was a social class that emerged in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period. In the social hierarchy, it was considered subordinate to the

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

warrior class.

Social class

The ''chōnin'' emerged in ''joka-machi'' or castle towns during the sixteenth century. The majority of ''chōnin'' were merchants, but some were craftsmen. were not considered ''chōnin''. Later, peasants, servants, and workers were also considered members of the social class. While ''chōnin'' are not as well known to non-Japanese as other social classes in Japan, they played a key role in the development of Japanese cultural products such as ''

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

'', '' rakugo'', and handicrafts. Aesthetic ideals such as ''iki'', ''tsū'', and '' wabi-sabi'' were also developed among the ''chōnin''. This association with cultural development emerged as a way for members of the class to break the strict social barriers that prevented individuals from ascending in the social hierarchy. Members of the ''chōnin'' opted to develop culture within their communities, allowing members of such community to rise as "cultured individuals". This phenomenon is said to be behind the popularity of the '' iemoto'' system in the Edo period. The socioeconomic ascendance of ''chōnin'' has certain similarities to the roughly contemporary rise of the "

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

" in the West. In the latter part of the Tokugawa period, this social class wielded the real power in the society although the warrior class still dominated the political sphere. From the mid-Edo period, wealthy ''chōnin'' and farmers could join the samurai class by giving a large sum of money to an impoverished to be adopted into a samurai family and inherit the samurai's position and stipend. The amount of money given to a ''gokenin'' varied according to his position: 1,000 ''ryo'' for a and 500 ''ryo'' for an . Some of their descendants were promoted to and held important positions in the shogunate. Low-ranking samurai (''kachi'') could change jobs and move into the lower classes, such as ''chōnin''. For example, Takizawa Bakin became a ''chōnin'' by working for Tsutaya Jūzaburō.

Origins

By the late 17th century the prosperity and growth of Edo had begun to produce unforeseen changes in the Tokugawa social order. The ''chōnin'', who were theoretically at the bottom of the Edo hierarchy ( ''shinōkōshō'', samurai-farmers-craftsmen-merchants, with ''chōnin'' encompassing the two latter groups), flourished socially and economically at the expense of the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

s'' and

, who were eager to trade

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

(the principal source of domainal income) for cash and consumer goods.

References

External links

Samurai, Chōnin and the Bakufu: Between Cultures of Frivolity and Frugality.Britannica Article
Edo period Japanese historical terms Society of Japan {{japan-hist-stub