~Social Statuses Of the tokugawa empire~
Social hieracrchy
The Tokugawa social tower.
Emperor: The head of the empire. There is only one.
Shogun: Although the emperor was head of the empire, this supreme military leader had the higher power.
Daimyos: These men were the military lords. They are subjects to the shogun.
Samurai: The warriors of the military they are highly respected.
Farmers: They were highly respected in this society because they grew their own food.
Artisans: Produced many necessary goods. they were still considered less important than the farmers.
Peasants: At the bottom because they didn't contribute much to society.
Above is the social caste system of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The highest social class was the Emperor, the emperor did have the highest social class, but he had little political power. Under the emperor is the shogun who held all the political power. Next, is the diamyo who are military lords that usually own huge amount of land; they were all subjects of the shogun. The next class is the samurai class, they were very honored members of society who could kill a peasant simply because he had wanted to.. Next is the farmers who were higher up in the social order because of Confucius belief that members of society should work to earn their social class, and since farmers grew their own food they were highly respected. Artisans were under the farmers because even though they worked for the diamyo and samurai making necessary things for them. The last on the social class system was the peasants, which consists of merchants and beggars Merchants were often very wealthy because the trade system in Tokugawa was very good, but they were still lowest on the social class. They were seen as scum because of the Confucius beliefs. Beggars were also in the category because they were poor and they didn't contribute much to society. Nobody moved throughout the caste system.
By: Natalie Rogers
By: Natalie Rogers