Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History

Introduction

Introduction This book examines the social and economic history of Japan from earliest times until 1600. Social and economic history encompasses numerous and diverse topics , including population and factors affecting mortality and fertility, specifically war, famine, disease, marriage, birth control, diet, and migration. The social and economic historian also investigates how people make a living and the technologies by which they do so. This book therefore addresses topics such as silk, cotton, and salt making; agriculture and fishing; ceramics; and construction. Another important economic sector includes commerce, markets, and money. Social history means the study of how society is organized and the relations among its members. It is concerned with class and family structures and experiences, life in villages and cities, gender relations, and the condition of children. Finally, social history takes into account material culture as represented by housing, sanitation, clothing, modes of transportation, and other ordinary hallmarks of everyday life. Taken together , these phenomena helped form the basis of daily life for people of all classes and regions in Japan from the prehistoric era through 1600. They interacted in complex ways with religious beliefs, political institutions, and ties to the outside world. The perspective of social and economic history on pre-1600 Japan is important in its own right, but also offers the basis for a more complete understanding of later periods. More broadly, it adds to human knowledge about the nature and diversity of global social and economic patterns. English-language surveys of this long epoch in Japanese history have largely approached their subject through either elite cultural or political-institutional narratives. Although these approaches have contributed valuable insights, they offer , by virtue of their emphasis on the life of the privileged few, only a partial view of Japan’s distant past. Fortunately, Japanese, American, and many other scholars have created a repository of excellent data and research on social and economic history, and I draw on this material to fill out the picture of Japan’s society and economy. In the following pages, I will trace two main themes, one economic and one social. In terms of the Japanese economy, I will describe how the residents of the xv xvi Introduction archipelago gradually moved from a forager-collector mode of subsistence to a more predominately agrarian base, supplemented by sophisticated industries and an advanced commercial economy. The transition from foraging to farming took place over many centuries, as persons moved back and forth from settled agriculture to older forager-collector regimes in response to ecological, political, and personal factors. Even in 1600, there remained a substantial portion of the population that never settled down to farm wet rice, as the governing elite desired. At the level of society, this book will show how, as the population expanded over the last three thousand years, the social structure became increasingly complex , and occupational specialization and status divisions more intricate. In some ways,Japan has always been a land of diverse social categories,reflecting the islands’ rich variety of landforms and flora and fauna and thus possibilities for subsistence. Particularly between 1300 and 1600, as the population grew relatively rapidly, the social structure became ever more elaborate. Along with this expanded social specialization came trends toward more tightly knit corporate organizations, whether in the village, city, market, or family. Along with this tendency toward higher levels of organization came transformations in gender relations and the situation of children. The focus of this book is on continuity and change in social and economic structures and experiences in Japan until 1600. But, because the political approach has so dominated the historical narrative and because the economy, society, and political systems are so interwoven, I will begin most chapters with an outline of developments in the political system of that period. Readers will note that as the economy became more agrarian and commercial, and the social structure more complex, political organization also grew larger and more intricate so that, by 1600, the political elite was able to count on a bigger surplus of commoner produce and labor than ever before. I will also take into account cultural phenomena, particularly religious beliefs. Just as culture is a reflection of social, economic, and political circumstances, religious sensibilities to some degree affect and are affected by the nature of the society and economy. There is never a simple relationship among all the various factors that make up history, whether material, institutional, or intellectual. Finally, I will address the growing connectedness between the residents of the...