#The Common People — Farmers, Merchants, and Artisans

Contents

It is not the samurai who moves the world. The common people are what feed the world.

#The Three Classes

The class consciousness of the Sengoku era is divided into four tiers — the seed of that structure later institutionalized in the Edo period under the ideology of shi-no-ko-sho (士農工商).

Shi (士) — samurai
No (農) — farmers
Ko (工) — artisans
Sho (商) — merchants

Samurai were covered in the previous chapter. This chapter concerns the other three. Yet this order — farmer → artisan → merchant — is the inverse of their actual economic weight. In practice, wealth accumulates most in the hands of merchants, then artisans, and last of all farmers. Status was fixed, but money flowed in the opposite direction.

#Farmers (百姓, hyakusho)

#Who They Are

8 out of every ten in the country's population are farmers. In one sense, they are the true owners of Japan. If they do not grow the rice, neither samurai nor ashigaru can eat.

#A Day in the Life

A farmer's day begins when the sun rises and ends when it sets. There are no clocks. The sun is the clock.

Dawn: Rise and wash, a brief prayer (a bow at the household shrine), breakfast (barley rice and miso soup)
Throughout the day: Field work. In spring, sowing; in summer, weeding; in autumn, the harvest; in winter, cleaning and repairing the barn, making straw sandals
Evening: Return home, eat supper, talk with the children, go to bed early

#The Core of Life — The Village Community

Farmers cannot live alone. The entire village is one community.

Rice planting — Everyone in the village works together on one household's paddies. The turn rotates. If a single household cannot plant, the whole village suffers.
The festival (matsuri) — Every season, the villagers gather at the local shrine for offerings. They pray to the ujigami for a good harvest. Sake and dancing.
Disputes — They sometimes fight with neighboring villages over water channels. "Water disputes (水争い)" were common. People occasionally die.

#The Tax — Annual Tribute (年貢, nengu)

A farmer's greatest hardship is the annual tribute. 50 to 60% of the harvested rice is given over to the lord. What remains is the family's food supply for the year. If the harvest fails — they starve. Even so, the tribute must be paid.

If the tribute cannot be paid — the land is seized. A farmer without land becomes a tenant farmer, or takes to the road. One who takes to the road does not come back.

#When War Comes

When war breaks out — passing soldiers seize food and young men. Some villages rise up. Their weapons are sickles and flails. When enough people gather it becomes a peasant uprising known as the Ikko-ikki (一向一揆). Some of them actually defeat samurai armies. But — they are suppressed in the end.

#After the Spirit Realm Opened

The nights of the farmers changed. Talismans are everywhere in the home. On the gate, in the kitchen, at the privy. Salt is scattered beside the well. Children do not go outside after supper. The old women teach their granddaughters how to bind the old talismans. Grandmother learned from her mother, and her mother learned from her great-grandmother — only it was not an era when they were needed every single day like now.

#Artisans (職人, shokunin)

#Who They Are

Those who make things. Carpenters, smiths, lacquerware craftsmen, tofu makers, tile makers, oil pressers — countless branches of trade.

#The Guild (座, za)

Artisans belong to organizations called za (座) — a kind of guild. They hold a monopoly on making certain goods in certain regions. "The silk weavers of Kyoto" belong to the Kyoto Silk Za. If someone outside the za weaves silk — they are cracked down on.

But then — Oda Nobunaga broke this order. His rakuichi-rakuza (楽市楽座) policy — "markets free, za dissolved" — was a measure to dismantle monopoly and allow anyone to engage in commerce. The za's power began to decline. This current flowed on to Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. The world of artisans began rapid restructuring from the end of the Sengoku era.

#A Day in the Life

An artisan's day is spent in the workshop (工房). Skills handed down through the generations. Learned from the father, from the grandfather, from the great-grandfather before him.

The smith — Forges swords. Beats iron before the fire all day long. In summer the workshop is hell itself. In winter, it is bearable.
The carpenter — Builds castles, builds commoner houses, makes furniture. Uses almost no nails. Joinery (組接ぎ) is the essence of the craft.
The paper craftsman — Strips the bark from mulberry, soaks it in water, and scoops it up by hand. Lifting a single sheet demands a practiced hand.

#Artisans of War

Among artisans are those specialized for war.

The swordsmith (刀工) — One who makes swords. The most valued artisan of the Sengoku era. A Master's sword can fetch several hundred koku for a single blade (on the scale of an annual stipend).
The armorer (甲冑師) — One who makes armor. Several months to complete a single suit.
The teppo craftsman — A trade that newly appeared after 1543. They make domestically produced teppo. Sakai, Kunitomo, and Hino are the three central regions.

These men grow wealthier the more war there is. So in this era, wealthy men among the artisans were not uncommon.

#After the Spirit Realm Opened

Ritual entered the artisan's work. Before forging a sword, a bow at the household altar; after completing a suit of armor, the blessing of an onmyoji. Some smiths learned how to wield yoma, causing onryo to take up residence in their blades. Such swords are powerful, but cursed.

#Merchants (商人, shonin)

#Who They Are

Those who buy and sell. Drapers, rice dealers, salt sellers, sake sellers, equipment (裝具) sellers, medicine shops.

#Where the Money Gathers

In the Sengoku era, the wealthiest are not samurai but great merchants (豪商). The great merchants of Sakai, Hakata, and Kyoto are in a position to lend money to daimyo. A daimyo who cannot repay his debts — bows his head to the great merchant.

#A Day in the Life

A merchant's day begins on the road, or begins in the shop.

The peddler (行商) — Shouldering a pack, travels from village to village. Eats on the road, sleeps on the road. In this era thick with yoma, travel is dangerous. He walks while praying to the dosojin.
The shop owner — Receives customers in the shop. Keeps ledgers, counts money, manages deliveries. His home is behind the shop. Shop and household share one space.
The great merchant — Manages multiple enterprises. Deals with daimyo households. Sends ships as far as the Ryukyus and Ming China. When a Nanban ship puts in at Sakai or Hakata, he buys up unusual goods: sugar, glass, clocks, tobacco, leather, steel, Western medicines, maps, and more. He sits beside daimyo at tea gatherings.

#The Two Faces of the Realm

The Sengoku merchant has two faces.

The lowest official rank. Last in the order of shi-no-ko-sho. Must speak deferentially to samurai.
The highest actual power. He has money. One who lends money to a daimyo influences that daimyo's politics.

Free cities like Sakai (堺) were governed in practice by the great merchants themselves. Even daimyo could not act rashly there. Even for Oda Nobunaga to demand yasen (矢銭, war levy) of 20,000 kan from Sakai and bring it to submission required several years of negotiation and pressure.

#After the Spirit Realm Opened

For merchants too, yoma were a business opportunity. Talismans, salt, peach branches, ornaments imitating Divine Treasures — these things sold well. Great merchants bought up genuine Divine Treasures and resold them to daimyo at enormous profit.

Some merchants even entered into contracts with yoma. They offered sake to an oni in the mountains, and in return learned the location of hidden veins of ore. Such merchants grow rich quickly and unlucky for a long time. Oni keep their promises — but in the end, they collect their price.

#When the Three Classes Meet

Shi-no-ko-sho is an official distinction, but in actual life, the lines blur.

At a village's harvest festival, farmers, artisans, and merchants all gather together. They share sake.
A merchant may marry his daughter to a samurai. If he has money — it is possible.
When an artisan receives a large order and earns good money, he expands his business like a merchant.

This fluidity of boundaries is another hidden characteristic of the Sengoku era. An age in which bloodline does not decide everything.

#Closing with One Scene

An evening in some town. The market is closing.

One farmer could not sell all his rice at the market and carries the remainder home on his back. He must return tomorrow.
One artisan shows a newly forged sword to a fellow craftsman. "This one came out well." The other nods.
One merchant closes the shop door and folds the ledger shut. Today's earnings were not bad. Tomorrow there is a delivery to a daimyo household.

The three of them live on the same street. They live in the same country. They live in the same era. Yet their days are different. That difference is the grain of the Sengoku era.