Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
individuals or groups of non-
samurai
performed a special service and were granted the
privilege of wearing “the large and the small” as the swords were called.
(10) (a).
Samurai
in street. A
samurai
, wearing his two swords, walks by a seaweed shop,
followed by an attendant, who carries a package wrapped in the traditional silk cloth (
fur-
oshiki
). The men on the left are slicing up dried seaweed, which was eaten with rice. Over
the shop is its
noren
(see p.
103
) with the shop sign (repeated on the drawers at the back
and on the boxes in the street), and the name of the shop, Nakajima-ya. The chief clerk is
writing up the ledger.
ThewarriorclassincludedeveryonewiththerighttoweartwoswordsfromtheShogun
down, through the great lords in their domains and senior officials in Edo, to minor offi-
cials and foot soldiers. They all received incomes according to their station, and the ma-
chinery for distributing these incomes was a fundamental part of the organization of soci-
ety. Income was calculated not in money but in rice. The two main groups involved were
the warriors themselves, as recipients, and the farmers, as suppliers.
