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This text explores how Japan was traditionally divided by social class, focusing on the feudal system, the role of daimyo, and the hierarchy of social classes. It also discusses the influence of European goods and the arrival of the first Europeans in Japan.
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Chapter 7, Sections 2,3 How was Japan traditionally broken down by social class?
The Japanese were fascinated by European goods. Nobunaga and Hideyoshi found the new firearms helpful in unifying the islands. As the three great commanders (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyosh, and Tokugawa Ieyasu) were unifying Japan, the first Europeans began to arrive.
The state was divided into about 250 separate territories called hans, or domains. Each was ruled by a daimyo. The Tokugawa rulers established control of the feudal system that had governed Japan for more than 300 years.
The shogunate controlled the daimyo by a hostage system. The daimyo were required to maintain two residences— one in their own lands and one in Edo, where the shogun’s court was located.
Daimyo: “great names”;. The head of noble families in Japan who controlled vast landed estates and relied on samurai for protection.
The warrior class (shogun, daimyo, samurai, ronin*) was next; farmers, artisans and merchants were third; and the eta (outcasts) were at the bottom. Social Class in Japan: The emperor and his court were at the top;
Kabuki was the popular theater, and concerned the world of teahouses and dance halls in the cities. Much popular literature of the Tokugawa Era was lighthearted, but poetry remained a more serious form of literature.
The Korean rulers sought to limit contact with foreign countries and keep the country isolated from the outside world. It became known as the “Hermit Kingdom”. Yi rulers consolidated their rule of Korea by adopting the Chinese example of a strong bureaucratic state.
Isolationist: a policy of national isolation by abstention from alliances and other international political and economic relations
Traditional beliefs survived and influenced the new religions. Islam and Christianity began to attract converts throughout SE Asia. Buddhism advanced on the mainland, becoming dominant from Burma to Vietnam.
The mainland states of Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia had the “Buddhist model”, with a king considered superior to other human beings, who served as the link between human society and the universe.
In the early 1600s the Dutch seized a Portuguese fort in the Moluccas and gradually pushed the Portuguese out of the spice trade. Since ancient times, spices had been highly valued. European countries competed to find a sea route to the Indies.
