A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (95 page)

4
The system was a slight modification of the Chinese system, particularly with regard to the primacy of the warrior.

5
Impurity was defined in theory on religious grounds, especially as Shint
kegare
(pollution). This concept dated back to before the Nara period and mostly referred to physical dirt or death or serious illness, but in practice also came to include a wide range of ‘undesirable things’, including, in some cases, simply being an outsider and/or a threat. Menstruation was also included in
kegare
, meaning that women were generally considered unclean – though obviously they were not removed from mainstream society. They were, however, banned entry to sacred places such as Mount Fuji (and in fact are still banned from some mountains even today). This is despite the fact that the paramount Shint
deity, Amaterasu, is female.

6
Adoption between classes was far from unknown, and wealth could also work wonders for status. The distinction between artisan and merchant was always weak, and in the latter part of the period the distinction between peasant and artisan also became blurred, especially as a result of part-time work in both spheres of activity. There was even some blurring between the theoretical extremes of samurai and merchant, especially in the early days when foreign trade was allowed. The sh
gunate and most
daimy
used ‘favoured merchants’, who in those early days at least were of samurai class despite their merchant activities. Later in the period some merchants were also allowed certain samurai privileges such as wearing swords. In the final days of the period too there were again cases of samurai engaging in merchant activity. And throughout the period there was a degree of blurring of the class distinction between peasant and samurai in that village headmen were also often allowed the samurai privilege of wearing swords.

7
Bolitho 83, p53.

8
Nakai and McClain 91, pp544–5, and Reischauer and Craig 79, p86.

9
See Cooper 65, p154.

10
Carletti was actually describing the years 1597–98 but his comments apply equally to punishments a few years later. See Cooper 65, pp156–8, and see also Cooper’s related note pp166–7.

11
See Cooper 65, p159.

12
Cooper 65, notes p167.

13
See also Cooper 65, notes p165.

14
This also relates to the distinction between in-group and out-group, embodied in the Japanese concepts of
uchi
(inside or home) and
soto
(outside) that are considered basic to Japanese group formation and perceptions of belonging and identification. These have been widely discussed by many commentators. See for example Nakane 70, or Bachnik and Quinn 94.

15
Befu 68, p314.

16
See Haley 91, esp. pp57–62, and Haley 92, pp42–3.

17
See Massarella 90, pp359–63.

18
See, for example, the various contemporary accounts given in Ch. 22 (‘Persecution’) of Cooper 65, pp383–98 (esp. p390).

19
Elison 83b.

20
Massarella 90, pp343–4.

21
A detailed account of the Dutch and their Deshima base is given in Boxer 68. Another predominantly non-Catholic nation, England, might also have been allowed to continue trade with Japan if the sh
gunate had not over-estimated the extent of English Catholicism – possibly being deliberately misled by Dutchmen keen to retain exclusive trade privileges. See Massarella 90, pp359–63.

22
The exceptions included some intercourse with Korea, where a
wakan
(Japan House) was located in Pusan. There were a surprisingly large number of Japanese overseas at the time of this ban. Japanese traders (and pirates) operated as far afield as the Indian Ocean and the Arafura Sea just north of Australia. There were also many Japanese actually residing overseas. There was a community of some 3,000 Japanese in the Philippines, there were numerous Japanese in Siam (Thailand), and Japanese residents as far away as Seram (in present-day southeast Indonesia). These people were eventually absorbed into local communities. See Bolitho 93, p69, for further illustration of the scale of Japanese overseas activity at the time, and similarly Massarella 90, esp. pp135–6. See also Frei 91, esp. pp14–15. Frei estimates that some 100,000 Japanese left Japan’s shores between 1604 and 1635, of whom some 10,000 may have taken up permanent residence overseas.

23
The seal was popularly called
maru
(circle), which is still used today as a suffix in the name of Japanese ships (rather like the English prefix SS or HMS).

24
Morris-Suzuki 96, p83.

25
Morris-Suzuki 96, p83.

26
Many others followed him, including in modern times. One of the best-known was Nitobe Inaz
(1862–1933), who tried to explain Japan to the world at the start of the twentieth century and saw
bushid
as the key national characteristic. See his 1905 work
Bushid
: The Soul of Japan
.

27
See the translation of
Shid
(The Way of the Samurai) in Tsunoda 64, v.1, pp 389–91, esp. p390.