page_title: Edo society
section_title: Artisans
hierarchical_section_title: Edo society / Tokugawa class system / Four Classes / Artisans
context_page_description: Edo society refers to the society of Japan under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.
  Edo society was a feudal society with strict social stratification, customs, and regulations intended to promote political stability. Japanese people were assigned into a hierarchy of social classes based on the Four Occupations that were hereditary. The Emperor of Japan and the kuge were the official ruling class of Japan but had no power. The Shōgun of the Tokugawa clan, the daimyō, and their retainers of the samurai class administered Japan through their system of domains. Majority of Edo society were commoners divided into peasant, craftsmen, and merchant classes, and various "untouchable" groups.
  The Bakumatsu from 1853 led to growing opposition to the Edo system and it was dismantled after the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
context_section_description: Artisans were seventh on the Tokugawa class hierarchy and second of the commoner classes.
  Artisans were placed below the peasants because they were producers but they produced non-essential goods. Artisans typically lived in urban areas, and by 1800, as much as 10% of the population of Japan may have lived in large urban areas, one of the highest levels in the world at the time. The daimyōs and their samurai did not produce any goods themselves, but they used the tax surplus from the land to fuel their consumption. Their needs were met by artisans, who moved to be around the castles and were restricted to living in their own quarter.
caption: Merchant's house (Fukagawa Edo Museum)
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