By looking at Musui's Story by Katsu Kokichi, this paper explores the falling apart of the Japanese society during the late Tokugawa period due to the fluidity of the once immobile class system. As the era progressed, samurai took on other jobs and lived less than honorable lives while the merchants became more powerful than samurai but were unable to broadcast this due to the social hierarchy. Tensions grew between the two groups and Katsu's autobiography is able to showcase this period. At the beginning of the Tokugawa period, the population was split into four categories, samurai, peasants/farmers, artisans/craftsmen, and merchants. Samurai were at the top of the Edo society totem pole, while the rest were ordered in their effect on society. …show more content…
It was a large way the government was able to control the public. Throughout the Tokugawa period, the immobile class system began to turn mobile. Samurais were not needed since there were not any battles taking place. These men needed to find another way of making money so they turned to different jobs, like administrators, swordsmen, and moneylending. Katsu is a perfect example of this. He was born into a samurai family, however he never lived during a time of war so he never fought in a battle. His family was unable to keep afloat financially because the cost of living rose but the samurai stipend did not. Without a steady income of money and a need for his services, Katsu turned to other ways to make a salary. He ran away twice, one of which was to escape his financial problems from gambling and visiting the pleasure district of town, Yoshiwara. When he returned from his travels, Katsu began other jobs to make a living, like becoming a sword smith and a moneylender. With this possibility of movements between social rankings, began the demise of the Tokugawa period. The merchants grew tired of hiding their new wealth and power while the samurai became increasingly indebted to the …show more content…
At times he held high admiration for his family and their reputation, while at other times he did not seem to care what he did as long as it benefitted him. When Katsu was a child, he lost a fight and was afraid of the dishonor it would bring to him. He considered the practice of harakiri, or suicide by slicing open his stomach, in order to prevent his and his family's name from being tarnish by his defeat. Fortunately, a rice dealer convinced Katsu to not go through with his plans, (Katsu, page 13). Also, Katsu earned quite a bit of respect from his peers through his skills of swordsmanship and also his financial support of those around him. He seemed to climb high up the ladder each time he lent money out to someone since that person was now in his debts, (Katsu, page 96) This happened often that people would see Katsu's abilities, whether it was swordsmanship or money lending, and he'd end up being their go to person for help. This is not to say that Katsu's life was all integrity and righteousness. He was also deceitful on many occasions and constantly threw his money at immoral causes. During both of his times running away from home, Katsu would lie to people in order to find a place to stay or food to eat. At first he lied to clergymen in order to stay the night in temples, (Katsu, page 28) As an adult, he created this story that he was a daimyo on an important mission so that he could stay the night