<P> During the Tokugawa period , the social order , based on inherited position rather than personal merits , was rigid and highly formalized . At the top were the emperor and court nobles ( kuge ) , together with the shogun and daimyōs . Below them the population was divided into four classes in a system known as mibunsei ( 身分 制 ) : the samurai on top ( about 5 % of the population ) and the peasants ( more than 80 % of the population ) on the second level . Below the peasants were the craftsmen , and even below them , on the fourth level , were the merchants . Only the peasants lived in the rural areas . Samurai , craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around the daimyōs ' castles , each restricted to their own quarter . </P>
<P> During the Tokugawa period , the social order , based on inherited position rather than personal merits , was rigid and highly formalized . At the top were the emperor and court nobles ( kuge ) , together with the shogun and daimyōs . Below them the population was divided into four classes in a system known as mibunsei ( 身分 制 ) : the samurai on top ( about 5 % of the population ) and the peasants ( more than 80 % of the population ) on the second level . Below the peasants were the craftsmen , and even below them , on the fourth level , were the merchants . Only the peasants lived in the rural areas . Samurai , craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around the daimyōs ' castles , each restricted to their own quarter . </P>
where did the shogun live during the edo period
where did the shogun live during the edo period
castles
castles