-
#28 Bushi in the Edo Era
Click here to go to the YouTube Video When you think of Japanese history, you probably think of the bushi, or the samurai warrior. What were they like during the Edo period ? According to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan’s population was approximately 32 million from the 18th century to the mid-19th century, or the end of the Edo period. The bushi population was 7% of the total population, so it was roughly 2.2 million. The vast majority of the Japanese population was peasantry. As the ruling class, the bushi had high status in the society. Among the bushi class, there was a strict…
-
#11 The Emergence Of The Samurai
Click here to go to the YouTube video The topic of this time is the emergence of the samurai. How did the samurai gain power in the aristocrat-centered Heian period? 今回のトピックは武士の登場です。貴族中心の平安時代、武士はどのように力をつけていったのでしょうか。 In the 10th century, as the Ritsuryo system loosened, local politics changed. Provincial governors rode horses and armed themselves to collect taxes, and peasants and wealthy families also armed themselves to oppose them. 10世紀、律令制度がゆるむにしたがい、地方の政治は変わりました。国司は馬に乗り、武装して税を取り立て、農民や豪族も武装して国司に対抗するようになりました。 In the capital, the Imperial Court recruited low-ranking nobles and others as military officers and put them in charge of guarding the capital as samurai. In this way, warriors specializing in the martial arts were born, and gradually a group of warriors led by a…
