economy+in+tokugawa+japan

the merchant class in tokugawa japan
once "the great peace" started in 1603 edo was just that, peaceful. with this peace the samurai lost there jobs and slipped into poverty. some avoided this by working for merchants. merchants, technichly being the lowest social class, were far from poor. they were the ones whos buiseness grew with urbanization. urbanization was inevitable with the peace in edo, samurai were forced to live in castle cities thus increasing population. this created a spike in merchant economy. making them the most powerful social class in the tokugawa period. [|shinagawa] printed by [|hiroshiga] depicts the shinagawa station on the road to edo. this is one of the first stops on the migration. the buildings on the side were tea houses for the daimyo persecions. theses merchants would profit greatly for the daimyos travel. the subject of this print [|goyu] shows these touts bringing a samurai into their tea house. this is how the merchant class made money and helped them become the wealthiest of the social classes [|seki] also by hiroshiga is a rest stop specifically made for the [|daimyo] percession. the merchants who set them up used it as a manditory stop and profeted greatly for it. this picture of the [|nihonbashi] bridge shows a simple merchant town waiting for the daimyo percession. this picture show the merchant class afilliating with other classes this shows proof of urbanization kusatsu by hiroshiga is an image of a marketplace in a castle town. his is how the merchants sold their goods. usually busy, its proof how the merchants became as wealthy as they were.



[|akasaka] by hiroshige portraits a tea house where travelers enjoy tea, a meal, and entertainment in the form of geisha hostesses. geisha were common in tea houses and would attract costomers