Editing Caste (section)

==== Japan ====
{{Main|Edo society}}
[[File:Edo social structure.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|A social hierarchy chart based on old academic theories. Such hierarchical diagrams were removed from Japanese textbooks after various studies in the 1990s revealed that peasants, craftsmen, and merchants were in fact equal and merely social categories.<ref name="tokyoshoseki"/><ref name="uki300823"/><ref name="shimonoseki"/> Successive shoguns held the highest or near-highest [[List of Japanese court ranks, positions and hereditary titles|court ranks]], higher than most court nobles.<ref name="kakaku">{{cite web |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%AE%B6%E6%A0%BC-43286# |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307120204/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%AE%B6%E6%A0%BC-43286 |script-title=ja:家格 |language=ja |title=Kakaku |trans-title=Family status |website=Kotobank |archive-date=7 March 2024 |access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref>]]
In Japan's history, social strata based on inherited position rather than personal merit, were rigid and highly formalised in a system called {{lang|ja-latn|mibunsei}} ({{lang|ja|身分制}}). At the top were the Emperor and Court nobles ([[kuge]]), together with the [[Shōgun]] and [[daimyō]].{{cn|date=February 2025}}

Older scholars believed that there were {{nihongo3|[[Four divisions of society|four classes]]|士農工商|Shi-nō-kō-shō}} of "[[samurai]], peasants (''hyakushō''), craftsmen, and merchants (''[[chōnin]]'')" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under the 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants.{{sfn|Beasley|1972|p=22}} However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification.<ref name="tokyoshoseki">{{cite web |url=https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130175341/https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html |script-title=ja:「士農工商」や「四民平等」の用語が使われていないことについて |language=ja |title='Shinōkōshō' ya ' sì mín píng děng ' No yōgo ga tsukawa rete inai koto ni tsuite |trans-title=Regarding the absence of the terms "Shi-no-Ko-Sho" and "Equality of the Four Classes" |website=[[Tokyo Shoseki]] |archive-date=30 November 2023 |access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="uki300823">{{cite web |url=https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830135959/https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316 |script-title=ja:第35回　教科書から『士農工商』が消えた ー後編ー　令和3年広報うき「ウキカラ」8月号 |language=ja |title=Dai 35-kai kyōkasho kara "shinōkōshō" ga kieta ̄ kōhen ̄-rei wa 3-nen kōhō uki 'ukikara' 8 tsuki-gō |trans-title=No. 35: The disappearance of the four classes of samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants from textbooks - Part 2 - August issue of the Reiwa 3rd year Uki Public Relations "Ukikara" |website=[[Uki, Kumamoto]] |archive-date=30 August 2023 |access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="shimonoseki">{{cite web |url=https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606001503/https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf |script-title=ja:人権意識のアップデート |language=ja |title=Jinken ishiki no appudēto |trans-title=Update on human rights awareness |website=[[Shimonoseki]] |archive-date=6 June 2023 |access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref>
[[File:The four classes of society by Ozawa Nankoku.jpeg|thumb|The four classes of society in Japan during the [[Edo period]]. The [[samurai]] represented a hereditary social class defined by the right to bear arms and to hold public office, as well as high social status.]]
Marriage between certain classes was generally prohibited. In particular, marriage between [[daimyo]] and court nobles was forbidden by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] because it could lead to political maneuvering.{{cn|date=February 2025}} For the same reason, marriages between daimyo and high-ranking [[hatamoto]] of the samurai class required the approval of the Tokugawa shogunate. It was also forbidden for a member of the samurai class to marry a peasant, craftsman, or merchant, but this was done through a loophole in which a person from a lower class was adopted into the samurai class and then married. Since there was an economic advantage for a poor samurai class person to marry a wealthy merchant or peasant class woman, they would adopt a merchant or peasant class woman into the samurai class as an adopted daughter and then marry her.<ref name="asahi">{{cite web |url=https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/42642?page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307171356/https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/42642?page=2 |script-title=ja:結婚は主君の許可が必要だが、離婚するときはどうだった？江戸時代「武士」の一生行事 |language=ja |title=Kekkon wa shukun no kyoka ga hitsuyōdaga, rikon suru toki wa dōdatta? Edo jidai 'bushi' no isshō gyōji |trans-title=Marriage required the permission of the lord, but what about divorce? The life events of the Edo period "samurai" |publisher=[[The Asahi Shimbun]] |date=31 January 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2024 |access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="livedoor">{{cite web |url=https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/24377409/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307171300/https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/24377409/ |script-title=ja:江戸時代の武家の結婚は簡単じゃなかった。幕府の許可も必要だった|language=ja |title=Edo jidai no buke no kekkon wa kantan janakatta. Bakufu no kyoka mo hitsuyōdatta |trans-title=Marriage among samurai in the Edo period was not easy. They needed permission from the shogunate. |website=Livedoor News |date=6 June 2023 |archive-date=7 March 2024 |access-date=7 March 2024}}</ref> Samurai had the right [[Kiri-sute gomen|to strike and even kill]] with their sword anyone of a [[Four divisions of society|lower class]] who compromised their [[honour]].<ref name=World>[https://samurai-world.com/kirisute-gomen/ Kirisute-gomen - Samurai World]</ref>

[[Japan]] had its own untouchable caste, shunned and ostracised, historically referred to by the insulting term ''eta'', now called ''[[burakumin]]''. While modern law has officially abolished the class hierarchy, there are reports of discrimination against the ''buraku'' or ''burakumin'' underclasses.<ref>{{cite web |last=Nair |first=Ravi |url=http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF39.htm |title=Class, Ethnicity and Nationality: Japan Finds Plenty of Space for Discrimination |publisher=South Asia Human Rights Documentation System |date=18 June 2001 |access-date=30 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331133636/https://hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF39.htm |archive-date=31 March 2022}}</ref> The ''burakumin'' are regarded as "ostracised".<ref>{{cite journal |first=William H. |last=Newell |date=December 1961 |title=The Comparative Study of Caste in India and Japan |journal=[[Asian Survey]] |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=3–10 |doi=10.2307/3023467 |jstor=3023467}}</ref> The ''burakumin'' are one of the main [[demographics of Japan|minority groups in Japan]], along with the [[Ainu people|Ainu]] of [[Hokkaido]] and those of [[Zainichi Korean|Korean]] or [[Chinese in Japan|Chinese]] descent.