Download PDF - Asian Art Museum | Education

Edo Society
As mentioned in the Generalizations section, the Edo government divided society into different
classes—samurai, farmer, artisan, and merchant, each with proscribed roles and limitations.
The members of the imperial family and the nobility were exempt from this system.
They retained trappings of privilege, but were quite powerless, living a marginalized existence.
Buddhist clergy were also outside of the system, as were prostitutes and other outcasts
such as butchers and leather workers (considered untouchable because of their occupation).
Historian Osamu Wakita has also conceived of the status divisions being drawn between
warrior-proprietor, peasant, and townsperson. (Hall, p. 123) It is also helpful to consider the
traditional environments for each: warrior-proprietors oversaw their domains throughout
the country from castle towns of varying sizes; peasants living in villages worked the land
and paid taxes that supported the samurai class; townspeople including artisans and merchants
provided services and goods to the growing urban centers. Artisans, among them carpenters,
potters, basket makers, lacquer artists, woodblock print designers and carvers, and
screen painters, were busy outfitting samurai residences and wealthy merchant homes. Merchants
sold the products of others, such as foodstuffs, storage jars, and books. Although
their trade stimulated the Edo economy, neo-Confucian scholars placed merchants at the
bottom of social hierarchy because of the perception that they did not actually produce anything
useful to society.
Asian Art Museum Education Department