History of modern times. Japan in the 16th-18th centuries (the most important)

Lecture notes, cheat sheets
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History of modern times. Japan in the 16th-18th centuries (the most important)

Lecture notes, cheat sheets

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49. JAPAN IN THE XVI-XVIII CENTURIES

In early modern times, Japan had a rigid class system. The state established the rules of life for all classes and strictly monitored their observance. All the inhabitants of the country were divided into four classes: warriors, peasants, artisans and merchants. Courtiers, clergymen, doctors and scientists, as well as pariahs - untouchables who performed the dirtiest work, were not included in the estates. There was a strict hierarchy in this class system, in which samurai warriors occupied the upper level (at the turn of the 10th-XNUMXth centuries, together with their families, they made up about XNUMX% of the country's population). Belonging to this estate was inherited, it included senior military leaders, princes, rich feudal lords, ordinary soldiers, high and low officials. In the XNUMXth century finally took shape the "code of honor" of the samurai - "bushido", according to which they had to lead a harsh lifestyle, be content with little, engage only in military affairs, be unquestioningly obedient and faithful to their master (great feudal lord, prince) up to the readiness to accept death through ritual suicide (hara-kiri) at his first request or in the event of his death. But at the beginning of the XVIII century. the first signs of the disintegration of the estate system appeared. In particular, there were such samurai who, for various reasons, abandoned their duties and lost their livelihood.

The bulk of the population were peasants who belonged to the second stage of the class system of Japan. The sustenance of the warrior class depended on them. The peasants could not leave their farms; their lives passed in hard work and poverty. They grew rice, sowed wheat, barley, millet, as well as cotton, tobacco, tea, etc. The peasants dressed in clothes made from hemp and cotton (women wove and sewed clothes). Government decrees prescribed peasants what to eat and how to dress. And although the peasants worked tirelessly, they were always in debt, and if there was a crop failure and there was no rice to pay the tax, they had to turn to moneylenders and borrow money against the future harvest. When things got really bad, the peasant sold the land (although this was prohibited by law) or even abandoned it and went to look for a better life. If a peasant received permission to leave the village, then the entire community had to cultivate his land and pay taxes for him.

The third and fourth estates in society were artisans and merchants. Most of the craftsmen lived in the cities, but there were also itinerant craftsmen who roamed the villages. As a rule, the son inherited the father's profession.

As for the merchants, in the XVI-XVIII centuries. the authorities did not like them and were wary of them. Merchants were at the very bottom of the class hierarchical ladder, they were considered "parasites" who themselves did not produce anything. However, the development of a commodity-money economy led to an increase in this estate and an increase in its wealth. Neither samurai, nor peasants and artisans could do without their services: they borrowed money, they were sold surplus grain and handicrafts. Merchants lived according to the rules they established on the money they received from daily trade. The rules of the Japanese merchants included: getting up early, devotion to the family business, working overtime, frugality, good health. All this was supposed to contribute to the accumulation of money and capital. Developed in Japan in the XVI-XVIII centuries. commodity-money relations gradually led to the disintegration of the estate system.

Authors: Alekseev V.S., Pushkareva N.V.

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