The Tokugawa Period

INTRODUCTION

The Tokugawa period was in between 1603 – 1868. The time of peace and order in feudal japan was c.1400-1860. The subjects I will talking about are artisans, rōnin, merchants and daimyo.

ARTISANS
During the Middle Ages, the word artisan was applied to those who made stuff or provided tasks other people could not do. It did not apply to unskilled manual labourers. Artisans were divided into 2 very distinct groups: those who operated their very own businesses and those who did not. Those that owned their very own businesses and companies were referred to as masters by most people, while the latter were the journeymen and apprentices. One big error many, most or even the majority of people have about this social group is that
they picture them as hard workers in the modern sense: employed by someone. The most influential group or class among the artisans were the masters (people who are the boss of the shop), the business owners. The owners enjoyed a much higher social status in their home or communities.
The adjective "artisanal" is sometimes used in explaining hand-processing in what is usually seen as an industrial process, such as in the phrase artisanal mining. The crafting of handmade food products such as bread, beverages or cheese. Many of these have traditionally made and been handmade rural or pastoral goods but are also now commonly made on a larger scale with unmanned automated mechanization in factories and other industrial areas. RONIN

According to bushido and shoshinshu (the code of samurai) a samurai was meant to commit seppuku (also hara kiri a ritual suicide) upon the loss of his master.
Individuals who choose not to honor the ritual was on his own for ever and was going to suffer extraordinary shame. The undesirability of rōnin status was mainly a discrimination imposed by other samurai and by daimyo and the feudal lords.
During the Edo period, with the shogunate's rigid class system and laws, the number of rōnin massively increased. Confiscation of fiefs during the long rule of the third Tokugawa shogun iemitsu resulted in an especially humongous increase of rōnin. During previous ages, samurai were able to move between masters anytime and even between occupations. They would also marry between other classes. However, during the Edo period, samurai were limited, and were forbidden to become employed by another master without their old/previous master's
permission.
Because a former samurai could not legally take up a new trade or because of pride were loath to do so, many rōnin looked for other ways to make a living with their fighting skills. Those rōnin who desired steady and legal employment became mercenaries that guarded trade caravans, or bodyguards for very wealthy merchants. Many other rōnin became criminals, operating as bandits/highwaymen, or joining organized crime in towns/cities. Rōnin were known to operate, and serve as hired muscle for gangs that ran gambling rings, brothels, protection rackets, and other similar activities/sport. Many people were petty thieves and muggers. The criminal segment gave another category of jobs for the rōnin of the Edo period a very long and persistent reputation of disgrace, with the horrible image of thugs, bullies, cutthroats, and wandering vagrants.

MERCHANTS
The merchants were almost always considered the lowest class most people referred to the as parasites in society in the early edo periods.
the were commonly seen as cheats or people who are unjust because of their nature for craving money this is why most Japanese in the edo period saw them this way, as people who took honest people's money. but as the population of japan grew the need for food water and clothes became more and more and soon the merchants became richer and richer until now the samurais were struggling to keep up. then at the end of the late edo period the merchants were one of the richest, wealthiest and highest social classes I all japan and even now they are still one of the richest it's just we don't call them merchants they have other names like Sony, Samsung and Toshiba.

DAIMYO

Daimyo are the powerful feudal lords in pre modern japan dai literally means large and myo stands for private land there are lots of different daimyo like shugo-daimyo and sengoku-daimyo. the shugo daimyo were the first group of men to ever hold the title daimyo they arouse from among the shugo during the muromachi period, the shugo daimyo held not only military powers and police powers, but also economic power within a province. They accumulated these powers throughout the first few decades of the Muromachi
period.