More stuff about the common people. Life of Japanese commoners: kzitem.info/news/bejne/kY-OzHmwp5WJmqw Samurai being *ssholes: kzitem.info/news/bejne/0p-N3KaHkaWpd20 Peasants vs samurai: kzitem.info/news/bejne/oph4taOKnpeEZaQ Please consider supporting the channel =) 🔸PATREON (blog, art): www.patreon.com/Linfamy 🔸MEMBERSHIP: kzitem.infojoin 🔸MERCH: linfamy.creator-spring.com (shirts, stickers, phone cases, and more!) 🔸DONATE: www.paypal.me/Linfamy
@squidfeet7278
2 жыл бұрын
thanks for the content man!
@oddish2253
2 жыл бұрын
I'm glad that, that engineering degree is being put to good use.
@marocat4749
2 жыл бұрын
Will thehitorians land in rice hell?!
@nothuman3083
2 жыл бұрын
Ah the old trick of saying your a serf that's a farmer, when you're really a craftsman letting your brother farm your steed for you as you pay taxes in crafts to the lord and keep the produce to sell. Historically knights where brutal enforcement of taxes for a reason, peasants really didn't like paying them. Unless you forced or gave them some ridiculous request to elect an official that totally won't down spiral to end the systems inplace.
@theawesomeman9821
2 жыл бұрын
Please make video on the New Pokemon: Legends Arceus game. It has several sidequests that are rooted in Japanese folklore.
@ailius1520
2 жыл бұрын
That "0.2% Nonhumans" section of the pie chart had me laughing more than it should have. Yokai infiltrating human settlements shouldn't be a laughing matter.
@danielm5535
2 жыл бұрын
…the rock sealing a yokai just broke… their population is growing.
@innocentpasserby9632
2 жыл бұрын
Glad I'm not the only one intrigued by it. I'm like, "are we talking about kitsune, tanuki, and others here?"
@Wertsir
2 жыл бұрын
If only the truth were so light, the world would be a brighter place. Unfortunately, that percentage is not made up, instead it refers to the _Burakumin,_ the lowest caste in Japanese society during the Edo Period, who performed jobs that were considered “tainted” in Japanese culture (examples include prostitutes, executioners, undertakers, butchers, tanners, plumbers, beggars, etc), and for this reason they were ostracized and made untouchable. Nobody would look at them, nobody would interact with them, and they faced heavy discrimination by the other Japanese people, who did not consider them to be Japanese, or even human, instead calling them Hinin which literally translates to “non-humans”. They were forcibly separated from the general population and made to live in Ghettos, and this status could be passed from parent to child, resulting in them effectively living in Segregation every bit as brutal as what African slaves faced in America, except that they were biologically indistinguishable from other Japanese people. This designation officially ended with the Meiji Restoration, but in practice the discrimination continued and continues into the modern day. You can find very good documentaries on the way they are treated even now, recorded with modern 4K cameras. It’s soul crushing. Because of the way they have been excluded from the more legally upstanding parts of Japanese society, and the way that they have been forced into poverty and prevented from receiving education, upward social mobility is almost impossible for them, and they thus make prime recruits for organized crime, which for many is seen as their only option as often only criminals are willing to even acknowledge their existence. Some put up to 70% of the Yakuza’s members as having belonged to this class, though it is difficult to tell if these numbers are accurate due to the heavy discrimination they face. The fact that many of them are illiterate due to the ways education was denied them means that they are rarely in a position to write their own press releases, or object to the things other people say about them. I am sure many of them would have been much happier living their life as Yokai. At least Yokai have power. Instead they are forced into a life of brutal oppression where those in power treat them as little more than cockroaches. It’s deeply sad. The common people were still treated like people, the Burakumin were not.
@tomorbataar5922
2 жыл бұрын
@@Wertsir Huh, til. But why would they discriminate against butchers? I can understand executioners, prostitutes, undertakers, anyone dealing with sewage, they were at the bottom in Europe too, but butchers? How tf are you supposed to prepare meat without them, seems like a profession that should have a bit of a higher standing.
@KyrieFortune
2 жыл бұрын
Gods, I wish. It refers to burakumin, a social stratum that was, and secretly still is, considered subhuman. Some of them end up joining gangs or the so called yakuza because it is the only way they can make money, other means are not available to them due to discrimination. All because they did jobs that were considered dirty or impure because they involved filth or blood or, get this... the arts. Ever wondered why the red light district in Tokyo is called after a theatre style? It's because prostitutes and actors were considered part of the same group.
@chazhoosier2478
2 жыл бұрын
This misconception doesn't apply only to Japan. I read some research about labor in medieval Europe that found the average peasant family spent as much time producing cloth as it did farming.
@dawnmana5876
2 жыл бұрын
Even a farmer's almanac can tell you more about common life of the past than most history books. Example: there is a day listed called Distaff Day where women were supposed to get back to spinning after the Christmas season. Spinning, weaving, quilting, woodcrafting, and a lot of blacksmithing were all done during the farming "off" season.
@dinamosflams
2 жыл бұрын
@@dawnmana5876 ngl living half of my year in farming stuff and half in woodcrafting and acksmithing seems to be a very neat life. Might try it
@Athalwolf13
2 жыл бұрын
I am tempted to claim this misconception seems common across a *lot* of day to day life in medivial times. Like, how many people probably believe that lords controlled the day to day life when at best... They lent peasant land and allowed them to own a portion of the products they produce on it. Also that farmers worked every day from morning to evening in the fields. Though this *did* become a thing when quarterly rotation became a thing
@aetherkid
2 жыл бұрын
@@dinamosflams our ancestors knew that living such a life was superior to working in factories. The capitalists and the state worked together to forcibly enclose the commons and drive people into hard labor in the cities. I can't wait to go back to a simpler life once we finally defeat this evil system.
@stormisuedonym4599
2 жыл бұрын
@@aetherkid ... You should study more history, comrade. That "evil system" plays a big part in why you have so much free time every day.
@tonyhakston536
2 жыл бұрын
I expected some kind of revelation. Like farmers being only a small sliver of the population. “Feudal Japan had the economy necessary to actually exist as a society” is not all that mindblowing.
@mytimetravellingdog
2 жыл бұрын
yeah this video is trash and very misleading.
@hasanmuttaqin464
2 жыл бұрын
@@mytimetravellingdog it's not tho, the thumbnail didn't say "FARMER IS ACTUALLY RARE??!!" or anything it just state that "yeah... she be a fisher, not farmer"
@LaCriaturaDelMar
2 жыл бұрын
@Skalbird Genome Awesome non-sequitur there, mate. Is going into random videos just to talk about masks a hobby of yours?
@StrikeNoir105E
2 жыл бұрын
@Skalbird Genome Given what we know of people's reactions to the Spanish Flu in the early 20th century, the discourse would be more about "These people had all the information and the science in the world, and still fell prey to the anti-mask and anti-vaxx propaganda leading to more issues they needn't have gone through". Any reasonable person abiding by mask mandates don't wear them at home or among family members, and even outside you can take a breather if there's no one around or if you're eating outside. Only idiots or anti-maskers think you need to wear masks inside when you're alone.
@jrrarglblarg9241
2 жыл бұрын
@Skalbird Genome Facebook is not a medical journal and memes are not research. Stop spreading medical misinformation.
@boomerix
2 жыл бұрын
They translated it as Farmers, but meant Peasants. That's what (most) common people in Medieval Europe were, peasants. We also associate peasants mainly with farming, but not all peasants were farmers. The translation error is understandable.
@paintedweasels
2 жыл бұрын
Good thing this guy came along to remind the Japanese of who they really were, always sad to see a people living in ignorance of themselves.
@sheemafatima2953
2 жыл бұрын
:0
@rickwrites2612
8 ай бұрын
@paintedweasels what makes you think he isn't of Japanese ancestry? It's a voice, with a slight accent.
@just_radical
2 жыл бұрын
Linfamy: Medieval Japanese people weren't just rice farmers Me, a cultured Linfamy watcher: They were poop barons.
@treasureobasuyi894
2 жыл бұрын
Lol
@DBT1007
2 жыл бұрын
And ppl need to remember that these chinese/east asians(yea they're technically Chinese since they all came from china region and then migrated to korea, japan, etc. Im not racist) also NOT ENTIRELY WITH PALE WHITE SKIN. Why i talk about this thing? Am i racist? NO! It's important to know about this fact because later will impact other sectors. Basically, Mongolian race have light skin but not pale white. Light brown or darker. Why? Because most of the times, they work in the field and their geographic condition is also mostly flat. And it's more worse if they're fishermen. The sun hit them harder for fishermen. Both the sea and beach area so hot. Few shades. Well not majority of them are like that. It also depends on their location. Some mongolian-chinese ethnic ppl that live in like.. Lush forest region or mountain with many shades from stones or caves tend to not that darker in skin color And because this skin color thing, many east asians "worships" the lighter skin. That's why u always find those weird cosmetic in every chinese ethnic society ancient artworks(china, japan, korea, vietnam. But vietnam is more like the "low chinese". Same with thailand). It's about... some of their women wear that thick white powder on their face. Especially the famous one is from Japanese artworks. Especially for pr0st1tute or courtesan girls. And besides that pale white cosmetic tradition thing, the female also prefer to be in their home. One of the reasons is to avoid their skin color getting darker. And with this logic, that's when u know a person is from low or higher class. High class people aka the nobles tend to be in their house. So their skin color tend to be lighter. And about this lighter skin color thing keep continues even up until now. And i feel bad for modern humankind lol. Especially those spoiled brats. With the climate crisis getting more intense, it's harder for them to keep their light skin. Except if they be like.. 24/7 always in their home. Which is impossible except if you're a rich spoiled brat 🤣 Now the most whitest i think the Koreans there. Korean seems like the most chinese than the chinese in china, man. Eyes narrowest, nose "shortest", palest skin. Again, all of this are not for racism stuff. It's to clear the misunderstanding. To clear some false informations. If u cant believe me, go find any of colored photos about Chinese ethnic ppl in the past. On KZitem. You may see many of them are actually brown skinned. Like.. even in 1950s or something, many of them still brown skinned. Light skinned trend in chinese/east asian ethnic society started since after the world war i guess. Like what happen to some Japanese in Japanese stories that take place in theie medieval time or even ancient time. Like Kimetsu no Yaiba there for example. Lol. Lots of light skinned Japanese there, bruh. They all nobles or merchant?? Lot of them have pale skin there in Kimetsu no Yaiba. Tanjiro, since he's charcoal maker, his skin should be darker. Dark brown. He need to cut down a tree, collect some firewoods, and then get smoked by the charcoal burner. They all live in mountain.. which is hotter but feel cool. Nezuko too but she need to be light brown but depends tho. Do nezuko helps their family charcoal business? And this brown skinned japanese, korean, Chinese thing helps us to better understand the past. Like.. How samurai blends in with the surrounding with their brown skin. Or how ninja blend well with their brown skin. It's weird for ninja to have white skin, right? Imagine. And more. More application that based on this darker skin thing. Even some Japanese dont know about their own history... poor them. Trapped inside their own small world.. not knowing about their history and the world. But sometimes, ignorance is a bless. Soo it's also can be a good thing i guess. And you can see this "whitening" process on African as well(besides the mixbred between African-European). Look at Africans that born in America n Europe continent. And now, it's the Southeast Asian Malays. Malay region now getting richer so their ppl also getting whiter there. BUT again, remember, climate crisis getting worse and worse each year.
@treasureobasuyi894
2 жыл бұрын
🤣🤣🤣🤣. This was a comment section about poop!
@headhunter1945
2 жыл бұрын
@@DBT1007 You, too, are a poop baron, I see
@dragnarok4286
2 жыл бұрын
@@DBT1007 also for the last comment of course people of other skin would become the same skin as everyone else through generations you have to remember all humans were originaly black from south africa but because of their locations afther migration it took european humans only 20k years to become white so eventually no matter of migration the skin color will adapt to the geographical location
@ferrousoxcide393
2 жыл бұрын
"yet historians worked very hard for years, to tell their grad students to do all the work". I felt that on a personal level Also rice farming was seasonal. Even today farmers have the seeding season and the harvest season. Some maintenance in between. Rest of the year is free... see time to practice other trades.
@mfaizsyahmi
2 жыл бұрын
It makes no sense if you know how farming rice works. There are periods of intense work, like planting the shoots into the wet fields, and later harvesting them, but at all other times there isn't much of anything to do. Would 75% of the people spend 75% of their time watching rice grow?
@manumusicmist
2 жыл бұрын
I guess historians don't know much about agriculture. :3
@dynamicworlds1
2 жыл бұрын
Most people being farmers =/= farming bring the only thing people did. A pre-industrial society means most people _are_ farmers (and/or herders/fishers/etc) but _also_ doing other crafts. "Cottage industry" is a common term for much of that in Europe and Japan would be no different. Taxes get paid in, well, whatever the government accepts as taxes, and since a feudal government needs just about anything, could be paid in just about anything. Specific arrangements differed, by location of course and generally you wanted to produce as much of your food in the local region as possible (as it tends to be harder to transport a given value in food than a given value in iron, for example), but once you're near-ish subsitance level for food production, you're just making what you can. Farming puts nearly all hands on deck for planting and harvest time, but has more to do with regional population density than directly producing wealth Though higher population density tends to support increased specialization of labor, which can increase that, of course, but no farmers really did _only_ farming. (And also, waterways generally facilitate travel, not block it, so I'm not sure where anyone gets the idea where a little bit of water isolates a community)
@SukacitaYeremia
2 жыл бұрын
like wall painters watching paint dry
@satyakisil9711
2 жыл бұрын
They might go fish or something, I reckon. Paddies often had fish as well.
@kgoblin5084
2 жыл бұрын
@@dynamicworlds1 just gonna say, this comment deserves far more upvotes, as it manages to be frankly more informative than the video :/
@andrewcars75
2 жыл бұрын
Just finished my bachelors in History and while you present some good points about how the Japanese economy worked pre-industrialization your views on historians are very misleading. When historians refer to an economy as agrarian we do not mean it is majority farmers, we never have meant that. That is a simplification used to teach highschool students because lets be honest the average person doesn't need to know the complexity of pre-industrial economies. Agrarian economies, which Japan was, are ones where a majority of the population either works in food production or is connected to the land in a significant way. While a noodle maker is not a farmer they are heavily connected to a farmer and are involved in food production. A fisherman while not a farmer is involved in food production. Someone who builds plows is involved in food production because they are providing the necessary tools to work the land. Someone who tends animals is connected to the land. The reason why 70% commoners/farmers is used is because 70% of the population was involved in food production its just they all worked specialized jobs within that chain. Japan is not very special when it comes to agrarian economics, acted pretty much the same way every other major agrarian civilization did. Workers in Europe and China were heavily specialized but the majority of the population spent their time producing food. Good fun video that does a decent job going over the domination of land in records and in the perception of governments but you act as if this is a relatively new find, when historians have always been aware of the complexities of agrarian societies.
@edi9892
2 жыл бұрын
Speaking of mountains, rivers, and taxes: in Germany, there's a river through a forest which was used to transport logs, but for just a short travel, they had to pay 14 toll stations! This prompted one lord to make special elevator for logs to carry them over the frigging mountain to get past all those toll stations!
@Linfamy
2 жыл бұрын
Nice lol. Did the lord charge a toll for others to use his elevator too?
@edi9892
2 жыл бұрын
@@Linfamy yes. Of course. It required a lot of manpower to get the logs across the mountain...
@robertjarman3703
2 жыл бұрын
The Holy Roman Emperor ruled over a collection of toll booths just like the President of France rules over a collection of toll motorways.
@mh-tw4kx
2 жыл бұрын
Was it the HRE?
@robbieaulia6462
2 жыл бұрын
@@mh-tw4kx most likely
@hulakan
2 жыл бұрын
This is not revelation. Which "historians" made these "big mistakes"? When I was studying Japanese history in the 1970's, every Japanese history professor I knew was well aware of the complexity of the medieval Japanese economy. The role of skilled craftsmen and artisans (classified as commoners) has been recognized by historians of Japan for as long as I can remember. Please provide an example of any Japanese historian who did not recognize this fact.
@Lowlightt
2 жыл бұрын
Clickbait is click bait.
@Terrapin22
2 жыл бұрын
Imagine all historians agreeing on something.
@sarahtwycross422
2 жыл бұрын
@Banni While I agree with the sentiment, I think Linfamy (real name Linh) is actually Vietnamese. Though I admit that's drawing from nothing more than what he looks like, his accent and his name being Linh.
@sarahtwycross422
2 жыл бұрын
@Banni I don't actually disagree with/am not surprised by any of the things in your response, but it's kind of weird to be like "I wasn't talking about the video" when responding to a comment responding to the video. Within the context, it is reasonable to assume you were mistaken as to Linh's identity (I had also previously assumed he was European). I also opened my comment with 'I agree with the sentiment', you probably should've been able to draw from that where I stood.
@jackjackyphantom8854
2 жыл бұрын
@@sarahtwycross422 I think Linfamy is either Chinese or Vietnamese. Cool history Bro is a Chinese.
@1290Li
2 жыл бұрын
Even neighborhoods in modern Japanese cities have names based on the traditional occupations. Many of the names become defunct due to renaming or mergers.
@graham1034
2 жыл бұрын
So basically Japan was like every other society at that stage of development. Most people WERE farmers but they also did other stuff when not farming. And they farmed a bunch of different crops. I seriously doubt that historians really thought 75% of Japanese people were purely rice farmers.
@coca_0146
2 жыл бұрын
they didn't, what historians says is that ~70% of the population worked on the food chain. i.e farmers, cooks, fishers, people that produce tools for farmings etc.
@arrownite4527
Жыл бұрын
The point of the video wasn't that Japanese historians didn't believe in the complexity of the medieval Japanese economy. The point was that there was a general scarcity of records and documents regarding specifically those specialized sectors, while documents regarding rice were highly prevalent in comparison. The revelation was in finding those records in previously overlooked places, which then provided historians with a furthered understanding of those sectors and the lives of the people who worked in them. He even acknowledges this in the video by saying "Who made the noodles?", instead of "Did they make noodles?". Historians of course knew of other sectors in the medieval Japanese economy, the issue was just the lack of documents specifically regarding them.
@tirzahbetchan460
2 жыл бұрын
I love how informative these are! The art is so cute too!
@Linfamy
2 жыл бұрын
@samuraiboi2735
2 жыл бұрын
@@Linfamy back then as a kid i used to think them as ice cream people cus they are wearing those cone shaped helmets and i think are they wearing wafers.
@keizerkuzco6459
2 жыл бұрын
How is the art called, am curious to look it up myself.
@niamhmn4
2 жыл бұрын
Welcome to the rabbit hole, friend
@mushroom_thing7927
2 жыл бұрын
@@samuraiboi2735 W A F E R H A T
@Jumpoable
2 жыл бұрын
Hyakushou 百姓 is from Chinese, & literally means "hundred surnames" meaning "the populace" or "commoners." The term developed to mean "farmer" in modern Japanese, as, well, I guess MOST commoners were farmers, but it doesn't MEAN literally "farmer" 農民/農夫 would be the actual word for agriculturalists. How those modern Japanese historians thought "hyakushou" means only "farmer" means they barely know anything about their own language. I think the term "hyakushou" became synonymous with "farmer" in the modern era due to all those illustrated children's books about fairy tales/ folklore, & there's always the HYAKUSHO (parents of Kaguyahime/ Momotarou) & that's the old-timey term the books would use, & I guess more & more people without a classical education just thought it meant farmer... Nobody from China would think that 百姓 meant just "farmer" although China was much more urbanised earlier on & there were a lot of different social roles & jobs for even the lowly commoners LOL.
@andrewsuryali8540
2 жыл бұрын
It's a two-step mistranslation. The proper contextual translation for hyakushou is peasant, not farmer. In fact, this is the proper scholarly translation for the term as well. My guess is someone in the Linfamy team made a second association that peasant = farmer then directly translated hyakushou as farmer.
@ck88777
2 жыл бұрын
>How those modern Japanese historians thought "hyakushou" means only "farmer" means they barely know anything about their own language. or, the guy who made this video is being totally misleading bc literally every japanese historian knew there was division of labor in feudal japan, there was no "grave mistake"
@jackjackyphantom8854
2 жыл бұрын
In the past, commoners in Japan didn't have surnames.
@jackjackyphantom8854
2 жыл бұрын
Things from China can become different things in Japan. For example, Shogun (将军) means military general that serve the monarch in China, but it became the title of a hereditary military dictator (the head of the Samurai) in Japan.
@Jumpoable
2 жыл бұрын
@@jackjackyphantom8854 Well that's because most Japanese "emperors" and their court were inept so the head generalissimo TOOK OVER in Japan. The shogun was still giving face to the emperor's court & was still officially "the general" even though he wielded all political power. Also, 天皇 was a Tang Dynasty era term for the Chinese emperor ("Celestial Sovereign") but I mean, the Japanese 'tennou' was king at best on that little island nation. Hardly an "emperor" LOL. Or perhaps he functioned as a "pope" did in medieval Europe, mostly there for ritual & religious purposes.
@Nekomikuri
2 жыл бұрын
Very interesting and hilarious video. As someone studying Japanese history too and getting ready to apply for welfare myself, I really enjoyed this. I also believe because historically Japan banned meat, maybe this added to the idea that they really emphasized rice as a crop. Also if you ever search up the traditional woodworking songs from the mountains, you'll hear some really great tunes
It blows my mind that historians would disregard the obvious presence of mining and fishing (at the very least). It's obvious from everything about Japan that they had a fully developed multilevel society for a LOOONG time
@MrAsaqe
2 жыл бұрын
Problem is when your standard is backed by staple crops and unsurprisingly not inedible currency people think your economic system is primitive
@IskenderAl
2 жыл бұрын
Well, it's just not true. Historians didn't disregard other crafts, no medieval historian would claim such a thing; the fact is, and it goes against the sentiment of this video - a large percentage of Japan's population was indeed occupied with rice farming. Japanese farmers also fished, traded, knew how to build, knew carpentry, sewing, how to make pottery and so on. They were self-sufficient. Specialized laborers like smiths, jewelers, horse breeders, and other craftsmen, were marginal and generally confined to the cities.
@nin2494
2 жыл бұрын
@@IskenderAl didn't the video say most people did farm, they just had other jobs that the nobles of feudal society dismissed as part-time occupations? Like a parent calling you a profession because of your degree rather than your actual employment
@MrAlepedroza
2 жыл бұрын
Modern historians were the ones taking into account the mistakes of the earlier ones.
@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes
2 жыл бұрын
It's not true. No one could possibly think that. You know. Because Japanese metal goods exist. Farming is seasonal and people who do farm as an occupation can do multiple things in addition to that. This is how just about every pre-industrial sedentary society has worked. The idea that they weren't farmers at all is a bad take away promoted by the sensationalist presentation.
@jasonhale6945
2 жыл бұрын
I love the sarcasm and the references seamlessly woven in. I learned and laughed today. Kudos!
@ebinshumate3132
2 жыл бұрын
"or about a million Russian Rubles right now" that would be about $9,389
@AlexBodrov
2 жыл бұрын
or roughly 1,120,234.35 JPY
@jakubmateuszkowalski4558
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, the joke is sadly a wishful thinking.
@zurielsss
7 ай бұрын
The Russian exchange rate is manufactured, official black market rate would be lower. Also, you probably have a problem exchanging rubles for legal tender in foreign countries.
@dromedda6810
2 жыл бұрын
5:49 as someone who dropped out 4 years into my degree and instead works as an IT consultant, this one hit to close to home :(
@atlotl
2 жыл бұрын
"My father once fell into that trap. And now he's dead." Well I'm going to take notes on not to be your father.
@tamerahdortzbach8804
2 жыл бұрын
"And like a courtesan's legs, they spreaded far and wide" 🤣🤣🤣 I'm DYING! I ALMOST MISSED THAT LITTLE NUGGET OF PURE GOLD 🤣🤣🤣
@hu3bman
2 жыл бұрын
I friggn love Japanese kasa/gasa bamboo/rice hats! Fell in love with the thumbnail fsr...
@Limrasson
2 жыл бұрын
I mean who in their right mind would think that a town which produces and trades in salt is poor? Wtf? On the other hand, we talk about medieval Japan, but the "middle ages" is a huge time period, certainly the structure of society changed a lot during this time from this perspective as well. But if we, as laymen, think about it and assume that Japan was initially an island with small human communities spread around then that suggest that A - Earliest communities are centered around food and fresh water. This might be farmland, but might be a lake with fishing and farming. Might be a good mountain region with lots of animals to hunt and trap. B - As trade became more viable, communities could exchange new types of commodities, which meant that previously not too good areas were now good to settle around. IE. a tiny village that can only sustain a tiny community of hunters now has a thriving community of miners. C - Hence this video. This is what seems logical to me.
@andrewsuryali8540
2 жыл бұрын
The salt thing is a side effect of the "Chinese bias" in East Asian historiography. A CHINESE salt-producing center was very likely to be poor and with very undiversified economy because salt was a state monopoly in China. The salt made the state rich but the people producing the salt had no recourse to sell it and actually profit from it, so they're always poor. Only during times of turmoil and dynastic replacement would an opportunity arise for salt makers to become entrepreneurs and even then usually salt gangs would take control of their communities first. East Asian historians therefore used to view salt production in their own countries as being very similar to the Chinese situation, but of course we now know that in Japan the salt monopoly never worked out so salt was a freely traded commodity that made salt producing towns rich.
@ck88777
2 жыл бұрын
who in their right mind would think that japan didnt have division of labor during those times? everybody knows about traditional japanese artisanship, everybody knows japan has always relied heavily on fishing, most people know how important salt was esp to preserve food before refrigeration and as other comments have pointed out, japanese historians have always known this when you really think about it this video is pretty ridiculous
@DeathDefyingPuddle
2 жыл бұрын
Your deadpan humor cracks me up every time.
@Andromahlius
2 жыл бұрын
Non humans 0.2% ? Damn, we got discovered that early ?
@beedykh2235
2 жыл бұрын
6:57 This mountain and island drawing is really good. I like it.
@KirbyLinkACW
2 жыл бұрын
Posting a new video to prevent me from going to sleep for the night? I didn't realize Linfamy was a yokai.
@Linfamy
2 жыл бұрын
Success!
@pizza_chu_7801
2 жыл бұрын
I fell for the same trick. 😭
@katiebea9258
2 жыл бұрын
Crud; didn't realize how late it was until I hit this thread ... Thankfully, I am retired, so I don't have to worry about when I retire.
@Cythil
2 жыл бұрын
You see smilier things in Europe, really. Farming being an important thing for people living outside cities. But not everyone owned a farm. And there were plenty of side hustles. Owning a farm was a status symbol. That made you a freeman. But even serfs had plenty of side hustles. I mean, back then, you could not just go to the city to buy your stuff. No. Most of the time you had to make it yourself, or at least know someone in the local village that could. Of course, how much of a division of labour there was in medieval Europe depends on location and period, too. But people farmed because they had to. There was no local grocery shop. . And cities were much more uncommon and far smaller. So in some way everyone back then was a farmer (even city folk often had a bit of land set aside for cultivation, or maybe just a few pigs).
@YingofDarkness
2 жыл бұрын
It absolutely shocks me that nobles and other people far removed from the common folk made up perspectives about what their citizens were like. Poor future grad students. Very interesting video! I actually wonder if this doesn't also apply to other countries!
@rafaxd8178
2 жыл бұрын
Also, like in most cereal-based societies, the work on the rice filds would happen in a concrete period of the year (plant and harvest) and also it will have another activities related, like repair of infrastructure, tools and care for the work animals. So, part of the time of the year will be "free" to develop other activities (like animal raising, shepherds, salt, fishing) so they can gwt eggs, meat, milk, fish etc. Also, some crops have different times. You can seed or harvest other vegetables while rice are growing.
@strider_hiryu850
2 жыл бұрын
huh. i wondered where all the paper, iron, salt, oysters, and clothing, et cetera; came from during Japan's medieval period. famously closed off to the outside world, it couldn't've been through external trading. but the ever repeated misconception that Japanese commoners were all rice farmers had me fooled.
@TeaSerpent
2 жыл бұрын
Japan was about as closed off from the outside world as it was a nation made up of just rice farmers. Sakoku "locked country" is a modern term and idea. Trade in Edo period Japan existed under the Kaikin regulations. Which was basically just a tweaked version of Ming dynasty Chinese Haijin laws. So basically international trade and travel in Japan was regulated in similar ways to China, Korea, and the Ryukyu kingdom. Japan did large volumes of trade with China, Korea, Ezo , and the Ryukyu kingdom. They did especially huge amounts of trade with China directly through Nagasaki which had large local Chinese populations, Chinese owned factories, Chinese temples, local China towns, etc. as well as very large amounts of goods brought in indirectly through the Manchuria / Ezo "Santan" trade, through China / Ryukyu kingdom tribute trade, as well as through China / Korea trade. Of course in addition to smaller volumes of trade with the Dutch through Nagasaki/Dejima. (the idea for Dejima it's self was based off the small rented trading post on the island of Macau through which the Chinese made the Portuguese conduct trade.)
@strider_hiryu850
2 жыл бұрын
@@TeaSerpent history just keeps getting more and more complex. actually; history is ridiculously complex, i just keep finding out more and more interesting stuff about it.
@robbieaulia6462
2 жыл бұрын
@@strider_hiryu850 Of course history is very complex, imagine thinking of how complex the current year is and multiply that by how many years you're going back to the past.
@enderoctanus
2 жыл бұрын
Who ever believed that? Who did you talk to? Couldn't have been a historian. This video is pretty awful. No economy exists on farming alone. And yet Japan was an agrarian society. Just as early America was and most of Europe was. They had industries, but they were mostly agrarian.
@strider_hiryu850
2 жыл бұрын
@@enderoctanus so this video is awful. because Japan was mostly agrarian, with some more industrial... industries. which is exactly what this video teaches. meaning this video is awful. hmmmmm. get off the internet, you 4 year old.
@heckkaGEE
2 жыл бұрын
New follower here…I’m always amazed at how well versed you are not only in Historical Japanese culture but modern culture because those analogies are always 👌🏼👌🏼👏🏼👏🏼 😂
@robkoper841
2 жыл бұрын
Linfamy says he is an Engineer, but his knowledge of History majors is so painfully accurate I assume he must have minored or had friends that toiled in the Pit of social science. Relatability to the plight of History grads: Worth my Sub.
@JonWintersGold
2 жыл бұрын
Noodologist needs to be made an official profession.
@curiousoli
2 жыл бұрын
“Who made the noodles?” is now my favourite question 😂
@melaber77
2 жыл бұрын
I have never had a particular interest in Japanese history, but I watch this channel because I love your sense of humor. “Rice-ism” 😂😂😂 If you start any new channels, I am there!
@smartalek180
2 жыл бұрын
If there are Rice-ists, does that mean there is going to be an Anti-Riceist movement, and best-sellers on how to be an Anti-Riceist for the wheat-eaters? All Grains Matter protests?
@bropil7545
2 жыл бұрын
bro I love how savage you are all of the sudden at random parts
@arrownite4527
Жыл бұрын
For anyone confused by the wording of the video, the point of the video wasn't that Japanese historians didn't believe in the complexity of the medieval Japanese economy. The point was that there was a general scarcity of records and documents regarding specifically those specialized sectors, while documents regarding rice were highly prevalent in comparison. The revelation was in finding those records in previously overlooked places, which then provided historians with a furthered understanding of those sectors and the lives of the people who worked in them. He even acknowledges this in the video by saying "Who made the noodles?", instead of "Did they make noodles?". Historians of course knew of other sectors in the medieval Japanese economy, the issue was just the lack of documents specifically regarding them.
@rangergxi
2 жыл бұрын
Japan had one of the most advanced economies in the world even during its isolation. They even developed Joint-stock companies on their own.
@krispalermo8133
2 жыл бұрын
Just shows the myth that you need international global trade to have a wealthy population.
@sanchezzz69420
2 жыл бұрын
The KZitemr charm is a good solid 80/100. Would recommend.
@paulinettejaenquirindongor9495
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah. I know the feeling of believing something your whole life and then boom! Kind of like how I believed I was 5'3" (thanks to school) and only to discover that my real height was 5'1". Thanks for the video. Like always I learn a lot and your sense of humor helps to make the learning experience more engaging.🥰🥰🥰
@bombintheseeinq
2 жыл бұрын
I’m 5’2” so now you know I am taller!
@WaspLife
2 жыл бұрын
Now imagine what else you're going to find out you were lied to about lol
@paulinettejaenquirindongor9495
2 жыл бұрын
@@WaspLife Indeed.🤔
@paulinettejaenquirindongor9495
2 жыл бұрын
@Atlas I know😭🤣
@nozrep
2 жыл бұрын
5:30; rice supremacists😂... ‘over the years the ricism stuck’ 😜 I can’t handle it! Your word play is just too good!
@MrBottlecapBill
2 жыл бұрын
Ahhh the modern historian. Still totally unware of how complex societies (even the one they live in) actually function. Good times.
@coca_0146
2 жыл бұрын
Historians did not think that, this video is click bait
@urbanesoul8400
2 жыл бұрын
The word salary comes from Romans paying in salt. They were obviously salt farmers, which also explains their constant expansionist warfare...they were really salty. Ha!
@ElSayyidCampeador
2 жыл бұрын
"they worked really hard telling their grad students to work" painfully accurate
@ipanesm
2 жыл бұрын
im sorry but that bit at 7:59 is just too funny to me, ive watched it like 5 times already
@akakuro6421
2 жыл бұрын
1 min into the video "it was as clear as your dating calendar" killed me
@Forsparda
2 жыл бұрын
Im honestly confused as to why historians ever thought all the commoners were farmers I know they had all those documents about the land and the word directly means farmer in mordern japanese but the idea that all peasents were rice farmers is just silly
@fearedjames
2 жыл бұрын
It's even worse when you realize the word comes from Chinese where it still means that, and the kanji used to write it in both languages very clearly references the 'commoners' meaning over the modern Japanese one. (百姓 = Hundred Surnames) You can also use an alternate reading of 百姓 in modern Japanese that still means commoners, so you'd think it wouldn't be so universally read as farmers.
@collectionenjoyer1907
2 жыл бұрын
Its exagerated. Of course historians knew not everyone were farmers. If everyone were farmers no one could have harvested the resources used to build buildings or create items that remain to this day. Working at say a quarry was a fulltime job.
@JP-rf8rr
2 жыл бұрын
Because before industrialized farm tools which were first being made in the 19th century, the vast majority of societies had to have 7-8 people farm in order to feed 10.
@fearedjames
2 жыл бұрын
@@JP-rf8rr This is actually not true. Its more like 1 for every three people. Not all peasants were dedicated farmers, although in most cultures the whole village would step in during harvests, farmer or not.a
@morricane5087
2 жыл бұрын
What Amino Yoshihiko (on whose work this video is based) argued is that there were a ton of "part-time farmer + something else" people out there who are entirely hidden in the statistics that simply assumed peasants 百姓 were farmers 農民. Historians in the first half of the 20th century were big into Marxist economic concepts and the idea that pre-capitalist societies being essentially agrarian societies was ubiquitous. So if you already assume that there had to be a ton of rice-farmers and you find records which seem to confirm that...yeah.
@StoicHistorian
2 жыл бұрын
Just found your content the other day, I admire your dry humor
@aychazyt6987
2 жыл бұрын
The Aji no Moto joke got me good lol
@nidohime6233
2 жыл бұрын
So in other words there where peasants but not every peasant was a farmer, right? Anyway many archeologists found many things by looking at the trash deposits left by the people from ancient times, like what there used to eat or what commodities there have. Like there say one man trash is someone else treasure! 8:45 Can we call that character Niimi?
@countpicula
2 жыл бұрын
Your videos are always a blast. Thanks.
@andyf3269
2 жыл бұрын
One day I spent 2 hours watching your videos at work. In a way my job is to watch you 😉
@Linfamy
2 жыл бұрын
At least you were productive ;)
@Bloodlyshiva
2 жыл бұрын
So what's your job?
@andyf3269
2 жыл бұрын
@@Bloodlyshiva I work at a huge steel factory. My job is to grease the equipment through the whole place. With 5 buildings almost a 1/4 mile long a piece and a few smaller ones here in there. My boss gives us papers telling us what to grease. Some days we don’t get any so we drive off and chill on our phones 😎🥸. The place is so large that there are many places to chill.
@nastynate534
2 жыл бұрын
new sub here and i just gotta say: you sir, are QUICK with the wit!
@TragoudistrosMPH
2 жыл бұрын
Big questions: When did this realization occur? Which historians made this error? Fascinating video, though.
@mytimetravellingdog
2 жыл бұрын
They didn't. Not really that's why the video is sort of bullshit. Farmers have never just farmed anywhere in the world. And every post agricultural society has division of labour to some extent.
@michaelkrinsky3582
2 жыл бұрын
Hmmmm... You call his video "sort of bullshit" right before agreeing with his main assertion. Interesting.
@darrincheng771
2 жыл бұрын
This just proves one thing as a grantee: everybody hates taxes, and that tax bonus returns are fucking lit.
@shingshongshamalama
2 жыл бұрын
I thought the whole basic concept was "everyone is a farmer" in the same way that many people are farmers now. Seasonally. When the demand for farm labour is high. For harvests. Not, like, _permanent_ professional farmers.
@Chef_PC
2 жыл бұрын
“Like a courtesan’s legs, they spread it far and wide…”. 😂
@gilbertotabares8196
2 жыл бұрын
Your metaphors are just "MWAH!" Sublime😘👌
@amazinggrace5692
2 жыл бұрын
First time viewer … how have I lived without you Linfam?! Now I must find out what a poop baron is. Love from your newest subscriber. 💕🐝💕🇺🇸
@smore3660
2 жыл бұрын
The digs at graduate students killlled me
@Kompoteek
2 жыл бұрын
As a russian citizen i find the ruble joke incredibly hilarious 🤣🤣🤣
@webwolf404
2 жыл бұрын
As a historian that comment hit me right in the heart 😭
@davidschaftenaar6530
2 жыл бұрын
"Ravage me, Alladin" ... Sometimes it pays to keep captions on. Doesn't it.
@MagdaleneDivine
2 жыл бұрын
You made me genuinely lol. Everyone else has been nothing but terrible.
@billduy5369
2 жыл бұрын
I love the all the snarky jokes in your videos.
@brianedwards7142
2 жыл бұрын
Once upon a time a computer was a professional mathematician for hire.
@Qexilber
2 жыл бұрын
I really really like your humour! Had a great time watching this video. Especially the kimono-metaphor and the "rice-ism" totally cracked me up.
@hpswagcraft
2 жыл бұрын
I just discovered this channel today through the rare generosity of the youtube algorithm, and man, you are funny as fuck. I like your content too, but I subscribed for the dry humor. Keep it up chief, I'm sure I'll see you at 1M subs soon.
@kaitlyn_sc2
2 жыл бұрын
its almost been ten years since i started streaming and my mom still sends me articles about exciting engineering jobs that she clipped from the paper :) please toronto star, stop sending my mom papers :)
@Linfamy
2 жыл бұрын
10 years? That's just a phase. Did you know Google's hiring right now?
@christopherg2347
Жыл бұрын
The way from _subsistence_ farming to a specialized crafter is a rather short one.
@nominalnostalgia1347
2 жыл бұрын
Honestly You got a follow because you tell it how it is. The grad student joke was too real 😂
@rodrigosays
2 жыл бұрын
When you were talking about Yugeshima and Niimi and the rivers and all that it makes me think of Aerforst, Glenbrook, and Hyzante from Triangle Strategy hahaha
@juliantotriwijaya9208
2 жыл бұрын
"It's an asian country, we live in MSG" lmao, as asian I can't help but laugh as asian XD
@yari139
2 жыл бұрын
The most important question in history, who made the noodles? Also, curious about the .2 nonhumans. I mean, if we know anything about Japan is that during medieval times it was rife with yokai so that seems like a pretty low number to me.
@MNkno
2 жыл бұрын
Really good, popular, and accessible presentation of Prof. Yoshihiko Amino's works "Rethinking Japanese History" (in Japanese in 1991 and 1993, published in English in 2012 by the University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies) and Harvard University's Professor Edward E. Pratt's research and book "Japan's Proto-Industrial Elite, The Economic Foundations of the Gono" in 1999. It was brilliant for the feudal Tokugawa era military dictatorship to present what they could control (farmers) as the norm for the entire country.... and good that you could make sense of why those records would be preserved - they were the tax records. Like the IRS, the Tokugawa could confiscate everything you owned for not paying your taxes, as well as the added responsibility of the tax payment for the families on either side of you and the 3 families on the other side of the street from you (if one of them went into default, the other 5 were liable for those taxes, or all your collective property could be confiscated)... and the final "killer", they could execute you and your entire extended family if you mounted a threat to the government (or a threat to the tax collection by the gov't). And it was strange that the West took at face value the (Western) ego-boosting image of Japan in the 1850's as poverty-stricken and backward, but able to blossom into a fully industrializing (and militarizing) society in an unprecedentedly short time, as well as able to become a strong democracy as soon as the Americans occupied after WWII. Very glad that you mentioned the advantages of pleading poverty, and the technical competence supporting their "proto-industry" and trade routes. The common / ordinary people were more than willing to stay out of trouble in the background. Literacy was higher in Japan at that time than in the West, and although it wasn't literacy in English, the ruling classes knew what was going on. The Western nations were still busy conquering and colonizing countries throughout America, Africa, South, Southeast, and Eastern Asia in the 1850's to the end of the 19th century, as they built their empires. Well played, 19th-century Japan, well played.
@MrHippo08
2 жыл бұрын
This video taught me why their river gods were displayed as mighty gods since they didn't just use them as water sources but transportation too
@markgregory3213
2 жыл бұрын
Your delivery is great!
@tauriusmagnamus3281
2 жыл бұрын
A lot of specific words meant for one thing becomes a ubiquitous term for common actions or groups. The most common being "rice" for "food/eating" in Asia.
@patriciatoomingtheplantpar2558
2 жыл бұрын
Worth a million Russian rubles, so take that worthless shit away from me😂😂
@Rocks_vs_Uzis
2 жыл бұрын
Buy the dip. Always buy the dip.
@riikkaalanen3429
2 жыл бұрын
What an awesome site! I’ve learned more about the history of Japan in ancient times watching the videos rather than reading about it. 🤩👍😊One little gripe though: what happened to your legless folks in animated sequences? I really, really loved them ❤️ The ones you have in now (with legs) are okay, but they are so… same old same old? I mean everybody can have animated figures with legs but the legless ones were, like, unique!!!
@BlueSlimett
2 жыл бұрын
i wish i could pay my taxes with labor
@firstchoice7761
2 жыл бұрын
I really enjoy your humor.
@SraTacoMal
2 жыл бұрын
0:38 I thought he would say "how historians f***ed up."
@zedetach
2 жыл бұрын
'..like a courtesan's legs, they spread it far and wide.'🤣🤣🤣
@theosouris7063
2 жыл бұрын
It’s kinda funny how much we hold the same conceptions about Medieval Europe.
@hiimjustin8826
2 жыл бұрын
Haven't watched you in a while but hot damn I remember now why I used to binge :)
@Linfamy
2 жыл бұрын
😉
@unigaming9921
2 жыл бұрын
Ok, so the fact that Japan, like every region, had many different jobs, does not change the fact that it was a primarily agricultural society where most people were farmers. I saw nothing in the video to suggest a radically different society than what we've been led to believe.
Hm... Why do I find the sentence "Now you can ride my magic carpet" very... intriguing?
@DraconiusDragora
2 жыл бұрын
If Japan only had Rice Farmers, then they would never have had an economy, nor a ruling class, or weapons for that matter. They had coins which went from Copper, Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, and Platinum (And more that I probably missed). And each coin was weighed in value to that of bags of Rice, which they used for uniform value. So everyone knew how much 1 gold coin was worth, and how much 1 copper coin was worth. A lot of merchants used scales/balances to make sure they are not being had. It was a easy system, that could be used in foreign trade as well as trade with their own people. So the tax papers was the most important for them to keep, so they can rule out cheating, or tax evasion. (Though Corruption always happen in every country so it was not as dreamy as some people believe)
@ED-yy4te
2 жыл бұрын
Taxes were computed not as rice but with koku, which is a way of measuring rice or the ability of a fief to produce rice, also now called a square units of land. A territory size can be measured like "100,000 koku large". But another meaning of koku is also used for measuring the cargo volume of ships like fishes, silks, or those magical black medicine from Portugal. 1 koku of rice is around 180 liters while the koku in cargo is almost 300 liters.
@robertharris6092
2 жыл бұрын
5:43 you can only plant crops for a limited time of the year and sow the crops a limited time of the year. So yes. Any farmer will spend 90% of the yesr doing things other than farming.
@katvalentine912
2 жыл бұрын
I came here for the deep noodle thoughts. Left with a new set of eyes for a prosperous island nation. Thank you!!
@bigjay875
8 ай бұрын
The MSG comment made me smile
@TheLifeOfKane
2 жыл бұрын
Lmfao... As a Foreign Currency Analyst I deeply appreciated your exchange rate joke 🤣🤣 thank you for being a tiny niche that I and few others will enjoy to its fullest
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