Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
confession,andthisoftenledtoasuspectbeingrigorouslyinterrogated.Thiscriminalcode,
such as it was, could be changed without warning. This was in keeping with the funda-
mental Tokugawa attitude, derived from Confucianist precepts, that the people should not
be instructed as to what the law might be, but should be content to do what they were told.
These then were the ways in which the Tokugawa Shoguns sought to perpetuate their
family's power over every inch of the country, and dominance over every aspect of Japan-
ese life, indeed, over every living soul. Their efforts met with remarkable success for 200
years, although a gradual decline in Tokugawa power set in after the mid-eighteenth cen-
tury. The very nature of Japanese society was in their favor, for the existing class system
was a weapon in their hands that required only to be maintained and reinforced in its ap-
plication. It was only a fairly small number of Japanese who were unaffected by this rigid
division into classes: on the one hand were the courtiers and priests, doctors and some in-
tellectuals,andontheothertheoutcasts,amotleycrewperformingavarietyoflowlytasks.
Everyone apart from these exceptions was either a warrior,a farmer,a craftsman, ora mer-
chant.
In this tight class system there was an equally rigid hierarchy, with the warrior class
(
samurai
) at the top; the
samurai
enjoyed privileges, such as the right to wear two swords,
but also had obligations and were expected to lead sober lives and set a good example to
therest.Nextcamethefarmers(thebulkofthepopulation),placedinthispositionbecause
on them depended the livelihood, in the form of rice, of the warrior class. The honor was
dubious, for severe restrictions were put on their liberty, lest they should leave their farms;
their lot was usually a miserable one, compounded of hard work and poverty for most of
them. Craftsmen came next, and merchants or traders last. Merchants were despised be-
cause it was considered that they produced nothing and were activated solely by the desire
to amass wealth; indeed, this they proceeded to do, and the culture of the latter part of the
period was mainly their creation, and the growth of their power a leading factor in the de-
cline of the old class system.
Because these classes were so clearly divided, and had quite different ways of living, it
willbebesttotreatthemseparately,describingtheconditionsanddailylifeofeachinturn.
