What kind of era was the edo period in Japan, and what special events were there in this era?

The Edo era was the Tokugawa era and the Edo era in Japan, which was founded in 1603 and returned to the big government in 1867.

origin

Tokugawa Ieyasu became the general of the edo shogunate immediately after he became the general of conquering foreigners.

Social structure

In Tokugawa Japan, all residents are divided into four categories by strict hierarchy: samurai, farmers, craftsmen and businessmen. Before the Tokugawa period, there were some flows between these classes, but General Tokugawa restricted these flows in order to safeguard his power and privileges. In particular, they tried to protect the samurai class, making it impossible for the peasant class to become warriors. 1586, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a decree stipulating that farmers must cultivate on their own land. 1587 promulgated that only warriors can wear long swords. After that, this article became the definition of the samurai class. With the change of economic situation, the general is not so successful in maintaining strict boundaries between different classes.

knight

Soldiers are warriors. At the top is the general himself. Below him, there is a famous landlord who controls a lot of land. Daming's men are warriors gathered by themselves and can serve them in many ways. Some of them are instructors, some guard his castle, and some form his private army. Besides, in a big city like Edo, samurai have various functions-officials in the shogunate or police. Finally, there are ronins, that is, warriors without masters. They don't have to repay their masters and have no stable source of livelihood. Ronals may settle in a special place, teach skills or do other jobs. However, many ronins will wander around the country looking for paid jobs. Some people will be hired by the highest bidder like mercenaries. During the Tokugawa period, Japan had a population of 30 million, of which about 2 million were samurai.

farmer

Rice is the glue that binds all social strata, and it is naturally produced by farmers. The meter is measured in stone, which is about 5 bushels. A stone can support a person for a year. During this period, the annual output of rice in Japan was estimated at 25 million stone. The general is responsible for distributing the harvest in the whole country. He took 20% himself, and most of it was given to the landlord and Daming. According to Charles J. Dunn, the largest name (Kaga in northern Japan) can receive 654.38+0.3 million stones. In Tokugawa Japan, more than 270 famous names can receive at least 10,000 stones. What does this leave for farmers? It depends on the weather. Usually, farmers hand over more than half of the rice harvest. When the years were bad, neither the general nor Daming reduced their demand, and farmers were forced to live on less food. Famine in rural areas during this period was not uncommon. In this way, although farmers enjoy privileges in society-second only to samurai-their lives are usually very difficult. Growing rice requires a lot of hard physical labor. Today, a lot of work must be done by hand. In difficult times, farmers will ignore the general's ban and move to the city to engage in trade. When their father's land is inherited by the eldest son, many young sons will also go into business.

handicraftsman

It is difficult to clearly distinguish between industrialists and businessmen because their economic activities often overlap. For example, a clothing producer may sell his products, and his career can also develop in other directions, such as borrowing money. In Tokugawa society, samurai have a high demand for certain skills, such as casting swords, which is highly valued, so the status of swordsmen is very high. In Tokugawa Japan, common techniques include carpentry, masonry, wine-making and painting.

businessperson

Businessmen, especially those in cities, become rich, but they are at the bottom of the social class. This is because Confucianism believes that businessmen don't produce anything like farmers and craftsmen. Instead, they earn money from people who produce labor. However, because of money, other classes, even junior samurai, are sometimes willing to accept this lower position. In addition, as in the Tokugawa period, the economy gradually transformed from feudalism to commerce, and on the whole, businessmen could improve their social status. In Tokugawa Japan, trade is usually a slow and difficult undertaking. Although the road system is huge and well maintained, the general forbids vehicles to be used for military defense. In this way, most of the goods passing by land are placed on the backs of horses or people.

Other groups

Several other groups exist outside this class system, including actors, monks and butchers. In some ways, because it is outside the strict class system that constitutes Japanese society, its members have certain degrees of freedom. However, this system has enough living security and livelihood, so life outside the system also has disadvantages. Butchers are exiles-they are forced to live in their own groups and avoid other members of Japanese society. Their status is so low because their jobs are related to death: they deal with animal carcasses, tan hides and make leather. Butchers face many unlucky things in religion. Influenced by Buddhists, Japanese people are generally vegetarian, and killing is forbidden. In Shinto, contact with death requires fasting. In modern Japan, we still insist on distinguishing butchers. The butcher family list was secretly circulated in the society. Conservative Japanese families always refer to such lists to prevent their sons or daughters from marrying butcher families.