Tokugawa Society and Thought

Religion and Ideology

Ancient Ideology

*Shinto

kami

Ise Grand Shrine (jingū 神宮)

Amaterasu

Deification of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Nikkō Tōshō-gū 東照宮

“Great Incarnation Shining over the East” (Gordon, p. 36)

Shinkun 神君 “divine ruler”

Buddhism

Tōshō Dai Gongen 東照大権現

“Illuminator of the East, August Avatar of Buddha”

Buddhist temples

Official registration

*Neo-Confucianism

Legitimated social hierarchy

Samurai-commoner distinctions

Neo-Confucian social order: Ideal vs. Reality

1) Samurai

6% of population

2) Farmers

85% of population

3) Artisans and 4) Merchants

9% of population

5) Outcastes (eta)

Less than 1%

Status Consciouness

Expressions of Social Distinction

Dress code

Samurai

Swords

Silk

Housing

Size

Proximity to daimyo’s castle

Village Status Distinctions

High vs. low status households

Owner-farmers vs. tenant farmers

Established families vs. newcomers

Market economy and breakdown of status distinctions

20% of agricultural production for market by mid-19th c.

Winners

Growing incomes of merchants, artisans, and rich farmers

Losers

Landless villagers

Samurai hurt economically

Fixed stipends of rice

*Ie (household)

Primary social unit

Samurai/merchant practice

Spreads to villages during Tokugawa

Status of grown children

Oldest son or substitute male inherits ie

Younger sons leave

Daughters move to husband's household

Purpose: survival of household

How is an emphasis on the ie system reflected in Musui’s Story?

What is the economic incentive to preserve samurai households through adoption of male heirs?

Status consciousness

Language

Very Familiar

Best friends, siblings

Informal

Peers

Polite

Parents

Formal

Honorific/Humble forms

Teachers!, Boss, High government officials