Changes

==Economy and Trade==

==Economy and Trade==

*kaikin (sakoku), intensification of agriculture, development of domestic trade networks, merchant guilds and organization, rice brokers --> banks

The Edo period saw considerable economic growth, including the intensification of agriculture; the expansion of domestic trade networks along road, river, and sea; the growth of merchant guilds and of proto-industrial production networks; and the emergence of a system of [[rice brokers]] which represented the first futures market in the world and something of a proto-modern banking system.

In the late 18th century, merchant houses worth more than 200,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' numbered more than two hundred. With one ''ryô'' being ostensibly equal in value to one ''koku'', this made the wealth of these merchant houses equivalent to that of some of the wealthiest ''daimyô''.<ref name=brief135/>

In the late 18th century, merchant houses worth more than 200,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' numbered more than two hundred. With one ''ryô'' being ostensibly equal in value to one ''koku'', this made the wealth of these merchant houses equivalent to that of some of the wealthiest ''daimyô''.<ref name=brief135/>

Though taxation rates differed dramatically by region, farmers on average paid roughly 33-50% of their agricultural yields in taxes to their lords. For fishermen, the percentage of their catch was lower, around 20-40%. Throughout the period, only about one-third of taxes were paid in cash, with the rest paid in agricultural & other products and commodities.<ref>Craig, 71.</ref>

Though taxation rates differed dramatically by region, farmers on average paid roughly 33-50% of their agricultural yields in taxes to their lords. For fishermen, the percentage of their catch was lower, around 20-40%. Throughout the period, only about one-third of taxes were paid in cash, with the rest paid in agricultural & other products and commodities.<ref>Craig, 71.</ref> Taxes were based on land surveys conducted chiefly in the 17th century; reassessments of agricultural productivity were rare in the 18th and 19th centuries, and tax rates remained largely stable.<ref name=craig79>Craig, 79.</ref>

 

==Popular Culture==

==Popular Culture==

Samurai earned their incomes as stipends paid by their lords in fixed amounts of rice (measured in ''[[koku]]''). Roughly 80% of ''daimyô'' were paying out stipends to their retainers by 1700, and roughly 90% of samurai were reliant on such stipends by 1800, with only ten percent earning their incomes more directly, locally.<ref name=brief133/> As stipends were not reassessed and rarely increased (without a promotion in rank or position), by the late Edo period, many samurai became impoverished, even as many members of the commoner townsman class (''[[chonin|chônin]]'') became wealthier and wealthier, earning their incomes off economic activity (i.e. manufacture and trade).

Samurai earned their incomes as stipends paid by their lords in fixed amounts of rice (measured in ''[[koku]]''). Roughly 80% of ''daimyô'' were paying out stipends to their retainers by 1700, and roughly 90% of samurai were reliant on such stipends by 1800, with only ten percent earning their incomes more directly, locally.<ref name=brief133/> As stipends were not reassessed and rarely increased (without a promotion in rank or position), by the late Edo period, many samurai became impoverished, even as many members of the commoner townsman class (''[[chonin|chônin]]'') became wealthier and wealthier, earning their incomes off economic activity (i.e. manufacture and trade).

==Notes==

==Notes==