#japaneseasks

Thank you for your patience! As far as I've read, farmers (also referred to in academic literature as peasants or cultivators) were originally members of the koumin class, i.e. citizens or freemen.

I say originally because most of the farmlands that farmers worked on were public lands that they paid rent/ taxes to the government to cultivate. It used to be the primary way the Heian government collected taxes from its populace. However, there existed a system of private land ownership, called the shoen (荘園) system, where the once public lands (by imperial charter) became tax-exempt. Aristocrats & religious officials sought to cultivate wealth and power by claiming large portions of public land as part of their respective shoens and using the would-be tax money as funds for their personal ambitions.

Eventually, so few public lands were left to cultivate, farmers were forced to work the fields of shoen. This was problematic in that, over time, many of the shoen owners and managers found legal loopholes to trap the farmers in the shoen, turning them into a kind of slave class known as "shoumin" (荘民). Now, shoumin isn't an official caste in the social hierarchy, so those farmers weren't literally slaves, even if they functioned as such.

However, shoumin did have a few vestiges of their original koumin status preserved.

Firstly, every owner/ manager had to have a legal contract (a.k.a. shiki) on file for every farmer on the shoen to prove that the farmer had agreed to (or sold) their right to cultivate the land to them. If such a contract couldn't be found, the farmer had a much greater chance of leaving a shoen he'd been previously bound to. If the shoumin were slaves, who can be bought & sold at will, such a formal contract wouldn't have been necessary.

Secondly, the shoumin farmers were prohibited from selling their children during times of crisis. You see, famines were tragically common throughout the Heian period and many farmer families attempted to sell their children to save them (and possibly themselves) from starvation. However, selling a person is something done to the lower senmin classes, not the upper ryoumin classes, of which these farmers technically were. So, by imperial decree, the shoumin couldn't sell their children because of their "high" social status.

Lastly, only citizens (i.e. koumin) were required to pay taxes/ tributes for working someone else's lands. On public lands, these payments would go to the government. On private lands (i.e. shoen), these payments went to the owners. So, the shoen owners/ managers used a feature of their original koumin status as the rationale for why they taxed these poor people into poverty.

Oh. My. GOD! I can't believe you're the same anon from 2020!

I'm so happy I could help you with this dream! I'm overjoyed that my answers to your questions helped you to plan your trip! I wish you the very best on your trip and I hope you get an excellent view of Shimabara tayuu! Safe travels!

Wow! Firstly, let me say that I'm very jealous of you being in Japan for one of these Wachigaiya tayuu-dochu events! Secondly, I've never been to a Wachigaiya tayuu-dochu before, so I'm not very helpful in terms of personal experience. However, I can help in terms of research!

So, the two events in question are the (1) Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai at Seiryo-ji Temple and the (2) Arashiyama Momiji Festival near the Togetsukyo Bridge and the Suiran Luxury Collection Hotel Kyoto.

The Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai (according to their website) memorial service is around 10 a.m. and I'm pretty sure they mean just the service. Other websites (link) suggest that the memorial service will be held in the main hall, the tayuu will perform a dedication dance, and then the tayuu and kamuro will perform a tayuu-dochu to Yuugiri-tayuu's grave, where they will leave flowers. The path of the tayuu-dochu may go from the Main Hall to the Main Gate around the outside of the temple grounds to Yuugiri-tayuu's Ruins (夕霧大夫遺跡).

The Arashiyama Momiji Festival is (according to their website) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Based on what I can tell from years prior, the viewing of the festival boats happens on the downstream side of the Togetsukyo Bridge, where they perhaps have paid seating but it's otherwise free to view from either side of the river. The Shimabara tayuu of the Wachigaiya participate near the end of the festival where they perform a tayuu dochu and then a tea ceremony.

If I had to make a choice, I would go with the Arashiyama Momiji Festival instead of the Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai.

The Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai is going to be within temple grounds and the dedication dance will definitely be indoors, making it harder to see if you can't get good seating or tickets into the main hall.

The tayuu-dochu to Yuugiri-tayuu's "'grave" seems like it's going to navigate some really tight streets, so there might be limited viewing space along the path.

The Arashiyama Momiji Festival is a more outdoor-style festival, so there are better-viewing angles all around. Even the tea ceremony is usually held in the open air, so you can get gorgeous pictures. And the tayuu-dochu should have excellent viewing space since they're using a more modern road.

Hi!

Hello and thank you for your question!

I actually wrote something related to the scandal in this post from July 2015, but seeing as this was a response from over 6 years ago, I would add that the scandal is a matter of perspective. I still think that my assessment of the kimono itself is accurate and that Japanese people in Japan (then and now) would likely see no offense in the exhibit, but it seems I also missed the point that the protestors were trying to make.

It's become clearer over the years that the question of cultural appropriation is a matter of historical context. There have been many videos on Youtube of foreigners asking young native Japanese people if they mind non-natives wearing their national/ traditional clothing, to which they all seem to either have no opinion or think it's fine. Ask anyone who works in a kimono-related business what they think and they'll tell you that foreigners wearing kimono is how they're staying in the black. The video creators imply that if the country of origin has no issue, then the diaspora should also have no issue.

You came across your family crest? I mean, feel free to use it as you like, it's not like I own your family's crest or anyone else's for that matter. However, I would think a website like the one below would be a better place to source an image for your company's products. Good luck in your endavor!