PERRY ARRIVED during the Tokugawa Period. Shoguns belonging to the Tokugawa family that ruled Japan after 1603 had deliberately preserved a medieval feudal society. Laws, customs, even fashions hadn’t appreciably changed for 250 years. Although there were occasional rice riots due to food shortages, there were no major revolts. Because the country had isolated itself against foreign contacts, no wars took place. The Tokugawa Period was also known as “The Great Peace.”
The rewards of peace were many. Domestic trade prospered. Castle towns developed into cities. There were five large universities for lords and samurai, and many local schools were set up by lords for their vassals. The literacy rate in Japan during the mid-nineteenth century was probably higher than that of most European countries. Almost half the male population could read and write.
The arts flourished. It was a time of great novels, philosophies, plays, poetry, paintings, and woodblock prints. The Great Peace was a golden age of culture and creativity.
How mistaken Commodore Perry was in his belief that Japan was uncivilized. Although technologically behind the West, no other country in the world was more civilized and artistic. Nor was any government anywhere more highly organized.
The Great Gate at Edo, in the theatrical district
courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, Nate S. Buckingham Fund
However, the price paid for this productive peace was complete loss of freedom. Life was wretched for most of the population. People were obligated to obey rigid rules that covered every aspect of their existence. The goods they could buy, the size and type of houses they could legally dwell in, the persons to whom they must bow, were all specified by law. Regulations listed 216 varieties of dress for everyone from the emperor down to the lowest class citizen. Even the shape, color, and size of stitches were specified. Those who disobeyed risked severe punishment.
Each person’s status was fixed by inheritance. There were four classes ranked below the daimyos. In order of importance they were the warriors (samurai), the farmers, the artisans, and the merchants. The merchants were low on the list because they were viewed as unproductive—mere middlemen who prospered from the labors of others. The only people beneath the merchants were called the untouchables (eta), who were not considered a class. They were the under-takers, tanners, and butchers. These people were also “uncountables” and were not included in the census. The land they occupied was not officially measured. Untouchables were treated like ghosts who did not really exist.
Codes of laws regulated the activities of all, from the Imperial Court down to the merchants and untouchables.
The Emperor
Laws of the Imperial Court specified that the emperor must devote his time to studying the classics and upholding the traditions of poetry. In addition to his role as religious leader, he was expected to confer ranks and titles (upon those who met with the shogun’s approval). Although none denied his lofty position and he was revered as a god, he was, nevertheless, treated like a prisoner of the shogun. The divine ruler was usually confined to his palace grounds, where he was spied upon. A law forbade any but an official of the shogun from conveying messages outside the Imperial Palace. The punishment for anyone else who attempted to see the emperor was exile.
The Shogun
As “barbarian expelling generalissimo” the shogun was expected to protect the nation against foreigners. In theory, his greatest duty was to carry out the wishes of the Imperial Court. In practice, he was the power behind the throne. Rules of conduct and codes of laws had been formulated by shoguns. As a result, a shogun was not subject to strict regulations.
A daimyo
courtesy of the Dorothy Segall Collection
The Lords
Laws for the Military Houses applied to daimyos. These lords could not marry without the shogun’s approval. The number of their vassals and the size of their castles were regulated by law. They were forbidden to socialize with people outside their own domain. (This prevented plots against the government.) They were required to pay for repairing castles, roads, and fortifications not only on their own territory but in other parts of the country. (This kept them from becoming too wealthy and powerful.) The Rule of Alternative Attendance was the most repressive of all. It required that all lords spend part of every other year at Edo, near the shogun. When they went home to their own castles, they had to leave their wives and children in Edo as hostages. (This assured obedience to the shogun.)
There were about 250 daimyos in Japan when the Americans arrived. Approximately 350,000 samurai served as their noble knights.
Samurai
The samurai were masters of the farmers, artisans, and merchants. They organized these underlings into groups of five families. Each person in the group was responsible for the good behavior of others. All risked punishment if one person in a unit did not pay taxes, work diligently, or show proper respect to a superior.
A samurai wore two swords. A smaller one was wielded when cutting off the head of a defeated rival. It was also used for seppuku, ritual suicide. (The slang word is hara-kiri, which means “belly splitting.”) A samurai was always prepared to die by disemboweling himself should his or his lord’s honor be tainted. Seppuku was considered to be particularly well done if the samurai composed a poem before or while committing suicide. A close friend often helped end the agony by beheading the samurai after he had disemboweled himself.
The longer sword, the sharpest in the world, could cut through iron nails or split an enemy in two from head to foot. It was occasionally useful in times of peace, for a samurai enjoyed “the right of killing and going away.” A law decreed: “Common people who behave unbecomingly to a samurai or who do not show respect to their superiors may be cut down on the spot.”1 Inferiors who did not bow quickly enough could lose their heads.
Japanese artist Shunyei’s print of a samurai in peacetime
courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, Frederick W. Gookin Trust
Two samurai, sketches in ink and wash by Yoshitoshi
courtesy of the New York Public Library, Spencer Collection
Despite his power, a samurai was completely dependent upon his daimyo, who gave him a meager salary. Forbidden to work or to become involved in any commercial enterprise, he therefore had no trouble obeying the rule that to be virtuous he must live a frugal, simple life. During The Great Peace, samurai managed their lords’ estates and supervised the repair of public highways and buildings.
A samurai was not expected to be merely a fierce warrior. According to his code, “The arts of peace on the left hand and the arts of war on the right. Both must be mastered.”2 A samurai was encouraged to be scholarly and enjoy the arts. Despite his fierce demeanor, he delighted in parties devoted to moon watching, cherry blossom viewing, poetry, flower arranging, and incense scenting. Many were outstanding scholars, poets, and painters.
By the nineteenth century nearly every domain had a school for samurai. Each student was categorized according to his family’s importance, and strict regulations defined his rank. At one school, for example, the student from an important family was expected to be accompanied by one servant who held his umbrella in case of rain, and another who guarded his sandals while he attended lectures. Lower-class samurai children carried their own umbrellas and checked their sandals with a school servant. Some fiefdoms had more than thirty classifications of samurai, each required to follow specific rules of conduct.
Ronin were samurai warriors without lords. Many were cultured, law-abiding citizens. Others were ruffians who roamed the countryside as highway robbers.
Farmers
Farmers made up 80 percent of Japan’s nineteenth-century population of thirty million. Each farmer’s rank was determined by the amount of rice he grew. A harvest of 500 bushels, for example, entitled him to have a large home—provided it had no parlor and the roof was not tile. A 100-bushel harvest meant a tiny hut with no floor mats.
A farmer was forbidden to drink saki or smoke tobacco. The types of lanterns, flowerpots, clothes, and even the quality of the dolls his children played with were all decreed. He had to wear cotton clothes, not silk—even if he raised silkworms. A law specified the exact day he had to change from summer to winter garments and vice versa, regardless of the weather. He could not travel outside his district without special permission. He was often recruited to do highway work, without pay, which meant that he was forced to neglect his own fields. And he had to give any-where from 40 to 80 percent of his crops to his daimyo! As a result, most farmers were poverty stricken.
A Japanese farmer
courtesy of the Philadelphia Art Museum.
Artisans and Merchants
Towns and big cities like Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka were centers for the lower classes, the artisans and merchants. The artisans were superb craftsmen. They made lacquerware, forged swords, wove fabrics, and produced porcelains and papers that were unmatched in quality and beauty anywhere in the world. Shopkeepers sold these unique items to the wealthier daimyos and to courtiers of the Imperial Palace.
Huge stores that sold goods to the general public used business techniques similar to those used today. Their merchandise was advertised, prepackaged, and price-tagged. Many shopkeepers became rich. Businessmen who bought, sold, and shipped foodstuffs and goods also accumulated fortunes.
Nevertheless, merchants, like the rest of the population, had to act with caution. Sometimes those who flaunted their wealth by living luxuriously were denounced and had their businesses confiscated. The government became the new owner. Spies pretending to be customers were always ready to report merchants who criticized official policies.
Although ancient laws supposedly controlled their lives, the merchant class started to become emancipated from rules because their superiors needed their help. Not only samurai but daimyos and officials of the shogun borrowed money from them. Many upgraded their status by paying money in order to become samurai. They were also “adopted” as sons by samurai who owed them money or who wished to have a rich member in their family.
By the mid-nineteenth century the stratified class system was breaking down. Merchants were becoming powerful and influential because they financed many daimyos. Many businessmen were anxious for foreign trade and opposed to the government’s isolation policy. Scholars and political activists also wanted to end the country’s seclusion. Therefore, Perry’s proposals were seriously considered.