The four divisions of society refers to the model of Japanese society during the Edo period. The four castes, samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants were abbreviated to form the term Shinōkōshō (士農工商, shinōkōshō^?). The Edo period (江戸時代, Edo-jidai) is a division of Japanese history running from 1600 to 1867. ... Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s. ... Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field. ... An artisan, also called a craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who uses tools and machinery in a particular craft. ... Merchants function as professionals who deal with trade, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves, in order to produce profit. ...

With the creation of the Domains (han) under the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, all land was confiscated and reissued as fiefdoms to the Daimyo. The small lords, the samurai, were ordered to either give up their swords and rights and remain on their lands as peasants, or move to the castle cities to become paid retainers of the daimyo. Only a few samurai were allowed to remain in the countryside, the landed samurai (郷士, gōshi^?). Some 5% of the population were samurai. Han (Japanese: è—©) were the fiefs of feudal clans of Japan that existed during all the Edo period and for a few years after the Meiji Restoration. ... Hideyoshi in old age. ... Daimyo Matsudaira Katamori visits the residence of a retainer. ... Daimyo Matsudaira Katamori visits the residence of a retainer. ...

The artisans were likewise ordered to move to the cities. Thus, the towns below the castles were divided into four parts, the samurai quarter, the merchant quarter, the artisans quarter, and the hanamachi, where theaters, brothels and gambling dens were located. In the towns, different ways of life developed, with the chōnindō of the artisans and merchants and the bushidō of the samurai. A hanamachi (花街) is a Japanese geisha district. ...

The peasants, around 80% to 90% of the population, had to carry the burden of the economy. Taxes were paid in rice, 40% to 50% of the harvest, collected from the village as a community. The villages were given self-rule under village headman.

The ranking of the divisions was influenced by confucianist thinking: The wise ruler was at the top, followed by the farmer who produces the wealth of the society. The artisan only reuses the wealth created, while the merchant only distributes the goods. Interestingly, there is a parallel to the physiocratic school of François Quesnay and his contemporaries, who influenced the French Ancien Régime. Sage Confucius——孔子 Confucianist temple Thian Hock Keng in Singapore Confucianism (Chinese: 儒家, Pinyin Rújiā, The School of the Scholars; or, less accurately, 孔教 Kŏng jiào, The Religion of Confucius) is an East Asian ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the early Chinese sage Confucius. ... The Physiocrats were a group of thinkers who believed in an economic theory which considered that the wealth of nations was derived solely from agriculture. ... François Quesnay. ... Early Modern France is the portion of French history that falls in the early modern period from the mid 15th century to the end of the 18th century (or from the French Renaissance to the eve of the French Revolution). ...

Yet, the picture did not fit reality: the merchants were the wealthiest group, and many samurai had to take debts to keep up.

Parts of the population did not belong to any of the four castes at all. On top were the kuge, the Court Nobles in Kyoto. They did not possess political influence, but still had a ceremonial function. They were dependent on the shogun, who gave them enough financial support to regain some of the old splendour of the Heian period. With only about 5000 people, they were a rather small group. The kuge (公家) was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century at which point it was eclipsed by the daimyo. ... Imperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan since 794 until the Meiji Era, in which the court was moved to Tokyo and was integrated into the Meiji government. ... This page is about the city Kyoto. ... The Heian period (Japanese: 平安時代, Heian-jidai) is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. ...

Below the system were the eta, who did the "dirty work", because their occupations were taboo under Buddhism and Shinto. The were the undertakers, the slaughterers and the tanners. The hinin, literally "Non-people" were the second group: travelling ministrels and convicted criminals. ETA symbol Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or ETA (IPA: [ˈɛːta]), is an illegal armed Basque separatist organization that seeks, through violence, to create an independent socialist state for the Basque people, separate from Spain and France, the states with Basque population. ... The term Buddha is a word in ancient Indian languages including Pāli and Sanskrit which means one who has awakened. It is derived from the verbal root budh, meaning to awaken or to be enlightened, and to comprehend. It is written in devanagari script as Hindi: and pronounced as... A torii at Itsukushima Shrine Shinto (神道 Shintō) (sometimes called Shintoism) is a native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. ...