P1+Castle+Towns

=P1 Castle Towns= Bryce S. and Esra B.

PURPOSES OF CASTLE TOWNS

The towns surrounding the castles in Japan served as both commercial centers and an extension of the castle's defenses. The need for castles increased after the 15th century, when Japan had gone into the era of warring states. During that period, Japan was made up of many different independent states which were fighting each other and building small castles on top of mountains for defense. When Oda Nobunaga reestablished a central authority over Japan and Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed the reunification of Japan, many larger castles were built across the country. The roads surrounding the castles are like a big maze with dead ends and narrow winding streets. Some castle towns had one large road that led straight to the castle’s main gate. Any force attacking who went down this road would find themselves in a very heavily fortified part of the town, where they could easily get stopped by Samurai or other defenders of the castle. The main gate of the castle is the strongest gate of them all and the road the attackers went on to get to the castle was lined with the homes of loyal defenders of the castle.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

The strict social structure in Japan was important for the people of Japan to know who to serve and pay taxes to. Led by the Seitashogun, (Shogun), the Bakufu was the “tent government” in Feudal Japan. This means that the Shogun’s government (Shogunate) was temporary. The Bakufu government had a special social structure. The Emperor was the highest person in the social structure, and was the chief Shinto priest. The Shogun was second in the social structure, and was the military and political leader. The Daimyo was a high class of Samurai and provided the Shogun with warriors in exchange for land. The Samurai were next in the Bakufu social structure and got small rice estates for their service for the daimyo. Ronin were samurai without masters. Peasants were a majority of the Japanese population, and grew rice and paid taxes for their lords. Below them were artisans and finally merchants.

SHINTO AND ZEN

Shinto and Zen were a big part of Japanese culture in the time of the samurai. They were the two main religions in Japanese culture. Shinto was started in Japan and was the traditional religion of Japan. They had no founder, sacred text, religious philosophy, or moral code. Cleanliness was the major emphasis in Shinto, which included ritual washing, neatness and order, and personal integrity. The followers of Shinto had a code of honor and respect for nature. Their three steps in worship are purification, offering to the kami, and the prayer of thanks and petition. Zen Buddhism has had a big effect on Japanese culture. Parts of Zen are martial arts, haiku poetry, and sword skills adopted by Samurai. Zen means meditational absorption because meditation was very important to Zen followers.

The castles during the 1500's were ingenuously designed to help attack the enemy while staying safely inside the sturdy walls of the castle. Castles were a sign of safety and defense. Castles were made plainly of wood that was filled with bamboo and clay. Many of the castles during the 1500’s had many corridors and gateways designed to confuse the attackers. Samurai lived inside of these castles and protected the castle from the inside by attacking and throwing stones from chutes in the sides of the castles. One of the first castles was the Tenshu built by Oda Nabunaga in 1576. Castles were built on small planes or hills unlike European castles.

SAMURAI

Samurai were scholars and warriors who defended the castles and had a special code of honor called Bushido. They defended their masters or daimyo in battle. As said in __The Ghost of the Tokaido Inn__: “You have one chance to save your own honor. This is the sword that my lord used to kill himself. I have used it to avenge him. Take it now and kill yourself, as a samurai should.” This act of suicide, by killing yourself at your own hand is a called seppuku. Once a daimyo is going to lose a battle, they commit suicide to keep their honor, instead of falling to an opponent.

MERCHANTS AND ARTISANS

Merchants and artisans also had an important role in castle towns. Artisans produced goods for samurai living inside the castles. Merchants and artisans helped to start castle towns with the work they did, bringing people near the castles, which creating castle towns. Artisans did jobs or roles such as; sword smiths, armor smiths, Carpenters, sawyers, and roofers. Although Merchants were usually very rich, they were looked down upon by society. They were in the lowest social class because they sold things and did not produce things such as other castle town people did. Merchants were not allowed to be samurai, they were barred from the rest of society and had to have separate forms of entertainment because they were looked down upon by the rest of society.

All of these had a big role on the building, purpose, and use of castles and castle towns in Japan.

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