Copy of japan ccot student sample
Analyze major changes and continuities in the political and economic structure of Japan from 1600 to 1900. CCOT student sample Between the years 1600 and 1900, the island of Japan underwent profound change in an effort to catch up with the industrialized world, but throughout this process, many aspects of Japanese policy and culture remained stagnant. The economy of Japan changed in that the balance of wealth tilted towards the merchants, but their legally oppressed status persevered. Japan also changed with regards to who held real political power, although this power was consistently wielded by the elites. Foe Japan, the 17th and 18th centuries were times of great flux, as the legally inferior peasants and merchants began to gain wealth. Merchants, who were the lowest class by law, became enriched as trade was opened up with Europe, initially by force after the American intrusion into the island. The personal wealth of the lower classes was so great that samurais, nominally the highest social class, frequently were in debt to the ‘lowly’ merchants. The shogun at one time even issued a decree to peasants ordering them to avoid luxuries, as their economic rise was met with disapproval by the elites. The reason for this shift in wealth towards merchants and the global context for the change, was the rise of Europe and America into trading empires, which engaged with Japan’s merchants to both parties’ mutual benefit. However, through all of this change, merchants remained, in the eyes of the Japanese law, the lowest social class. The irony that samurai would be debtors to merchants was not lost on some samurai, who decided to become merchants themselves in order to improve their economic standing. \reason for this policy's longevity is likely a result of China’s historical influence on Japan. Chinese society and their confucian tradition was also opposed to trade and merchants (while, paradoxically, it made China rich for so many years),