and were the two main castes of the
classical Japan
The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when ...
caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
system.
When the
Ritsuryō
is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...
legal system was starting to be enforced in Japan at the end of the 7th century, it included, as in
Tang China, a division between those two major castes. The term Ryosensei (良賤制) describes the whole system. The Senmin caste, divided into five "genres", is also called Goshiki no Sen (五色の賤), the ''Senmin of five genres'', sometimes abbreviated to gosen (五賤).
Caste was part of the citizen registration enforced with the
ritsuryō
is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...
.
Ryōmin
The Ryōmin (lit. ''Good citizens'') were the upper-class, divided into the four following subcastes
*Kanjin (官人), government officials
*Kōmin (公民), citizens
*Shinabe (品部), professionals and tradesmen relevant to court functions
*Zakko (雑戸), tradesmen, especially those relevant to the military, considered of a lower class than the previous three
Senmin
The Senmin (lit. ''low citizens'') were the lower-class, divided into the five following subcastes:
*Ryōko (陵戸), dedicated to the imperial family or guards of imperial tombs
*Kanko (官戸), dedicated to public ministries
*
Kenin (家人), servants of high-ranking families
*Kunuhi (公奴婢), slaves of the court
*Shinuhi (私奴婢), slaves of families
Intercaste marriage was at first not allowed.
Ryōko, Kanko and Kenin were allowed to have their own families.
The lowest two levels of citizens (''Nuhi'',
slave
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
s) could be sold or owned by Ryōmin citizens, and were not allowed to have a registered family. This caste system was not very rigid, in the sense that Kunuhi could become Kanko when they got older (66), and automatically freed at very old age (76) but this is unlikely as most people would not reach the age of 66 and over during these times, and Ryōmin could become Senmin (at the Kanko level) after having committed some crimes.
At first, children born between Ryōmin and Senmin would become Senmin. In 789, this changed and children born between Ryōmin and Senmin were Ryōmin.
The Senmin was a minority of the whole population.
See also
*
Four occupations in China
*
Shugo
, commonly translated as ' ilitarygovernor', 'protector', or 'constable', was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to th ...
*
Kuge
The was a Japanese Aristocracy (class), aristocratic Social class, class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th ce ...
*
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 ...
*
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 ...
References
* ルチエ・モルンシュタイノヴァー. "近代における被差別民の社会的な地位: 日本とヨーロッパの簡略比較." 比較日本学教育研究センター研究年報 第13号 Ochanomizu University, 2017. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
* Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. Rice as Self: Japanese Identities through Time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print.
* Visočnik, Nataša. "Living on the Edge: Buraku in Kyōto, Japan." Anthropological Notebooks 20.2 (2014): 127-143. Web.
Ancient_Japanese_institutions
Classical Japan
Japanese caste system
Social history of Japan
{{Japan-hist-stub