p. 1

1

[close]

p. 2

table of contents rise of the samurai the craftsmen the farmers the merchants index glossary page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page page 7 page 8 page page 9 sources sources 2

[close]

p. 3

rise of the samurai japan used to be ruled by an emperor the emperor lived in a rich palace in kyoto he was treated like a god but the problem was the emperor s government was badly organized in the 12th century the emperor lost his power people didn t pay taxes because they decided it was wrong for an emperor who didn t have much power to live in a very rich and wealthy place soon the emperor s government and army became so weak that they couldn t control any crimes rich landowners needed protection so they began to create there own private army the men who were in the private army were called samurai the samurai which meant the one serves in japanese promised to listen to their lords then when the emperor learned about the samurai and saw how they practiced he decided he wanted to use them instead of his army the samurai grouped to become rival clans which often fought wars against each other one of the first wars was the gempie wars which was between 1180-1185 that was won by the minato clan their leader yorimoto was given the name shogun which mean s commander-in chief the shogun actually ruled japan for the next 7 centuries by hadyn 3

[close]

p. 4

the craftsmen when more people moved to live in edo the people who worked as craftsmen were needed more than usual because more buildings were needed craftsmen started learning when they were very young the young craftsmen left their homes to live with craftsmen so the craftsmen could teach the apprentices almost every single day if the apprentice was lucky enough when the craftsmen was getting old or going to retire the apprentice would take over the ordinary people in town went to a public bath every day in the bath every day as well as getting clean they also found their friends to catch up on the local gossip but not all the craftsmen worked for the same thing for example some indigo-dyers lived in kanda-kon yacho some carpenters lived in moto daiku-cho some smiths lived in sakurada kajicho but some craftsmen live in one place with the others like the plasterers live in kanda shiro kabecho sawyers live in ogacho tatami makers live in tatamicho founders live in kanda nabecho gunsmiths live in teppocho and scabbard makers live in minami sayacho by hadyn 4

[close]

p. 5

farmers a long time ago the largest group of people was farmers farmers were very important because they grew their country s rice .the farmer s life was very hard the farmers had to use fire for cooking the worst part was when bad weather came their job out side became very difficult farming is still tiring for the farmers today no wonder they always look sleepless by hadyn 5

[close]

p. 6

the merchants the merchants had the lowest rank in edo because they didn t make useful things like swords and rice during this period the merchants had to played a very important roll they had to open shops to earn money they became rich then they could lend money to the samurai soon the merchants were rich and wealthy the government tried to stop them showing off their wealth for example they were not allowed to wear expensive rich and silk cloaks but the merchants would break the law by wearing silk inside their cloaks now they get to wear whatever they want by hadyn 6

[close]

p. 7

index silk important apprentices centuries badly organized 6 5 4 3 3 7

[close]

p. 8

glossary people farmers people who work outside on fields and harvest things sleepless when you can t sleep craftsmen people who make things kyoto a city in japan 8

[close]

p. 9

sources where we found our information books livedhow they lived-a samurai warrior by anne steel edo the city that became tokyo by akiro naito pastlook into the past the japanese by clare doran 9

[close]