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The Tokugawa shogunate rigidified long-existent class divisions,[1] placing most of the population into a neo-Confucian hierarchy of four occupations, with the ruling elite at the top, followed by the peasants who made up 80% of the population, then artisans, and merchants at the bottom.[2] Court nobles,[3] clerics, eta (or burakumin) outcasts, entertainers, and workers of the licensed quarters fell outside this structure.[4] Different legal codes applied to different classes, marriage between classes was prohibited, and towns were subdivided into different class areas.[1] The social stratification had little bearing on economic conditions: many samurai lived in poverty[4] and the wealth of the merchant class grew throughout the period as the commercial economy developed and urbanization grew.[5] The Edo-era social power structure proved untenable and gave way following the Meiji Restoration to one in which commercial power played an increasingly significant political role.[6]

Beggars, prostitutes, and others outside the accepted social structure were considered hinin, or "non-people". Hinin could re-integrate with society as commoners, except the burakumin caste whose status was inherited and who were considered "untouchable".[7] Many of these worked as butchers, leatherworkers, or sanitary workers, whose occupations were considered defilement due to taboos related to death and uncleanliness.[8]

Chinese Confucian-style patriarchy was first codified in the 7th–8th centuries with the ritsuryō system,[9] which introduced a patrilineal family register with a male head of household.[10] Women until then had held important roles in government which thereafter gradually diminished, though even in the late Heian period women wielded considerable court influence.[11]

Archaeological evidence suggests a prehistorical preference for female rulers in western Japan.[11] Chinese sources speak of a third-century Queen Himiko, and the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki describe several legendary female leaders and assert the Imperial line descends from the sun goddess Amaterasu. [12] Female emperors appear in recorded history until the Meiji Constitution declared strict male-only ascension in 1889.[11]

Refs edit

  1. ^ a b Wakita 1991, p. 123.
  2. ^ Neary 2009, p. 390.
  3. ^ Henshall 2012, p. 56.
  4. ^ a b Neary 2009, p. 391.
  5. ^ Neary 2009, p. 392.
  6. ^ Neary 2009, p. 393.
  7. ^ Price 1966, p. 6.
  8. ^ Price 1966, pp. 17–18, 20.
  9. ^ Tonomura 2009, p. 351.
  10. ^ Tonomura 2009, pp. 353–354.
  11. ^ a b c Tonomura 2009, p. 352.
  12. ^ Tonomura 2009, pp. 352–353.

Works cited edit

  • Wakita, Osamu (1991). "The social and economic consequences of unification". In Hall, John Whitney (ed.). The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 4. Cambridge University Press. pp. 96–127. ISBN 978-0-521-22355-3.
  • Neary, Ian (2009). "Class and Social Stratification". In Tsutsui, William M. (ed.). A Companion to Japanese History. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 389–406. ISBN 978-1-4051-9339-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |editorlink= ignored (|editor-link= suggested) (help)
  • Price, John (1966). "A History of the Outcaste: Untouchability in Japan". In Vos, George A. De; Wagatsuma, Hiroshi (eds.). Japan's Invisible Race: Caste in Culture and Personality. University of California Press. pp. 6–30. GGKEY:0EEY1WZ7266. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Tonomura, Hitomi (2009). "Women and Sexuality in Premodern Japan". In Tsutsui, William M. (ed.). A Companion to Japanese History. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 351–371. ISBN 978-1-4051-9339-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |editorlink= ignored (|editor-link= suggested) (help)


Social stratification in Japan became pronounced during the Yayoi period. Expanding trade and agriculture increased the wealth of society, which was increasingly monopolized by social elites.[1] By 600 AD, a class structure had developed which included court aristocrats, the families of local magnates, commoners, and slaves.[2] Over ninety percent of the population were commoners, who came to include farmers, merchants, and artisans.[3] Women held equality with men on both social and political levels.[2] Archaeological evidence suggests a prehistorical preference for female rulers in western Japan. Female emperors appear in recorded history until the Meiji Constitution declared strict male-only ascension in 1889.[4]

Chinese Confucian-style patriarchy was first codified in the 7th–8th centuries with the ritsuryō system,[5] which introduced a patrilineal family register with a male head of household.[6] Women until then had held important roles in government which thereafter gradually diminished, though even in the late Heian period women wielded considerable court influence.[7] Marital customs and many laws governing private property remained gender neutral.[8]

During the late Heian period, the governing elite centered around three classes. The traditional aristocracy shared power with Buddhist monks and samurai,[3] though the latter became increasingly dominant in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.[9] These periods witnessed the rise of the merchant class, which diversified into a greater variety of specialized occupations.[10] By contrast, the status of women rapidly deteriorated from the fourteenth century and onwards.[11] Women of all social classes lost the right to own and inherit property and were increasingly viewed as inferior to men.[12]

Hideyoshi's land survey of the 1590s further entrenched the status of men as dominant landholders.[13] It also designated all who cultivated the land as being "commoners", an act which effectively granted freedom to most of Japan's slaves.[14] By this time a new class of outcasts had come into being, who were likely the descendants of those slaves who had once worked in undesirable occupations such as executioners and butchers. Later known as the burakumin, members of this class were viewed as being less than human and were shunned by the rest of Japanese society.[15]

 
Social structure of the Edo period

The Tokugawa shogunate rigidified long-existent class divisions,[16] placing most of the population into a neo-Confucian hierarchy of four occupations, with the ruling elite at the top, followed by the peasants who made up 80% of the population, then artisans, and merchants at the bottom.[17] Court nobles,[18] clerics, eta (or burakumin) outcasts, entertainers, and workers of the licensed quarters fell outside this structure.[19] Different legal codes applied to different classes, marriage between classes was prohibited, and towns were subdivided into different class areas.[16] The social stratification had little bearing on economic conditions: many samurai lived in poverty[19] and the wealth of the merchant class grew throughout the period as the commercial economy developed and urbanization grew.[20] The Edo-era social power structure proved untenable and gave way following the Meiji Restoration to one in which commercial power played an increasingly significant political role.[21]

During the Edo period, productive labor was seen as the primary role for women. While the responsibility for child-rearing was shared among grandparents, siblings, and fathers, women labored on farms or played key roles managing businesses.[22] By contrast, during the Meiji period, society came increasingly to expect women to primarily fulfil the role of "good wives and wise mothers".[23]

Although all social classes were legally abolished at the start of the Meiji period,[24] income inequality greatly increased.[25] New economic class divisions were formed between capitalist business owners who formed the new middle class, small shopkeepers of the old middle class, the working class in factories, rural landlords, and tenant farmers.[26] The great disparities of income between the classes dissipated during and after World War II, eventually declining to levels that were among the lowest in the industrialized world.[25] Some postwar surveys indicated that up to 90% of Japanese self-identified as being middle class.[27]

The late Shōwa period also witnessed growth in social and political activism by Japanese minority groups including the burakumin class. The one million or more Japanese citizens who were descendants of the burakumin continued in many cases to suffer discrimination and segregation.[28]

During the postwar years, women began entering the workforce in increasing numbers. Declining birth rates and widespread availability of labor-saving household appliances allowed more women to have permanent jobs outside the home.[29] During the US occupation, women gained full legal equality with men,[30] but widespread workplace discrimination against women remained. The rise of a movement for women's rights led to the passage of an equal employment law in 1986, but by the 1990s only 10% of management positions were held by women.[31]

  1. ^ Henshall, 13.
  2. ^ a b Farris, 26.
  3. ^ a b Farris, 96.
  4. ^ Tonomura, 352.
  5. ^ Tonomura, 351.
  6. ^ Tonomura, 353–354.
  7. ^ Tonomura, 352.
  8. ^ Tonomura, 354–355.
  9. ^ Farris, 152, 181.
  10. ^ Farris, 152, 157.
  11. ^ Farris, 162–163.
  12. ^ Farris, 159–160.
  13. ^ Tonomura, 360.
  14. ^ Farris, 193.
  15. ^ Perez, 43.
  16. ^ a b Wakita 1991, p. 123.
  17. ^ Neary 2009, p. 390.
  18. ^ Henshall 2012, p. 56.
  19. ^ a b Neary 2009, p. 391.
  20. ^ Neary 2009, p. 392.
  21. ^ Neary 2009, p. 393.
  22. ^ Hastings, 373–374.
  23. ^ Hastings, 375–376.
  24. ^ Henshall, 79.
  25. ^ a b Moriguchi and Saez, 70–80, 88.
  26. ^ Neary, 397.
  27. ^ Duus, 21.
  28. ^ Totman, 619.
  29. ^ Totman, 614–615.
  30. ^ Hastings, 379.
  31. ^ Totman, 614–615.
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