People of Feudal Japan

Any census taken during the feudal era did not include every person in the Empire. Different censuses were taken for different purposes at different times. As the counting were done by local daimyo, methodologies varied. Many included only those that mattered: the samurai class, registered family members of farmers and chonin "townsfolk," and some members of the clergy. The lower castes of eta and hinin were rarely counted (or if they were, they were counted as a fraction of a person, such as 1/7 in an 1859 court case), children were sometimes omitted, and even the kuge "courtiers" were generally ignored. The Bakufu only compiled reported figures. Only estimates were available for the aboriginal Ainu in Ezo.

Scholarly estimates for total Japanese population vary widely for periods prior to 1700, from a low of around 6 million at the start of the samurai era to a high of around 22 million in 1600. For the year 1700, however, there is general consensus that the total population of Japan was a little less than 30 million. From 1700 to the Imperial Restoration, annual estimates changed very little, never more than 33 million. Official Tokugawa records have the population from 25 million to 27 million during this time, while the official rice production is recorded as being 30,435,170 koku in 1846.

In some provinces, however, population did fluctuate widely during this time. One estimate has the population of Edo growing from 430,000 in 1650 to 1,150,000 in 1850, while Kyoto dropped from 430,000 to 290,000 during this time.

For comparison, the population of England in 1700 was about 6.5 million, in 1800 about 8.3 million.

Major Cities

The following are population figures for major urban areas, as estimated in 1984 by Seiji Saito, and documented in Wikipedia:

1840s map of Edo

By 1750 Edo reached an estimated population of over 1,000,000, and was the largest city in the world at the time. One set of contemporary estimates has the population of the metropolis in 1837 at 1,287,800. Of that, the samurai class were reportedly 700,973, and monks and priests were around 40,000. Note that, due to Sankin Kotai, a certain portion of the samurai population lived in the city only half of the time. In terms of area occupied, a 1725 map of Edo has the samurai occupying 66.4% of the total area, the chonin 12.5%, and temples and shrines 15.4%.

Edo evolved from a castle town with Edo Castle at its center. The daimyo mansions covered the immediate area surrounding the castle. The commoners lived beyond that, ringing the outskirts of the city.

Note that although in Edo the samurai and their attendant household population comprised half or more of its total population, due to the Sankin Kotai requirement that all daimyo maintain a household there, that was not the case elsewhere. In Kyoto, the kuge "courtiers" and the clergy predominated. Osaka was the nation's commercial center and dominated by the merchant class. Neither of those cities were ruled by a daimyo nor had any significant samurai population.

Social Structure

In terms of demographics, estimates for the samurai class range from 5% to 10% of the total Japanese population; the peasant farmers, fishermen, and other villagers were 80%; the rest mostly comprised of merchants, craftsmen, and other townsfolk. The nobles, clergy, ronin, and the lower castes were small minorities.

Originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, feudal Japan was stratified into four major social classes, from top to bottom:

• Samurai -- Or Buké, Bushi, the military class, warrior class
• Peasant farmers -- Included fishermen, miners, and other villagers
• Craftsmen -- Sword smiths, potters, etc.
• Merchants -- Included transporters and financiers

A heimin "commoner" was a member of one of the lower three classes.

All classes were hereditary and movement from one class to another were forbidden for men, but occurred from time to time with women through marriage or concubinage. For example, if a daughter of a merchant became a concubine of a samurai and had a son, that child could become a samurai.

• Buké "Samurai" Class

At the top of the Japanese social structure was the military class. The Bushi kept the peace and allowed the rest of society to conduct their livelihood. The samurai class stood, from top to bottom:

• Shogun
• Daimyo
• Samurai (with its own many sub-rankings)
• Family
• Foot soldiers, guards, policemen
• Other household members
• Ronin

Most samurai during the Edo period lived in castle towns. They either received a stipend from their masters, or had a fief from which they generated revenue in the form of koku of rice, usually from taxation.

Only the samurai were allowed to wear swords, and they were allowed to wear two, the longer katana and the shorter wakizashi. For special services and missions, non-samurai were allowed to swords, but usually just one that was shorter than the katana.

• Hyakusho "Peasant Farmers"

Most important of the commoners were the peasant farmers. They provided the all-important sustenance the people needed everyday. In addition to rice, the farmer class provided a great variety of fish and other seafood, including seaweed; soybeans for soy products like tofu and soy sauce; other beans; quail eggs; vegetables; fruits; mushroom; potatoes; etc.

Farmers also harvested plants for commercial purposes such as tea, indigo for dyeing, tobacco, cotton, and hemp. Worms were also grown for silk.

Each village had a headman who was responsible for a variety of duties including tax collection; maintenance of the roads, embankments, and the general area around the village; all record keeping including household census and registry; etc.

A farmer could not sell or abandon his land, but this did occur from time to time. If the land was abandoned the whole village was held responsible for making up the required tax. In this case the abandoned fields would be worked by the villagers as a group, or they would find someone to take it over.

Although slavery was against the law, it was not uncommon for destitute families to sell off their daughters to indentured servitude, quite often as prostitutes. After the period of contract, the daughter can return to her family, but terms were often extended for more money.

In times of severe poverty, members would run off to towns to be not dependent on their families, and infanticide was not unheard of.

• Shokunin "Craftsmen"

These were generally townsfolk, but included those in remote areas like potters. Some were also itinerant, going from town to town to offer their services.

Listed below are some of the more common artisans:

• Sword makers
• Sword sharpeners
• Armorers
• Silversmiths
• Woodworkers -- Such as furniture makers, wood turners, lacquerers, etc.
• Saké brewers
• Carpenters -- Including sawyers, plasterers, coopers, shinglers, thatchers, paperers, tilers, stonemasons, etc.
• Tatami "mat" makers
• Potters
• Textile weavers
• Embroiderers
• Dyers
• Umbrella makers
• Clog and sandal makers
• Paper makers
• Woodblock printers
• Etc.

In castle towns prices were strictly controlled, with no regard to quality, but those that provided the best products or services, of course, got the most business.

Many crafts had guilds that advanced the interests of the collective membership and helped preserve their monopolies.

Usually the craftsman's son would take over the business, but if he did not have an heir, a promising apprentice would be adopted to take over the business, often marrying the craftsman's daughter if she was available.

• Akindo "Merchants"

At the bottom of the social structure were the merchants because they did not produce anything and basically provided service. In time however this class amassed ever greater fortune and exerted formidable influence on the economy and policies of the Empire.

In addition to general merchandising of goods, this class provided the following services:

• Money exchange -- Banking services such as exchange of coinage from gold to silver, money transfer services, loans, etc.
• Rice brokerage
• Freight transport
• Messenger service
• Carriage trade
• Pawn brokerage

This class also included commercial fishermen who were hired by merchants in big cities to harvest the sea.

In time merchants also built factories to mass produce commercial goods and food products for sale to an ever wider area.

• Other Classes

The following were minorities outside the class system.

• Kuge "Courtiers" -- With the Emperor at the top, plus his wife, children, concubines, retired Emperors, and other nobles
• Clergy -- Buddhist monks, Shinto priests, nuns, and acolytes
• Onmyoshi -- Professional fortunetellers, mediums, and diviners
• Doctors -- Including masseurs and acupuncturists
• Intellectuals -- Confucianists, poets, calligraphers, tea masters, writers, etc.
• Entertainers -- Noh performers, kabuki actors, dancers, singers, musicians, courtesans, playwrights, etc.
• Eta "Outcasts" -- Group that dealt with dead things, such as executioners, undertakers, skinners, tanners, leather dyers, butchers, etc. Also jailors and torturers.
• Hinin "Non-humans" -- Non-religious beggars and mendicants, as well as ex-convicts and vagrants who worked as town guards, street cleaners, or itinerant low-life entertainers such as acrobats, jugglers, clowns, fire eaters and breathers, animal handlers, sword-swallowers, one-man bands, chindon'ya "street musicians" who advertise for shops and other establishments, magicians, storytellers, etc.
• Non-samurai ninja

Teachers and tutors existed at all levels of society and were generally not a class unto themselves.

Fire fighters were generally voluntary forces made up of commoners, but depending on the size of the town, there were full-time fire chiefs who would man a special building set aside as headquarters, and who would manage the storage of fire fighting equipment, the watchtowers that would sound alarms in case of fire, and supervise the combating of fires.

The aboriginal Ainu in Ezo were, of course, not considered part of feudal Japanese society.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Geography ] [ History ] [ Major Roads ] [ Population ] [ Religions ] [ Monetary System ] [ Places ]

Send mail to webmaster@diffworlds.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2009 by Different Worlds Publications. All rights reserved.
Last modified: February 28, 2010