ArtisansandMerchants2

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Artisans and merchants played a very large role in Ancient Japanese society. All of the city and even the samurai needed them to make or sell things for them. Some artisans and merchants were wealthier than others, but most were very poor. Without the artisans and merchants, Japan would not have had as many goods as they did.

Artisans and merchants were greatly needed in the Ancient Japanese society. Though they were important, they only made up 3% of the population. Artisans and merchants were lowly respeected, but varied from the very wealthy to the very poor. Most merchants wanted to be rich, but were at the bottom of the social structure. Some merchants met there goals, but most didn’t. An example of a wealthy merchant would be a sword maker who made swords for samurai and got paid very well for doing a good job on it. A very wealthy merchant could become richer than a samurai.

Since artisans and merchants didn’t have much money, their houses, called nagaya, were very small. Even though they had homes, artisans and merchants were constantly traveling. The need for trade was often very slow in most cities, so merchants traveled to sell their goods. Since most merchants couldn’t afford carts, they carried their goods or strapped them on horses. In wealthier cities, artisans and merchants were in a position to become very rich. The reason that they could become rich was because the town's need for supplies might have been greater. A samurai could have also needed swords.

In 1603-1868 Japan, social ranking was one of the most important things in Japan social structure. Ranking at the top of the social structure was the samurai, of which the top one was the Shogun himself. The Shogun controlled the daimyo, and the daimyo controlled the samurai. The next in the ranking were farmers, who produced rice, which was the social hierarchy. Next in the social structure falls the artisan. The line separating Craftsman (or artisans) and Merchants was difficult to determine because economic activities usually overlapped, so they were about the same in the social ranking. Crafts from craftsman were usually demanded by samurai, especially swords. Artisans were needed in society for many things and were respected well. Merchants were very low in the social ranking. It was said that merchants sold things for unfair prices. They sold things, but didn’t produce things like artisans or farmers, and made money off of labor of others. Merchants were also highly engaged in trade. Citations:
 * Dunn J., Charles, Everyday //life in Traditional Japan,// Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969
 * Odijk, Pamela. __The Japanese__. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1991.