Classes of Japanese Society
From Recollections of Japan by Vasiliĭ Mikhaĭlovich Golovnin, 1819.
From: 1811 C.E. To: 1819 C.E.
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Recollections of Japan by Vasiliĭ Mikhaĭlovich Golovnin, 1819.
In the narrative of my adventures, during my captivity in Japan, I have had frequent occasion to speak of their laws and manners. My remarks upon this subject have, doubtless, already made the reader, in some measure, acquainted with the Japanese, I therefore pass over whatever I have mentioned before.
The inhabitants of Japan are divided into eight classes:
1. Damjo, or reigning Princes.
2. Chadamodo, or Nobility.
3. Bonzes, or Priests.
4. Soldiers.
5. Merchants.
6. Mechanics.
7. Peasants and Labourers.
8. Slaves.
First Class.—The reigning princes do not all enjoy the same rights and privileges: some have greater or smaller advantages above the others, founded on conventions and agreements; in consequence of which the Princes joined the temporal Emperors, when the latter threatened to destroy the power of the Kin-Reys.
These privileges are different not only in things of consequence, but they even extend to the most insignificant circumstances of etiquette and ceremony. Some princes, for instance, have the right to use saddle cloths of beaver-skin when they ride on horseback; others have them of panther-skins, &c. But the greatest privilege of them all consists in their governing their principalities as independent sovereigns, as far as the general laws of the empire allow, and as is consistent with the welfare of the other parts of the empire.
The dignity of all the reigning princes is hereditary, and properly always belongs to the eldest son; but a laudable and useful ambition in the princes to have only worthy successors, frequently causes them to break through this rule. If the eldest son is incapable of supplying the place of his father, the ablest of the younger sons obtains the right of succeeding him. It not unfrequently happens that a prince, induced by the incapacity of all his children, deprives them of the succession, and adopts the most worthy of the younger sons of another prince, has him educated under his own eye, and leaves him his title and his possessions.
The consequence of this measure is, that the reigning princes, in Japan, are almost always sensible men, well versed in public affairs: hence, too, they are so formidable to the Emperors, as they can always restrain his power within the due bounds.
Second Class.—The Nobility, also, enjoy very important privileges in Japan. All the places in the second council, or Senate, all the important offices of state, and the posts of governors in the imperial provinces, are filled up entirely from their body alone. If a war breaks out, the commanding' generals are chosen from among the reigning princes or the nobility. Every noble family has a particular distinction, and the right to keep a train of honour, which is made use of by the eldest of the family.
The nobility is also hereditary, and descends to the eldest son, or, according to the will of the father, to the most worthy. If the father judges his legitimate unworthy of this dignity, he may adopt a son from another family; hence, a good-for-nothing nobleman is a rare phenomenon, which only the too great love of a father for an unworthy son can render possible.
Third Class.—The Ecclesiastics, who consist of priests and monks, are very numerous in Japan, and divided into several classes, which have their particular privileges in the different sects: the principal of them are not indeed sanctioned by the laws, but enjoyed by the ecclesiastics among all nations, I mean idleness and luxury, at the expense of others.
Fourth Class.—In the class of Soldiers, the higher military officers must not be included, because in Japan these are chosen out of the nobility, or another class, and such as have already filled public offices in the civil departments. Every body who is in the service of the Emperor or the Princes must learn the art of war, that he may be fit, in case of war, to be employed against the enemy.
As the Japanese consider war merely as a temporary concern, they will not dedicate their whole lives to the service. Besides, the situation of the empire, and the pacific policy of the government, often make it impossible for a whole series of generations, from the grandfather to the great grandson, to serve their country in this line. Every Japanese of distinction, therefore, endeavours to obtain a civil appointment, and learns besides the art of war, in order, in case of need, to command the troops which are in garrison in the fortresses, or are distributed in other places to maintain order and tranquillity among the people.
The profession of the inferior military officers, and of the privates, is hereditary, and therefore they form a distinct class. No soldier, however old or weak, obtains his discharge till he can bring a son to supply his place, who must have already thoroughly learned every thing belonging to the service. The boys are capable of bearing arms at the age of fifteen. If a soldier has more than one son, he is at liberty to dedicate all of them, or only one, to the military profession; but as in Japan the service is easy, and the maintenance good, soldiers generally let all their sons follow the profession, and serve themselves till their death. If a soldier has no sons, he may adopt one, educate him, and let him supply his place. The laws allow both the soldiers and the other classes to adopt three children, but if these die, no more can be adopted, as it is presumed to be against the will of the Gods.
The military profession is held in great honour in Japan. The common people, and even the merchants, give the soldiers in conversation the title of Sama, (Sir) and shew them all possible respect. I have spoken before of the privileges which the imperial soldiers possess above those of the princes:
Europeans who have visited Japan have always taken the common soldiers for people invested with high offices ; and this is very natural, because when European ships arrive, they generally put on rich silk dresses, embroidered with gold and silver, receive the Europeans proudly, and remain sitting, and smoke tobacco while they speak with them. At the beginning of our imprisonment we were in the same error: we believed that the Japanese feared us greatly, since they appointed officers to guard us. But when we became better acquainted with these supposed officers, we found that they were soldiers of the Prince of Nambu.
All the soldiers have the right to wear a sabre and dagger, like the first officers of the empire. In almost every village are two or three soldiers, whose business it is to preserve order, and to keep a watchful eye on the police officers.
To deprive a soldier (dossin) of his profession is the greatest punishment that can be inflicted on him. The oldest soldier, or subaltern officer, who was on guard over us when we escaped, was degraded, but afterwards obtained the rank of a common soldier again: during this time he suffered his hair, beard, and nails to grow, and shewed in this manner his profound affliction. The Japanese soldiers have such a sense of honour, that they frequently fight duels with each other in consequence of being affronted.
Fifth Class.—The class' of merchants, in Japan, is very extensive and rich, but not held in honour. The merchants have not the right to bear arms: but though their profession is not respected, their wealth is; for this, as in Europe supplies the place of talents and dignity, and attains privileges and honourable places.
The Japanese told us, that their officers of state and men of rank behaved themselves outwardly with great haughtiness to the merchants, but, in private, are very familiar with the rich merchants, and are often under great obligations to them. We had with us, for some time, a young officer, who was the son of a rich merchant, and who, as the Japanese said, owed his rank not to his own merit but to his father's gold: thus, though the laws do not favour the mercantile profession, yet its wealth raises it; for even in Japan, where the laws are so rigorously enforced, they are often outweighed by the influence of gold.
Sixth Class.—The Japanese seem not yet to be acquainted with the difference between mechanics and artists; therefore the architect and the carpenter, the sculptor and the brazier, &c. belong, among them, to one class: their rights and privileges are almost the same as those of the merchants, except those which the latter acquire by their riches.
Seventh Class.— The peasants and labourers are the last class of the free inhabitants of Japan. In this class are included all those who go into the service of others to gain their livelihood; for Japan is so populous, that every body who possesses the smallest piece of land does not cultivate it himself but hires persons who are quite indigent to do it for him. We had soldiers among our guards who possessed gardens, and paid labourers to cultivate them; they themselves went in their leisure hours a hunting, and sold the game they had caught. In this class they also reckon sailors, whom the Japanese call Fäkscho-Sschto, i.e. labourers. The lower classes in general are denominated by them Madsino-Sschto, literally translated, people who carry on their business in the streets.
Eighth Class.—The last class of the inhabitants of Japan are slaves; they are descended from the prisoners taken in ancient times in China, Corea, &c. and from children who were sold by their parents as slaves, from poverty and inability to bring them up. This trade in children is still carried on; but the law to make prisoners slaves has been also abolished since the time that the christian religion has been extirpated: at present prisoners are kept in confinement for life, as one of the most ancient laws prescribes; by this means the Japanese have the advantage that the prisoners cannot communicate their religion or their manners to the people. The slaves are entirely in the power of their masters.
I could not learn from our Japanese acquaintance to what class the civil officers, who are not nobles, the physicians, the literati, and the younger children of the nobles belonged ? They told us that these persons were respected in the state, had titles suitable to their rank, but formed no particular class. The literati and physicians wear a sabre and a dagger, like all persons in office, and are on an intimate footing with them: but the Japanese could not tell us whether they possess a civil rank or any dignity answerable to it; we only heard that the eldest among the two hundred physicians of the temporal emperor was equal in rank with the governor of Matsmai.
Golovnin, Vasiliĭ Mikhaĭlovich. Recollections of Japan. Printed for H. Colburn, 1819.
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