Gokenin
Videos
A gokenin was initially a vassal of the shogunate of the Kamakura and the Muromachi periods. In exchange for protection and the right to become jitō, a gokenin had in times of peace the duty to protec
The home of a gokenin
Chōnin
Videos
Chōnin was a social class that emerged in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period. The word chōnin comes from the character chō meaning city ward and the character nin meaning person. In t
Gokenin
…a gokenin was not of omemie-ijō (御目見以上) status – in other words, he had no right to an audience with the shōgun. From the mid-Edo period, wealthy chōnin (townsman) and farmers could join the samurai class by giving a large sum of money to an impoverished gokenin to be adopted into a samurai family and…
Sculpture of a retired chōnin as a lay Buddhist. It was common for chōnin to take up Buddhism after retirement. Edo period, c. 1700.
The house of the merchant (Fukagawa Edo Museum)
Fukagawa, Edo (Fukagawa Edo Museum)