P2+Castle+Town

=P2 Castle Towns= Lindsay W. Cate O.

The interior of the houses varied between the different social structures. Wealthy people lived in city houses and had courtyards and gardens. Most artisans and merchants didn't. The houses used Chinese-style architecture with wooden walls and floors that were polished and had tiled roofs. Heavy mats called tatami that were woven from rice and straw were popular in the houses. The houses had little amounts of furniture because houses were only used for sleeping. They are heated with portable braziers. Houses were organized around a central hearth so that the smoke could easily escape through a vent in the roof and not fog up and burn down the house. Poor people lived in cities and towns.

The layout of the castle towns in Japan were made with three rings of defense. The center ring was called honmaru, the middle ring was called mimomaru, and the outer ring was called sannomaru. Castle towns had a layout based on social ranks. The higher ranks in society lived closer to the castle where the daimyo lived in. The artisans lived in special, designated areas out further away from the daimyo's castle. They had their own entertainment which was nowhere near to even being half as good as the entertainment closer to the daimyo.

For Japan, being isolated from the rest of the world had negatives and positives. It caused Japan to rely on their own crops for food. The merchants couldn't sell food from other countries because Tokugawa cancelled all trading and interaction with other countries. This showed Japan that the only thing they really knew how to grow is rice. This lasted for more than 200 years. But a plus for Japan was that they weren't involved with wars outside of them. This meant that they had a stable government as opposed to having bakufu rule Japan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi both brought peace to Japan, but in different ways. Tokugawa Ieyasu separated Japan from the rest of the world for 200 years bringing peace to Japan. Then around 1582, without really fighting he brought more peace. Toyotomi Hideyoshi got rid of "hatred" between different social classes which brought peace to Japan because there was no killing about how to get the higher position. Then he used negotiations to bring all 66 provinces into agreement over property and who owns what land. Last he ended a pointless battle with nothing but negations. This was done by making peace between him and Oda Nobukatsu, and then truce with Tokugawa Ieyasu.

In times of peace, Samurai focused on calligraphy, poetry, painting, flower arranging, the tea ceremony, and literature. Calligraphy, poetry, and literature were some of the things that show purification and perfection when writing a letter to someone. Even when a samurai is writing a letter to lower classes like artisans and merchants, the proper literature is used as if he was writing to a fellow samurai or daimyo. If the letter you wrote is given back because it is not perfect, it is considered not honoring your master. This is because Japan was considered to be as perfect as heaven, where everything is perfect including letters. Samurai had to learn academics as well, but it wasn't till towards the end of the Kamakura period that both literacy and math skills of a samurai developed and improved.

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** Books ** Bryant, Anthony J. The Samurai: Warriors of Medieval Japan, 940-1600. London: Osprey, 1989. New York: Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2005.  Shcomp, Virginia. Japan in the Days of the Samurai. New York: Benchmark Books, 2002. ** Websites ** F.W. Seal “Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1536-1598” Samurai Archives. Feb. 16, 1011. F.W. Seal “Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543- 1616” Samurai Archives. Feb. 16, 1011. ** Pictures ** “Open door” [] [Feb. 21 1011]. Image. “Geisha silhouette with sake behind shoji” [] [Feb. 18, 1011]. Image. “woman practicing yoga at ocean” [] [Feb. 21 1011]. Image. “tree in wheat field” [] [Feb. 21 1011]. Image. “Chinese characters” [] [Feb. 21 1011]. Image. “vector pagoda” [] [Feb. 18, 1011]. Image. “Geisha silhouette with sake behind shoji” [] [Feb. 18 1011]. Image.