P6+Castle+Towns

**Castletowns Period 6** Michael D. and Lexi K.


 * Introduction**

Castletowns came into being when the shogun of Japan closed trade with anyone outside of Japan, forcing people to live closer together to obtain what the needed to survive. The castles became surrounded by samurai and beyond the samurai were merchants and artisans living in separate parts of the community then samurai. The castle was built for defense from enemies of the daimyo and from invaders. The castletown’s community was made up of lower ranking samurai, merchants, and artisans; sawyers, carpenters, roofers, armor smiths, and sword smiths. Things like this were what happened beyond the walls in times of peace.


 * Castles**

Oda Nobunaga was one of the first high lords to construct a large palace. Many lords followed his lead, eventually small towns of samurai began to grow around the castles. The castles were made of wood. Intricate interlocking joints held together the castles without nails. The walls of the castle were had wooden and were made of bamboo. The walls were made using a plastering technique. The roof of a castle was tiled. The kitchen of the castle is close to the bottom floor, the castle also has shuttered windows. The base of the foundation is made up of granite stones. The sleeping quarters of the castle were nicer based on your rank. Soldiers usually sleep near the upper front of the castle, so they could keep a look out for night invaders. Gardens and pools surrounded the castle. Mazes of corridors, gateways, and courtyards were built around the castle. They were designed to make it hard for invaders to close in on the castle, because the castle was designed for protection. The lords and daimyo ruled the towns from their castles. Because of this the castle became the center of town government. Castles also were turned to the place for religion.


 * Castle Defense**

The castle’s architecture is designed to defend against invasions. The defenses consist of three rings; the Honmaru, Ninomaru, and the Sannomaru. The Sannomaru is the outermost ring of defense. The Ninomaru is the middle ring, where the lords usually lived. The Honmaru is the center ring, which contains the castle tower, where battle is overseen and commanded by the warlord. The castle tower is the most heavily defended part of the castle. It is usually five to seven stories tall. The castle has many of its own defenses, including wooden walls coated with plaster to protect from fires, a maze of corridors, gateways, and courtyards, stone-dropping chutes that prevented invaders from climbing up walls. Nijo castle has a very clever defense; the nightingale floorboards, which “chirp” when anyone steps on them, alert the castle guards of intruders. The castle was surrounded by walls and moats. The walls had guard towers, of Yagura, along it, which acted as watch towers and storage rooms. A series of walls and gatehouses also surrounded the castle, which confused and trapped invader.


 * Castletowns**

Castletowns came into Japan at a time of unity and growth. When Edo was established that is where the shogun settled. The towns connected the roads to Edo and trade routes. Along the roads were stores, inns, and stables. The Castletowns were commercial centers Other than the samurai surrounding the castle, merchants and artisans became part of the community. In the late 16th century the Castletowns became the daimyo’s political and administrative offices. They also turned more cities. If you wanted to have entertainment you must travel outside of the Castletown. The strict social classes of castletowns were: samurai; peasants; artisans; merchants.


 * Castletown Community**

The town surrounding the castle is made up of samurai, merchants, and artisans. Samurai enforced laws made by the town’s daimyo, and collected the rice taxes. The area surrounding the castle was occupied by samurai. The higher rank samurai you were the closer to the castle you lived. Special areas of the town were set aside for the merchants and artisans to live because they were not as important as other members of the community. Artisans made goods for the castle and samurai, like pottery and clothing. There were also sword smiths and armor smiths. Sword smiths make samurai swords and armor smiths make samurai armor. Carpenters, sawyers, and roofers were the other common jobs. Carpenters built the town’s houses. The carpenter’s day includes a third of the time spent sharpening tools as a ritual sharpening of their mind through meditation. Sawyers sawed the wood and roofers made the roofs of houses. Merchants are some of the wealthiest members of the community, but they are the lowest class. They sold products made by other people; because of this merchants were not allowed to become samurai. They became isolated from the rest of the community. As a result of this class separation from the other community members, merchant’s forms entertainment were different from samurai entertainment. Merchants enjoyed watching gambling, wrestling, and kabuki theatre. Kabuki theatre uses a revolving stage. All the wealthy members of the community gave their sons an education.


 * Family**

Family is the basic point of Japanese society. Some families had three generations in their household. The family leader was an older adult, who was in the prime of their life. Older non-leading men were respected and had a great say in family decisions. Women in the family obeyed only three people; her father, son, and husband. The marriages were arranged by parents. Peasants had one wife, while wealthy men had one official wife, and many more wives called concubines. Upper class people depended on many of their relatives to help their family maintain power in the community. Only the sons of wealthy families received an education.


 * Conclusion**

Castletowns are important political, religious, economical, military, and cultural places for the Japanese. The castletowns’ defenses defended from invasions in times of war, and their towns were important to the economy, with all of the traders and artisans and other workers. The daimyo’s castle was his political headquarters. All this made castletowns an important part of the Japanese culture.

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