
Shogunate - the immediate group of the Shogun, his family and officials
Imperial Court - The emperor and families

The Samurai of Ancient Japan

The Japanese samurai warriors came into existence in the 12th century when two powerful Japanese clans fought bitter wars against each other - the Taira and the Minamato. At that time the Japanese shogunate, a system of a military ruler, called the shogun was formed. Under the shogun the next hierarchy were the daimyo, local rulers comparable to dukes in Europe. The Japanese samurai were the military retainers of a daimyo. And finally you may have heard of ronin. Ronin are samurai without a master. This is what happened to the 47 Ronin in the famous story of Chushingura after their lord was forced to commit suicide.

According to historians the fierce fights between hostile clans and war lords was mainly a battle for land. Only 20 percent of Japan's rugged and mountainous area can be used for agriculture. Samurai warriors had several privileges. They were allowed to wear two swords - a long one and a short one. Commoners were not allowed to wear any weapons at all. At a certain period samurai warriors were even allowed to behead a commoner who had offended them.

The Japanese samurai caste itself had different ranks with different privileges. A basic ranking system from the twelfth century distinguished three major ranks:

* kenin - meaning "housemen". They were the administrators or vassals.
* mounted samurai - Only high-ranking samurai warriors were allowed to fight on horse-back.
* foot soldiers

During the end of the 15th century, the Ashikaga shogunate had lost control over the country. Powerful feudal lords had ravaged Japan in a series of civil wars lasting for roughly 100 years. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi could finally unify Japan, he introduced a series of reforms thus changing the life of the samurai class. He made the samurai live permanently in castles. Until then they were farming their own land during peacetime. It was like the change from an army of draftees to an army of professionals. To finance the system, Toyotomi Hideyoshi introduced a rice taxation system under which every samurai warrior received a certain amount of rice depending on his rank.

The samurai warriors had an ethic code of behavior called bushido, meaning "way of the warrior". The central point of the bushido was complete loyalty towards the lord, the daimyo.

Belonging to the Japanese samurai class was a hereditary membership.

The Imperial Palace....

Edo Castle (Edo-jo) was the home castle of the line of Tokugawa shoguns who ran the Edo government which ruled Japan for roughly 260 years (from the beginning of the 17th century until 1867). It was originally built in 1457 by the daimyo Ota Dokan, who was also well-known as a poet. As it was the castle of the founding shogun of the Edo government (Tokugawa Ieyasu), it became the building that symbolized the prestige of successive shoguns, and was also the center of political power. It was the largest castle in Japan in those days, with the inner compound measuring roughly 8 km in diameter, and the outer compound measuring around 16 km. The castle donjon with a five-tiered was an enormously high building with a stone wall measuring 51.5 m from ground level. This was destroyed, however, in the great fire of 1657. It is currently the Imperial Palace of the Emperor of Japan.

Oshashiburi Desu Ne!

This blog is dedicated to my love for the Japanese culture - one of honor, dignity, and loyalty. Through the years this country has prospered to becoming a large country.
I'm currently trying to learn this most difficult language of over 4 different character scripts (basically four different alphabets all with different meanings.) The four scripts are Kanji, Hirigana, Katakana, and Romaji.

I have a desire to go to Japan one day and actually experience the old culture of a unique country. I've prayed about my desire to learn Japanese and so far the Lord has blessed and if at any time in the future he sees fit for me to go then I hope that I'll be able to leave to see Tokyo.