New literary forms that have emerged from the chonin culture in 17th century Japan

Introduction 

New literary forms have emerged from the chonin culture in 17th century Japan. This century shaped the social structure of the native people living in urban centers through the processes of urbanization, political stability, and rise in print culture. The chonin, also known as the urban commoner or the townspeople, was comprised mainly by the merchants and the artisans. They promoted trade during this period. In the process of expanding business in urban centers, the cultures of the people either changed or assimilated. This paper identifies and discusses the similarities and differences of the chonin cultures as presented by two readings; Japan Eternal Storehouse and; worldly mental calculations. The paper aims to find out the similarities and differences from the stories in both literary works that show the relations of people in the chonin culture during the 17 th Century. 

Similarities and Differences 

One image that is portrayed in both the Japan Eternal Storehouse and worldly mental calculations is a fortune. There is a distinct difference between the fortunes of people in the Japan Eternal Storehouse and worldly mental calculations. Fortune in Japan Eternal Storehouse is attributed to the few in the society who controlled the urban villages in the Kyoto-Osaka area. The economy of the Kyoto-Osaka area grew quickly due to the influences of the merchants and the aspiring changes they had on growth. Local merchants had accumulated wealth through special connections to the domain lords and monopolistic privileges in the area. However, a new type of merchant emerged in the Kyoto-Osaka area who made their fortunes through the new capitalist economy that was based on currency. In worldly mental calculations, the people are portrayed as poor and beggars. The chonin poor had many debts which deprived them of growth and making a fortune during this period. The culture of the stories is different because as one culture focused on amassing wealth, the other culture focussed on the payment of debt in the new year’s eve. 

These works present the profound importance of urban life in the 17 th century Japan to the lives of the people. The community and the space it embodied provided the basis for chonin identity. In both Japanese Eternal Storehouse and worldly mental calculations, the townsman identity was deeply rooted in the local community involvement. The stories relate to the promotion of goodwill to the native people, exclusion of merchant outsiders and the social stratification of beggars and peddlers. The involvement of the people was through trade. The chonin culture promoted trade amongst the people in urban society despite the distinct difference between the rich and the poor. Priests, storekeepers and the samurai were the people propagating trade in the cultures. The cultures exemplified the aspect of trade as people were judged with the trade or wealth they amassed. The rich were respected while the merchants collected debt from the poor in society. The socio-economic history of the 17 th century as portrayed in the works show how the structure of the urban community changed between two classes of chonin. These classes consisted of the privileged chonin who made their fortunes in the early 17 th century through monopoly markets and the new emerging chonin who made their fortunes through the opportunities presented by the consumer economy in the late 17 th century. The privileged chonin were the rich people while the emerging chonin were the poor and unestablished people who also comprised of new settlers in the chonin community. The impact of the shifts in fortunes led to social stratification and growth exemplified by marriage thus leading to diversity in the urban society. 

Another similarity between the two stories is in the field of socioeconomic competition. Both works show the archetypal classes and social relations that exist amongst the people despite the differences in the urban social context. In the historical sense, one such class may be in the privileged chonin while the other class is the merchant capitalists that existed in different regions. The third class of people involved in the socio-economic competition is the itinerant peddler and debtors who appear throughout both texts as a projection of the will to accumulate wealth with the limited initial capital. The idea of the socio-economic competition is vivid as shown in the story of Mitsui who is a tailor. It is through competition that Mitsui’s fellow tailors and clothiers were less enthusiastic about his successes naturally. The innovation of Mitsui was disruptive in the Edo clothing market which brought a backlash from his peers. Trade competition is evident when other local clothiers conspired against Mitsui when he won a major daimyo contract against one of the most dominant clothiers in Edo. The conspiracy was to block Mitsui’s supply of goods from Kyoto and to expel him from the trade association. The failure of these measures to slow Mitsui's success resulted in the use of an extreme measure of draining sewage from the neighbors to his kitchen to ensure he left Edo. Mitsui faced many challenges on account of his business which led to the decision from the Suruga-cho council that the Mitsui should cease business. It was concluded that the clothing business existence with money changers was like mixing water with oil which threatened social harmony. However, this showed the aspect of socio-economic competition and the need for wealth that existed in chonin culture as depicted in the two stories. 

Both stories narrate the rising and falling fortunes of the Merchant classes through various amusing anecdotes. The anecdotes are fictionalized actions of historical figures of people in the Japanese context in the 17th-century economy. These works are able to detach the culture from their historical contexts and place them side by side as cautionary tales for the readers. The stories juxtapose and evaluate a wide range of economic activities. It employs a narrative in the culture that material possession should not form a basis of the description of life thus criticizing certain materialist values of wealth such as greed and hate. However, these values appeared in the chonin culture after replacing the earlier merchant regimes of social affiliation and economic practice. These stories show that despite the wide range of class between the rich and the poor, social values should form the basis of the community structure and function in contemporary society. 

Contradictory messaging is one difference between the Japan Eternal Storehouse and; Worldly Mental Calculations. In Japan Eternal Storehouse, the book purports and shows the various means of amassing wealth in the chonin society. However, the author shows how it is difficult to achieve wealth while further questioning the validity of the wealth amassed for the chonin. In Worldly Mental Calculations, the story shows how urban life had become hell for people in the chonin culture. It shows the experiences of people who are unable to make ends meet while in the Kyoto-Osaka region. It explores the social and psychological effects of extreme poverty where the native people have shifted their interest from amassing wealth to making elaborate schemes to avoid the debt collectors. Both stories depict the importance of social values in the chonin society that was eroded by the pursuit of wealth. They criticize the worship of money in the chonin society and advocate a frugal, honest and steady lifestyle. One of the central themes in the stories is the virtue of thrift which the stories attempt to bring out. Japan Eternal Storehouse uses the story of Fuji-ichi to explain that it is better to be poor than achieve wealth through dishonest means. The spread of the urban merchants led to the development of social vices in the chonin. In Worldly Mental Calculations, it is shown that people were engaging in dubious behaviors which the narrator reacts with occasional pity rather than condemnation. 

The stories are also similar because of the significant structural changes that underwent the Kyoto, Osaka and Edo communities in the late 17 th century. In both stories, similar communication networks that defined the rise of urban space led to increased migration thus contributing to the growth in the urban population. A large number of peasants in the chonin periphery were engaged either in the cottage industry or found work in the cities as street peddlers, day laborers and other forms of unskilled labor. Both stories depict how rural immigrants entered the chonin society as a class of renters with an ambiguous relationship with city dwellers. However, the new merchants or tenants were able to rise in a few generations to become the urban middle class. During this period, there was a relative and gradual decline of the renowned and historical elite class. This led to the transformation and development of the chonin culture and society as a whole through socioeconomic practices. The final result of these shifts in wealth and social status led to the formation of a highly stratified and diverse urban society that comprised of a range of social affiliations, economic, and geographical variations. Another similarity is the awareness of the shifts in the social practices and nature of urban communities in the stories. For example, it is depicted in the story how one widow of Nara called Matsuya. The widow refuses to remarry in honor of her husband despite her poverty and young age after her husband dies after his fortunes declined. Matsuya offers her house in a lottery game which was arranged by the town elders in the end. This story showed the social tensions and dynamics within urban society. 

Conclusion 

New literary forms emerged from the chonin culture in 17th century Japan. This century shaped the social structure of the native people living in urban centers through the processes of urbanization, political stability, and rise in print culture. The chonin were comprised especially by the merchants and the artisans. They promoted trade during this period. In the process of promoting trade in urban centers, the cultures of the people either changed or assimilated. This paper has identified and discussed the similarities and differences of the chonin cultures as presented by two readings; Japan Eternal Storehouse and; worldly mental calculations. The findings show that there is a distinct difference between the fortunes of people in these cultures in the two stories. 

In worldly mental calculations, the people are portrayed as poor and beggars while in Japan Eternal Storehouse fortune is attributed to the few in the society. Also, in both stories, the townsman identity was deeply rooted to the local community involvement through trade and association. Both works show the archetypal classes and social relations that exist amongst the people despite the differences in the urban social context. Another similarity between the two stories is in the field of socioeconomic competition. In the historical sense, one such class may be in the privileged chonin while the other class is the merchant capitalists that existed in different regions. The third class of people involved in the socio-economic competition is the itinerant peddler and debtors who appear throughout both texts as a projection of the will to accumulate wealth with the limited initial capital. Both stories narrate the rising and falling fortunes of the Merchant classes through various amusing anecdotes. Contradictory messaging is one difference between the Japan Eternal Storehouse and; Worldly Mental Calculations. The stories are also similar because of the major structural changes that underwent the Kyoto, Osaka and Edo communities in the late 17 th century. In both stories, similar communication networks that defined the rise of urban space led to increased migration thus contributing to the growth in the urban population. Both stories depict how rural immigrants entered the chonin society as a class of renters with an ambiguous relationship with city dwellers. However, the new merchants or tenants were able to rise in a few generations to become the urban middle class.