cast system

[thewraithsninja]

forgive my ignorance, but how exactly does the cast system go in feudal japan.

[Please Delete]

Well, as much as there is one, the caste system is taken from the Chinese, with slight modifications.

Early on you don't see much of it, and through much of our period of study it isn't well codified, so that people could drift back and forth and it almost seems more like a way of classifying people based on their jobs, rather than hard and fast 'caste' system. Toyotomi finally codifies it into law in the Momoyama period, and then it continues through the Edo period.

In traditional Confucian thought you have four levels of society. You have the peasants, the artisans, the merchants, and the nobility. The Japanese separated out the nobility into the military (buke) and the nobility (kuge), so there were really five different levels, though I'm not sure if the buke and kuge were as restricted and defined as the others.

However, most of that didn't really happen until the Momoyama period. While archaeological evidence points to a distinction between the wealth and power of specific families, the earliest 'caste' or class system that I'm aware of comes in with the Ritsuryo laws. This defines people as being either government officials (most of which were drawn through 'examinations' from the noble families related to the emperor or with similar political power) and the lower classes of either freemen or slaves. Freemen were further divided between agriculturalists and those who manufactured items for a living (potters, tanners, etc.). There was no 'warrior' class as all soldiers were drawn from the population of 'free' men.

The bushi, or warriors, arose during the Heian period to replace the conscription system of the Ritsuryo laws, and by the Gempei wars the military houses of the buke are well established and holding effective power. Still, up until the Momoyama period, many bushi were farmers on private land, who took up arms as a supplemental occupation (jizamurai). In fact, during the Sengoku period farmers would join up with armies as Ashigaru in the hopes that they could eventually improve their lot.

When Toyotomi codified everything, many of these jizamurai and people who otherwise crossed the 'class' boundaries had to choose what their status would be. Many chose to avoid the bureaucracy and become merchants or farmers, which they saw as the more lucrative occupation.

Then there are the religious institutions, but let's not go there.

So, I hope that helps narrow down your question somewhat?

-Ii