In the Edo period, society was divided into four classes, the samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants, who were placed at the very bottom. Like feudal societies in Europe, the Japanese put the merchants at the bottom because it was felt that they produced nothing and lived like parasites off the labor of the other classes. In reality, the status and power of the merchants closely paralleled their wealth. By the end of the Edo period, they held a crucial place in a society that saw commerce stretch beyond the cities into much of the countryside.
