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- 19. Shokusanjin (1749-1823) Peony / Pivoine
Fan painting, ink on paper
Shokusanjin was a well- known, witty kyoka (poet) who was often invited to dinners at the homes of wealthy merchants or to accompany them on boat rides. This fan painting is typical of what he may have painted as a gift for them.
OPPOSITE
20. Hiroshige Ando (1797-1858) The Drum Bridge in Snow / Le pont Drum sous ia neige Woodblock print
specializing in cash or commercial crops such as cotton, tobacco and mulberry leaves for silkworm production. As time went on, some peasant families became wealthier than others by diversifying and developing village industries such as cotton spinning, weaving and dyeing, and the brewing of sake. The poorer peasants led a subsistence life, and if taxes were too heavy or if there was a natural disaster, it could cause rural unrest and even riots. Most poor peasants ended up becoming part of the major labour reservoir for local or rural factories, or they flocked to the cities for employment.
By the 18th century there was an unnatural stratification of society taking place as the merchants were becoming quite wealthy, despite remaining disenfranchised on the lowest rung of the social ladder. They congregated in the towns to provide for the needs of the rather large upper class and, as a result, Edo Japan became a land of many large and small cities with a large merchant class. Even though the merchants had the lowest status in Edo society, they had the greatest amount of social mobility. As their wealth steadily grew, it could often buy them respect and favours from the ruling class, allowing them to succeed in gaining a great deal of control over the economic life of the country. There developed an indebtedness of the top social class to the lowest and most despised merchant class. They occasionally intermarried with the samurai class and even became disdainful of the poorer samurai. Affluent
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