P1+Artisans+and+Merchants

P1 Artisans and Merchants

=**Artisans and Merchants**= By Aesha D By Lucy D ====Artisans and merchants were one of the lowest classes on social status. There were many types of artisans that created different things for the society. Sword-makers made swords for the Samurai. Printmakers and painters created paintings for different places to hang up. Merchants were loyal to their customers but the Japanese thought that they were not honorable. They lived in large areas where they could do many things. They also practiced selling many different types of things.====

====Artisans became a thriving class during Japan’s feudal era. There were many different types of artisans. There were 3 blacksmiths whose main work was sword-making, 8 sword-sharpeners, 4 silver-smiths, 3 scabbard workers, 2 lacquerers, 2 shaft-makers [producer of arrows, halbreds, and flags], 1 worker in cypress wood, 1 dyer, 98 sake-brewers , 222 carpenters, 37 sawyers, 6 plasterers, and an undetermined number of coopers, shinglers, thatchers, paperers, tobacco-cutters, tilers, and mat-makers. The richest craftsmen were those who worked for the Shogun, the Daimyo and those connected with the building trade, “the 5 crafts” of the carpenter, plasterer, stonemason, sawyer, and roofer. The sawyer cut the wood the carpenter needed. The plasterer covered the solid walls. The roofer used thatch, shingles or tiles. The stonemason worked with the platform on which the building stood or the stones where pillars were created. They were also worked with stone lanterns, basins, statues, and rocks for gardens.====

====Sword-makers were an honored class and they approached their task with great focus. Sword sharpeners did the general servicing of blades (which needed significant attention being likely to have rust) and put on the razor-sharp edge that made them challenging. Warfare and many of the policies adopted by daimyo and the unifying Shoguns were a benefit to trade. Artisans were needed to supply arms and armor for larger armies; food, drink, and clothing for garrisons; building materials for defenses and castles; timber for bridges and ships.====

====Printmakers and painters were inspired by the energy of the personalities and scenes they saw around them in urban society of the Edo period. The ukiyoe or Floating World made up of the pleasure quarters, Kabuki theaters, downtown streets and riverbanks, held a particularly powerful appeal. Many colorful pastimes are shown in the fine screen paintings which allow us to enter into the ukiyoe of the early seventeenth century. Merchants were a disgrace to the Japanese culture. Although they were rich, they were at the bottom of the social status. On page 3 of the Ghost in the Tokaido Inn, Seikei and his father were sitting in a Kago which is a box on poles that 2 men carried. That showed that they were wealthy and if they were wealthy that means they were merchants. They were considered a disgrace because the merchants made a living off of things that artisans made and that was considered rude to the Japanese. Merchants were barred from the rest of the society. Since they were, they had to find their own entertainment such as the Kabuki Theater, wrestling and gambling.====

====Merchants and Craftsman were the people who supported Edo's prosperity. Merchants and craftsmen usually lived in rows of houses called //"Nagaya"//. Nagayas had sizes of about 9.8 cubic meters, and there were ditches in the center of the lanes. Wells, restrooms, and dumps were used often and were common in most nagayas. Lanes were a common place for children to play, women to chat, and merchants to sell their goods.====

====Merchants or traders prospered in feudal Japan. The stability of the Tokugawa period helped trade because merchants were not concerned with fear of the war, crime, or poor roads. Many merchants amassed great wealth by employing large houses for artisans in financial centers. Some merchants traded overseas with Korea, China, and Southeast Asia. Rich merchants spent their money in the floating world. The districts of restaurants, theaters, game houses and bars were located in the growing cities. Merchants, unlike warriors, receive no salaries, but rely on their daily trading to make money and keep their family going from one generation to the next. They must practice economy in clothes, food, and dwelling-places provided for emergencies, such as illness, fire and earthquakes. The site of a main daimyo castle usually became a fairly lively and populous town, since merchants and artisans as well as the daimyo's samurai congregated there. For every great merchants house there were hundreds of shopkeepers, innkeepers, artisans, bathhouse owners, booksellers, art dealers, brothel keepers, and clerks struggling to make their living and offering the myriad [numerous] services called for in city life.====

Dunn, Charles James. Everyday life in Traditional Japan [by] C. J. Dunn. Drawings by Laurence Broderick. Boston: C E Tuttle Co, 2000. Print
Merchants and Craftsmen. //The Castles of Japan.// Thinkquest Team. 2000. Web. February 24, 2012.

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