p. 1

by maya 1

[close]

p. 2

gtuÄx Éy vÉÇàxÇàá the rise of the samurai the farmers the craftsmen the merchants glossary pg 3 pg 4 pg5 pg7 pg8 index pg9 sources pg10 2

[close]

p. 3

ftÅâÜt g{x e|áx Éy à{x ftÅâÜt in the earliest time in japan an emperor ruled the people he was a rich man and he lived in kyoto but the people never saw him by the twelfth century the emperor was starting to lose his power and the rich and powerful people wouldn t obey him they wouldn t pay their taxes then there were robbers rich landowners needed protection so they began to recruit their own private armies the men who served in such armies were called the samurai the japanese samurai were so powerful that the emperor used them instead of his soldiers the samurai grouped to form groups which often fought wars against each other the first of these were the gempei wars that started in 1180 and 1185 that was won by the minamoto clan their leader yorimoto was given the title shogun the word shogun means commander-in-chief he was the head of all of the samurai the shoguns actually ruled japan for the next 7centuries although the emperor was still officially in charge the samurai were the number one in edo times by maya 3

[close]

p. 4

g{x ytÜÅxÜá the biggest groups of people in edo were the farmers they were important because they grew a lot of rice for the country they wore a cloak made out of straw and a hat made out of bamboo they had to work very very hard with their whole family they used the fire for heat and cooking by maya 4

[close]

p. 5

g{x vÜtyàáÅxÇ as more people came from the countryside to live in edo the job of the craftsmen got more important for the craftsmen because a lot of new buildings were needed the craftsmen learnt their trade by starting out as beginners when they are very little they left their mothers and fathers to live with a master who would teach them his skill if he was lucky the apprentice would take the master s job when he grew the ordinary people lived in small houses they went to a public bath every day here as well as being clean they would meet their friends and catch up on the local gossip by maya 5

[close]

p. 6

g{x `xÜv{tÇàá the merchants were lower in japan according to the government the merchants had the lowest position in the edo society they didn t make useful products like swards or rice but they sold other people s work however in that period of history the merchants were to a play a really important role setting up shops and also lending money to the number one samurai the government tried to pass laws stopping the merchants from showing their wealth for example they weren t supposed to wear expensive clothes the merchants wouldn t listen and lined the inside part of their clothes with silk the mitsui family were a very strong merchant family by 1700 their own shop called echigoya had became japan s most popular store they brought the idea of selling items at a fixed price instead of deciding with each customer what the price should be they also sold material cut to the size that the customer wanted instead of a big piece of material by maya 6

[close]

p. 7

glossary apprentices the master s student history something that is about long ago bamboo a type of plant that pandas usually eat minamoto clan a group that was in the war old days long long ago 7

[close]

p. 8

index clan pg3 echigoya emperor local gossip material rice samurai pg6 pg3 pg5 pg7 pg4 pg3 8

[close]

p. 9

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

[close]