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135-570: The Dōjima Rice Exchange (堂島米市場, Dōjima kome ichiba , 堂島米会所, Dōjima kome kaisho ), located in Osaka , was the center of Japan's system of rice brokers , which developed independently and privately in the Edo period and would be seen as the forerunners to a modern banking system . It was first established in 1697, officially sanctioned, sponsored and organized by the shogunate in 1773, reorganized in 1868, and dissolved entirely in 1939, being absorbed into

270-522: A disgraced shi from the State of Jin led a suicidal charge of chariots to redeem his reputation, turning the tide of the battle. In the Battle of Bi , 597 BC, the routing chariot forces of Jin were bogged down in mud, but pursuing enemy troops stopped to help them get dislodged and allowed them to escape. As chariot warfare became eclipsed by mounted cavalry and infantry units with effective crossbowmen in

405-405: A double-edged sword known as the jian , and armour. The shi had a strict code of chivalry . In the battle of Zheqiu, 420 BC, the shi Hua Bao shot at and missed another shi Gongzi Cheng, and just as he was about to shoot again, Gongzi Cheng said that it was unchivalrous to shoot twice without allowing him to return a shot. Hua Bao lowered his bow and was subsequently shot dead. In 624 BC

540-444: A great effect on prices in Edo . These economic developments among the rice merchants were intricately connected to parallel developments in other trades, and the formation of a number of networks of different types of guilds including kabunakama , rakuichi and rakuza , which developed out of the older guild types known as tonya and za . In the first years of the 1730s, as the result of poor harvests and trade issues,

675-546: A growing amount of gentry, while the number of official posts remained constant, the graduates who were not appointed to government would provide critical services in local communities, such as funding public works, running private schools, aiding in tax collection, maintaining order, or writing local gazetteers . Since Neolithic times in China , agriculture was a key element to the rise of China's civilization and every other civilization. The food that farmers produced sustained

810-520: A kaizuka (a mound containing remains), were found as well as shell mounds, oysters, and other interesting archeological discoveries from the Jomon period. In addition to the remains of consumed food, there were arrow heads, stone tools, fishing hooks and crockery with remains from rice processing. It is estimated that the ruins contain 2,000-year-old debris between the Jomon and Yayoi period . The findings of

945-480: A large commercial enterprise run by scholar-officials. The state also had to contend with the merchant guilds ; whenever the state requisitioned goods and assessed taxes it dealt with guild heads, who ensured fair prices and fair wages via official intermediaries. By the late Ming dynasty, the officials often needed to solicit funds from powerful merchants to build new roads, schools, bridges, pagodas, or engage in essential industries, such as book-making, which aided

1080-452: A large subterranean network of shopping arcades. Kita and nearby Nakanoshima contain a prominent portion of the city's skyscrapers and are often featured in photographs of Osaka's skyline. Minami, though meaning "south", is essentially in Chūō Ward ( 中央区 , Chūō-ku ) and geographically central within the city. Well known districts here include Namba and Shinsaibashi shopping areas,

1215-630: A letter to KEPCO they also requested to disclose information on the demand and supply of electricity, and for lower and stable prices. The three cities were stockholders of the plant: Osaka owned 9% of the shares, while Kobe had 3% and Kyoto 0.45%. Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, announced a proposal to minimize the dependence on nuclear power for the shareholders meeting in June 2012. Four occupations The four occupations ( simplified Chinese : 士农工商 ; traditional Chinese : 士農工商 ; pinyin : Shì nóng gōng shāng ), or " four categories of

1350-551: A lively and important port. Daimyōs (feudal lords) received most of their income in the form of rice . Merchants in Osaka thus began to organize storehouses where they would store a daimyō ' s rice in exchange for a fee, trading it for either coin or a form of receipt; essentially a precursor to paper money . Many if not all of these rice brokers also made loans, and would actually become quite wealthy and powerful. Osaka merchants coalesced their shops around Dōjima , where

1485-457: A martial class, the samurai became civil administrators to their daimyōs during the Tokugawa shogunate . No exams were needed as the positions were inherited. They constituted about 5% of the population and were allowed to have a proper surname. Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō ( 士農工商 ) of "samurai, peasants ( hyakushō ), craftsmen, and merchants ( chōnin )" under

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1620-502: A metropolis like Tokyo met with stiff opposition in some municipalities, particularly the highly populated Sakai . He then fell back on a project that included the suppression of the 24 wards of Osaka, thus dividing the city into 5 new special districts with a status similar to that of the 23 Special wards of Tokyo . It was introduced by former mayor Tōru Hashimoto , leader of the reform party Osaka Restoration Association which he founded. The referendum of May 17, 2015 called in Osaka for

1755-457: A peasant insurrection in response to the city's unwillingness to support the many poor and suffering families in the area. Approximately one-quarter of the city was razed before shogunal officials put down the rebellion, after which Ōshio killed himself. Osaka was opened to foreign trade by the government of the Bakufu at the same time as Hyogo Town (modern Kobe ) on January 1, 1868, just before

1890-451: A practical reality. The commercialization of Chinese society in the Song and Ming periods further blurred the lines between these four occupations. The definition of the identity of the shi class changed over time—from warriors to aristocratic scholars, and finally to scholar-bureaucrats. There was also a gradual fusion of the wealthy merchant and landholding gentry classes, culminating in

2025-404: A predominantly industrial center. The modern municipality was established in 1889 by government ordinance , with an initial area of 15 square kilometres (6 sq mi), overlapping today's Chuo and Nishi wards. Later, the city went through three major expansions to reach its current size of 223 square kilometres (86 sq mi). Osaka was the industrial center most clearly defined in

2160-558: A prominent bay area which serves as its main port as well as a tourist destination with attractions such as Kyocera Dome , Universal Studios Japan and the Tempozan Harbor Village . Higashiosaka is zoned as a separate city, although the east side of Osaka city proper contains numerous residential neighborhoods including Tsuruhashi KoreaTown, as well as the Osaka Castle Park , Osaka Business Park and

2295-471: A result of famines, earlier that year. In general, however, by this point, the government realized the extreme economic power of the Rice Exchange in supporting the entire national economy, determining exchange rates, and even creating paper money. An incredible proportion of the nation's monetary transactions were handled through the private, independent, merchants of Dōjima, who stored rice for most of

2430-449: A second referendum to merge Osaka's 24 wards into 4 semi-autonomous wards was narrowly voted down. There were 692,996 (50.6%) votes against and 675,829 (49.4%) votes supported it. Osaka mayor and Osaka Ishin co-leader Ichiro Matsui said he would resign when his term ends in 2023. On February 27, 2012, three Kansai cities, Kyoto , Osaka, and Kobe , jointly asked Kansai Electric Power Company to break its dependence on nuclear power. In

2565-451: A smaller plot. As government control weakened in the 8th century, land reverted into the hands of private owners. Song dynasty (950–1279) rural farmers engaged in the small-scale production of wine, charcoal, paper, textiles, and other goods. By the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the socioeconomic class of farmers grew more and more indistinct from another social class in the four occupations:

2700-458: A social classification. In the sixteenth century, lords began to centralise administration by replacing enfeoffment with stipend grants, and placing pressure on vassals to relocate into castle towns, away from independent power bases. Military commanders became rotated to avert the formation of strong personal loyalties from the troops. Artisans and merchants were solicited by these lords and sometimes received official appointments. This century

2835-415: A social disturbance for excessive accumulation of wealth or erratic fluctuation of prices. Beneath the four occupations were the "mean people" ( Chinese : 賤民 jiànmín ), outcasts from "humiliating" occupations such as entertainers and prostitutes. The four occupations were not a hereditary system. The four occupations system differed from those of European feudalism in that people were not born into

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2970-546: A university and school system, alongside a civil service examination system. The government was managed by the Seissei , Sanshikan and the Bugyo (Prime Minister, Council of Ministers and Administrative Departments). Yukatchu who failed the examinations or were otherwise deemed unsuitable for office would be transferred to obscure posts and their descendants would fade into insignificance. Ryukyuan students were also enrolled into

3105-607: Is a major financial center of Japan, and it is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in Japan. The city is home to the Osaka Exchange as well as the headquarters of multinational electronics corporations such as Panasonic and Sharp . Osaka is an international center of research and development and is represented by several major universities, notably Osaka University , Osaka Metropolitan University , and Kansai University . Famous landmarks in

3240-460: Is abundant, with winter being the driest season, while monthly rainfall peaks in June with the "tsuyu" rainy season, which typically ends in mid to late July. From late July through the end of August, summer's heat and humidity peaks, and rainfall decreases somewhat. Osaka experiences a second rainy period in September and early October, when tropical weather systems, including typhoons, coming from

3375-479: Is called "Sĩ, nông, công, thương (士農工商). The main difference in adaptation was the definition of the shi (士). From existing literary evidence, commoner categories in China were employed for the first time during the Warring States period (403–221 BC). Despite this, Eastern-Han (AD 25–220) historian Ban Gu (AD 32–92) asserted in his Book of Han that the four occupations for commoners had existed in

3510-531: Is located in the humid subtropical climate zone ( Köppen Cfa ), with four distinct seasons. Its winters are generally mild, with January being the coldest month having an average high of 9.7 °C (49 °F). The city rarely sees snowfall during the winter. Spring in Osaka starts off mild, but ends up being hot and humid. It also tends to be Osaka's wettest season, with the tsuyu ( 梅雨 , tsuyu , "plum rain") —the rainy season—occurring between early June and late July. The average starting and ending dates of

3645-523: Is now Osaka, making it the capital of Japan. The city now known as Osaka was at this time referred to as Naniwa, and this name and derivations of it are still in use for districts in central Osaka such as Naniwa ( 浪速 ) and Namba ( 難波 ). Although the capital was moved to Asuka (in Nara Prefecture today) in 655, Naniwa remained a vital connection, by land and sea, between Yamato (modern day Nara Prefecture ), Korea , and China. Naniwa

3780-589: Is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture , and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama . With a population of 2.7 million in the 2020 census, it is also the largest component of the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area , which is the second-largest metropolitan area in Japan and the 10th- largest urban area in the world with more than 19 million inhabitants. Ōsaka

3915-477: Is the current and 104th president since May 2008. The mayor of the city is directly elected by the citizens every four years as well, in accordance with the Local Autonomy Law. Tōru Hashimoto , former governor of Osaka Prefecture is the 19th mayor of Osaka since 2011. The mayor is supported by two vice mayors, currently Akira Morishita and Takashi Kashiwagi, who are appointed by him in accordance with

4050-409: Is the headquarters of Daihatsu , one of Japan's oldest automobile manufacturers. Like its European and American counterparts, Osaka displayed slums, unemployment, and poverty. In Japan it was here that municipal government first introduced a comprehensive system of poverty relief, copied in part from British models. Osaka policymakers stressed the importance of family formation and mutual assistance as

4185-541: The Yingzao Fashi printed in 1103, an architectural building manual written by Li Jie (1065–1110), sponsored by Emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1126) for these government agencies to employ and was widely printed for the benefit of literate craftsmen and artisans nationwide. In the late of Ming dynasty there were many porcelain kilns created that led the Ming dynasty to be economically well off. The Qing emperors like

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4320-428: The gong (artisans and craftsmen), and the shang (merchants and traders). The four occupations were not always arranged in this order. The four categories were not socioeconomic classes; wealth and standing did not correspond to these categories, nor were they hereditary. The system did not factor in all social groups present in premodern Chinese society, and its broad categories were more an idealization than

4455-506: The Confucian classics , from which Emperor Wu would select officials. In the Sui dynasty (581–618) and the subsequent Tang dynasty (618–907) the shi class would begin to present itself by means of the fully standardized civil service examination system , of partial recruitment of those who passed standard exams and earned an official degree. Yet recruitment by recommendations to office

4590-468: The Dōtonbori canal entertainment area, Nipponbashi Den Den Town, as well as arts and fashion culture-oriented areas such as Amerikamura and Horie. The 300-meter tall Abeno Harukas was the tallest skyscraper in the country from 2014 until 2023. The business districts between Kita and Minami such as Honmachi  [ ja ] and Yodoyabashi  [ ja ] , called Semba ( 船場 ) , house

4725-435: The Edo period , 大坂 ( Ōsaka ) and 大阪 ( Ōsaka ) were mixed use, and the writer Hamamatsu Utakuni  [ ja ] , in his book Setsuyo Ochiboshu published in 1808, states that the kanji 坂 was abhorred because it "returns to the earth," and then 阪 was used. The kanji 土 (earth) is also similar to the word 士 (knight), and 反 means against, so 坂 can be understood as "samurai rebellion," then 阪

4860-548: The Government Rice Agency (日本米穀株式会社)(cf. ja:食糧管理制度 ). The Japanese economy grew rapidly throughout the 17th century, culminating in the period known as Genroku (1688–1704) during which merchants prospered like never before. It was at this time that rice brokers and moneychangers (両替商, ryōgaeshō ) gathered their shops and warehouses in the Dōjima area; the Rice Exchange can be said to have been established in 1697,

4995-487: The Han dynasty (202 BC–AD 220). In 165 BC, Emperor Wen introduced the first method of recruitment to civil service through examinations, while Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC), cemented the ideology of Confucius into mainstream governance installed a system of recommendation and nomination in government service known as xiaolian , and a national academy whereby officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of

5130-586: The Kangxi Emperor helped the growth of porcelain export and by allowing an organization of private maritime trade that assisted families who owned private kilns. Chinese export porcelain , designed purely for the European market and unpopular among locals as it lacked the symbolic significance of wares produced for the Chinese home market, was a highly popular trade good. In China, silk-worm farming

5265-480: The Rice Exchange was established in 1697 and where the world's first futures market would come to exist to sell rice that was not yet harvested. The popular culture of Osaka was closely related to ukiyo-e depictions of life in Edo . By 1780, Osaka had cultivated a vibrant arts culture, as typified by its famous Kabuki and Bunraku theaters. In 1837, Ōshio Heihachirō , a low-ranking samurai , led

5400-576: The Seto Inland Sea . It is considered one of the first places where inhabitants of Japan settled, both for the favorable geological conditions, rich in fresh water and lush vegetation, and because its position was defensible against military attack. The earliest evidence of settlements in the Osaka area are the Morinomiya ruins ( 森ノ宮遺跡 , Morinomiya iseki ) which is located in the central Chuo-ku district. Buried human skeletons and

5535-408: The Warring States period , it was replaced by a system of private land ownership. It was first suspended in the state of Qin by Shang Yang and other states soon followed suit. From AD 485–763, land was equally distributed to farmers under the equal-field system (均田). Families were issued plots of land on the basis of how many able men, including slaves, they had; a woman would be entitled to

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5670-547: The Warring States period , the participation of the shi in battle dwindled as rulers sought men with actual military training, not just aristocratic background. This was also a period where philosophical schools flourished in China , while intellectual pursuits became highly valued amongst statesmen. Thus, the shi eventually became renowned not for their warrior's skills, but for their scholarship, abilities in administration, and sound ethics and morality supported by competing philosophical schools. Under Duke Xiao of Qin and

5805-512: The Western Zhou (c. 1050–771 BC) era, which he considered a golden age . However, it is now known that the classification of four occupations as Ban Gu understood it did not exist until the 2nd century BC. Ban explained the social hierarchy of each group in descending order: Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants; each of the four peoples had their respective profession. Those who studied in order to occupy positions of rank were called

5940-470: The bone-rank system (골품제도), and their power was limited by the royal clan who monopolized the positions of importance. From the late 8th century, succession wars in Silla, as well as frequent peasant uprisings, led to the dismantling of the bone-rank system. Head rank 6 leaders sojourned to China for study, while regional governance fell into the hojok or castle-lords commanding private armies detached from

6075-758: The chungin , a class of privileged commoners who were petty bureaucrats, scribes, and specialists. The chungin were actually the least populous class, even smaller than the yangban. The yangban constituted 10% of the population. From the mid-Joseon period, military officers and civil officials were separately derived from different clans. Vietnamese dynasties also adopted the examination degree system (khoa bảng 科榜) to recruit scholars for government service. The bureaucrats were similarly divided into nine grades and six ministries, and examinations were held annually at provincial level, and triennially at regional and national levels. The Vietnamese political elite consisted of educated landholders whose interests often clashed with

6210-536: The scholar-officials of Imperial China, and were traditionally seen locally as upholders of the Confucian social order and peaceful coexistence under the Dutch colonial authorities. For much of its history, appointment to the Chinese officership was determined by family background, social standing and wealth, but in the twentieth century, attempts were made to elevate meritorious individuals to high rank in keeping with

6345-464: The shi (scholars). Those who cultivated the soil and propagated grains were called nong (farmers). Those who manifested skill ( qiao ) and made utensils were called gong (artisans). Those who transported valuable articles and sold commodities were called shang (merchants). The Rites of Zhou described the four groups in a different order, with merchants before farmers. The Han-era text Guliang Zhuan placed merchants second after scholars, and

6480-456: The shi were a knightly social order of low-level aristocratic lineage compared to dukes and marquises . The shi were distinguished by their right to ride and command battles from chariots, while they also served civil functions. Initially rising to power through controlling the new technology of bronzeworking , from 1300 BC, the shi transitioned from foot knights to being primarily chariot archers , fighting with composite recurved bow,

6615-434: The 11th to 13th century, the number of exam candidates participating in taking the exams increased dramatically from merely 30,000 to 400,000 by the dynasty's end. Widespread printing through woodblock and movable type enhanced the spread of knowledge amongst the literate in society, enabling more people to become candidates and competitors vying for a prestigious degree. With a dramatically expanding population matching

6750-476: The 1960s when large-scale prefectural suburbanization began and doubled to six million by the 1990s. The factories were rebuilt and trade revived, the city were developed rapidly it became a major multicultural and financial center in the postwar period between the 1950s and the 1980s , it is known as the " Chicago and Toronto of the Orient". Osaka Prefecture was chosen as the venue for the prestigious Expo '70 ,

6885-645: The 300-meter tall Abeno Harukas opened, which is the tallest skyscraper in Japan surpassing the Yokohama Landmark Tower in Yokohama , until it was surpassed by the 330-meter tall Azabudai Hills Main Tower in Tokyo since 2022. The city's west side is open to Osaka Bay , and is otherwise completely surrounded by more than ten satellite cities, all of them in Osaka Prefecture , with one exception:

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7020-403: The Dutch government appointed Chinese officers , who held the ranks of Majoor , Kapitein or Luitenant der Chinezen with legal and political jurisdiction over the colony's Chinese subjects. The officers were overwhelmingly recruited from old families of the ' Cabang Atas ' or the Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia. Although appointed without state examinations, the Chinese officers emulated

7155-696: The Dōjima Rice Exchange was formally dissolved in 1939, when its function was overtaken and replaced by the Government Rice Agency. Osaka Osaka ( Japanese : 大阪市 , Hepburn : Ōsaka-shi , pronounced [oːsakaɕi] ; commonly just 大阪 , Ōsaka [oːsaka] ) is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan , and one of the three major cities of Japan ( Tokyo -Osaka- Nagoya ). It

7290-931: The Malay court position of Kapitan Cina Yap Ah Loy , arguably the founder of modern Kuala Lumpur . Overseas Chinese merchant families in British Malaya and the Dutch Indies donated generously to the provision of defence and disaster relief programs in China in order to receive nominations to the Imperial Court for honorary official ranks. These ranged from chün-hsiu , a candidate for the Imperial examinations, to chih-fu ( Chinese : 知府 ; pinyin : zhīfŭ ) or tao-t'ai (Chinese: 道臺 ; pinyin: dàotái ), prefect and circuit intendant respectively. The bulk of these sinecure purchases were at

7425-555: The National Academy ( Guozijian ) in China, at Chinese government expense, and others studied privately at schools in Fujian province such diverse skills as law, agriculture, calendrical calculation, medicine, astronomy, and metallurgy. In Japan , the shi role, unlike the scholars in China, became a hereditary class known as the samurai , and marriage between people of unequal class was socially unacceptable. Originally

7560-400: The Osaka region in terms of calculation, shrewdness, lack of civic spirit, and the vulgarity of Osaka dialect. Edo writers aspired to samurai culture, and saw themselves as poor but generous, chaste, and public spirited. Edo writers by contrast saw "zeeroku" as obsequious apprentices, stingy, greedy, gluttonous, and lewd. To some degree, Osaka residents are still stigmatized by Tokyo observers in

7695-543: The Qin or Han law codes specifically mentions the four occupations, some laws did treat these broadly classified social groups as separate units with different levels of legal privilege. The categorisation was sorted according to the principle of economic usefulness to state and society, that those who used mind rather than muscle (scholars) were placed first, with farmers, seen as the primary creators of wealth, placed next, followed by artisans, and finally merchants who were seen as

7830-603: The Warring States-era Xunzi placed farmers before scholars. The Shuo Yuan mentioned a quotation which stressed the ideal of equality between the four occupations. Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, Professor of Early Chinese History at the University of California, Santa Barbara , writes that the classification of "four occupations" can be viewed as a mere rhetorical device that had no effect on government policy. However, he notes that although no statute in

7965-668: The advent of the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration . The Kawaguchi foreign settlement , now the Kawaguchi subdistrict, is a legacy of the foreign presence in Osaka. Osaka residents were stereotyped in Edo literature from at least the 18th century. Jippensha Ikku in 1802 depicted Osakans as stingy almost beyond belief. In 1809, the derogatory term "Kamigata zeeroku" was used by Edo residents to characterize inhabitants of

8100-433: The air raid took almost the entire night and destroyed 25 square miles (65 km ) of the city. The U.S. bombed the city again twice in June 1945 and again on August 14, a day before Japan's surrender . In the decades after World War II, the reconstruction plan and the industriousness of its inhabitants ensured Osaka even greater prosperity than it had before the war. Osaka's population regrew to more than three million in

8235-406: The annual 200,000 cash-coin income of a marquess who collected taxes from a thousand households. Some merchant families made fortunes worth over a hundred million cash, which was equivalent to the wealth acquired by the highest officials in government. Itinerant merchants who traded between a network of towns and cities were often rich as they had the ability to avoid registering as merchants (unlike

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8370-514: The approval of this project saw the narrow victory of no, and consequently Hashimoto announced his withdrawal from politics. A second referendum for a merger into 4 semi-autonomous wards was narrowly voted down by 692,996 (50.6%). According to the Forbes list of The World's Most Expensive Places To Live 2009 , Osaka was the second most expensive in the world after Tokyo . By 2020 it slipped to 5th rank of most expensive cities. On March 7, 2014,

8505-614: The archeological sites are exhibited in an adjacent building. In the years between the end of the Jōmon period and the beginning of the Yayoi period, the sediments that were deposited north of the Uemachi peninsula / plateau transformed Kawachi Bay into a lagoon. During the Yayoi period (300 BCE-250 CE), permanent habitation on the plains grew as rice farming became popular. At the beginning of

8640-556: The artisan. Artisans began working on farms in peak periods and farmers often traveled into the city to find work during times of dearth. The distinction between what was town and country was blurred in Ming China, since suburban areas with farms were located just outside and in some cases within the walls of a city. Artisans and craftsmen—their class identified with the Chinese character meaning labour —were much like farmers in

8775-482: The best way to combat poverty. This minimized the cost of welfare programs. During World War II , Osaka came under air raids in 1945 by the United States Army Air Forces as part of the air raids on Japan . On March 13, 1945, a total of 329 Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers took part in the raid against Osaka. According to an American prisoner of war who was held in the city,

8910-577: The central government. Although all land theoretically was the ruler's, and was supposed to be distributed equitably by the equal-field system (chế độ Quân điền) and non-transferable, the court bureaucracy increasingly appropriated land which they leased to tenant farmers and hired labourers to till. It was unlikely for individuals of common background to become Mandarins, however, since they lacked access to classical education. Degree-holders were frequently clustered in certain clans. Chinese official positions, under various different native titles, go back to

9045-464: The central regime. These factions coalesced, introducing a new national ideology that was an amalgamation of Chan Buddhism , Confucianism and Feng Shui , laying the foundation for the formation of the new Goryeo Kingdom. King Gwangjong of Goryeo introduced a civil service examination system in 958, and King Seongjong of Goryeo complemented it with the establishment of a Confucian-style educational facilities and administration structures, extending for

9180-420: The chief minister and reformer Shang Yang (d. 338 BC), the ancient State of Qin was transformed by a new meritocratic yet harsh philosophy of Legalism. This philosophy stressed stern punishments for those who disobeyed the publicly known laws while rewarding those who labored for the state and strove diligently to obey the laws. It was a means to diminish the power of the nobility, and was another force behind

9315-971: The city bylaw. Osaka also houses several agencies of the Japanese government. Below is a list of governmental offices housed in Osaka. In July 2012, a joint multi-party bill was submitted to the Diet that would allow for implementation of the Osaka Metropolis plan as pursued by the mayor of Osaka city, the governor of Osaka and their party . If implemented, Osaka City, neighboring Sakai City and possibly other surrounding municipalities would dissolve and be reorganized as four special wards of Osaka prefecture – similar to former Tokyo City 's successor wards within Tokyo prefecture. Special wards are municipal-level administrative units that leave some otherwise municipal administrative responsibilities and revenues to

9450-466: The city include Osaka Castle , Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan , Dōtonbori , Tsūtenkaku in Shinsekai , Tennōji Park , Abeno Harukas , Sumiyoshi Taisha Grand Shrine , and Shitennō-ji , one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan. Ōsaka means "large hill" or "large slope". It is unclear when this name gained prominence over Naniwa, but the oldest written evidence for the name dates back to 1496. By

9585-565: The city of Amagasaki , belonging to Hyōgo Prefecture , in the northwest. The city occupies a larger area (about 13%) than any other city or village within Osaka Prefecture. When the city was established in 1889, it occupied roughly the area known today as the Chuo and Nishi wards, only 15.27 square kilometres (6 sq mi) that would eventually grow into today's 222.30 square kilometres (86 sq mi) via incremental expansions,

9720-718: The colonial government's so-called Ethical Policy . The merchant and labour partnerships of China developed into the Kongsi Federations across Southeast Asia, which were associations of Chinese settlers governed through direct democracy. On Kalimantan they established sovereign states, the Kongsi republics such as the Lanfang Republic , which bitterly resisted Dutch colonisation in the Kongsi Wars . There were many social groups that were excluded from

9855-491: The copula ya instead of da , and the suffix -hen instead of -nai in negative verb forms. The Osaka City Council is the city's local government formed under the Local Autonomy Law . The council has eighty-nine seats, allocated to the twenty-four wards proportional to their population and re-elected by the citizens every four years. The council elects its president and Vice President. Toshifumi Tagaya ( LDP )

9990-593: The country and the Asian continent intensified. The large numbers of increasingly larger keyhole-shaped Kofun mounds found in the plains of Osaka are evidence of political-power concentration, leading to the formation of a state. The findings in the neighboring plains, including the mausoleum of Emperor Nintoku was discovered nearby in Sakai testify to the status of imperial city that Osaka had reached. Four of these mounds can be seen in Osaka, in which important members of

10125-728: The courts of precolonial states of Southeast Asia , such as the Sultanates of Malacca and Banten , and the Kingdom of Siam . With the consolidation of colonial rule, these became part of the civil bureaucracy in Portuguese, Dutch and British colonies, exercising both executive and judicial powers over local Chinese communities under the colonial authorities, examples being the title of Chao Praya Chodeuk Rajasrethi in Thailand's Chakri dynasty , and Sri Indra Perkasa Wijaya Bakti ,

10260-404: The daimyo, with 80% of peasants under the 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants. However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai were 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

10395-422: The daimyō, exchanging it for paper money. Dōjima held what were in essence "bank accounts" for a great number of samurai and daimyō, managing deposits, withdrawals, loans, and tax payments. Though the shogunate ultimately had little sense of modern economic theory, and thus would make some serious errors in their monetary and financial policy over the course of the following century or so, they nevertheless recognized

10530-451: The development of capitalism in Japan. It became known as the " Manchester and Melbourne of the Orient". In 1925, it was the largest and most populous city in Japan and sixth in the world. The rapid industrialization attracted many Asian immigrants (Indians, Chinese, and Koreans), who set up a life apart for themselves. The political system was pluralistic, with a strong emphasis on promoting industrialization and modernization. Literacy

10665-426: The end of the Warring States period , agricultural land was distributed according to the well-field system (井田), whereby a square area of land was divided into nine identically-sized sections; the eight outer sections (私田; sītián ) were privately cultivated by farmers and the center section (公田; gōngtián) was communally cultivated on behalf of the landowning aristocrat. When the system became economically untenable in

10800-590: The end of the Yayoi period the Uemachi plateau-peninsula expanded further, transforming the Kawachi Lagoon into a lake (河内湖) connected to the mouth of the Yodo River , which had widened to the south. By the Kofun period , Osaka developed into a hub port connecting the region to the western part of Japan. The port of Naniwa-tsu was established and became the most important in Japan. Trade with other areas of

10935-440: The exchange rate of rice into coin plumeted. Samurai, whose income was in rice, panicked over the exchange rate into coin, and meanwhile speculators and various conspiracies within the brokers' community played games with the system, keeping vast stores of rice in the warehouses, which ensured low prices. A series of riots against the speculators, and against the conspiratorial, manipulative system as whole, erupted in 1733; starvation

11070-514: The first world's fair ever held in an Asian country. Since then, numerous international events have been held in Osaka, including the 1995 APEC Summit . The modern municipality, which when it was established in 1889 occupied an area of just 15 km including the districts of Chūō and Nishi, following three successive expansions has reached an area of 222 km . It was one of the first cities in Japan to obtain designated city status in 1956. The plan to reorganize Osaka and its province into

11205-457: The first time to local areas. However, only aristocrats were permitted to sit for these examinations, and the sons of officials of at least 5th rank were exempt completely. In Joseon Korea, the Scholar occupation took the form of the noble yangban class, which prevented the lower classes from taking the advanced gwageo exams so they could dominate the bureaucracy. Below the yangban were

11340-462: The gentry class in education for the imperial examinations. Merchants began to imitate the highly cultivated nature and manners of scholar-officials in order to appear more cultured and gain higher prestige and acceptance by the scholarly elite. They even purchased printed books that served as guides to proper conduct and behavior and which promoted merchant morality and business ethics. The social status of merchants rose to such significance that by

11475-434: The government as the kingdom's finances were frequently deficient. Due to the growth of this class and the lack of government positions open for them, Sai On allowed yukatchu to become merchants and artisans while keeping their high status. There were three classes of yukatchu, the pechin , satonushi and chikudun , and commoners may be admitted for meritorious service. The Ryukyu Kingdom's capital of Shuri also featured

11610-410: The hub Kyōbashi Station . Osaka contains numerous urban canals and bridges, many of which serve as the namesake for their surrounding neighborhoods. The phrase "808 bridges of Naniwa" was an expression in old Japan used to indicate impressiveness and the "uncountable". Osaka numbered roughly 200 bridges by the Edo period and 1,629 bridges by 1925. As many of the city's canals were gradually filled in,

11745-581: The largest of which being a single 126.01-square-kilometre (49 sq mi) expansion in 1925. Osaka's highest point is 37.5 metres (123.0 ft) Tokyo Peil in Tsurumi-ku , and the lowest point is in Nishiyodogawa-ku at −2.2 metres (−7.2 ft) Tokyo Peil. Osaka has a latitude of 34.67 (near the 35th parallel north ), which makes it more southern than Rome (41.90), Madrid (40.41), San Francisco (37.77) and Seoul (37.53). Osaka

11880-490: The late Ming dynasty. In some manner, this system of social order was adopted throughout the Chinese cultural sphere . In Japanese it is called "Shi, nō, kō, shō" ( 士農工商 , shinōkōshō ) , and the three under the samurai class were equal social and occupational classifications, while the shi was modified into a hereditary class, the samurai. In Korean it is called "Sa, nong, gong, sang" (사농공상), and in Vietnamese

12015-428: The late Ming period, many scholar-officials were unabashed to declare publicly in their official family histories that they had family members who were merchants. The scholar-officials' dependence upon merchants received semi-legal standing when scholar-official Qiu Jun (1420–1495), argued that the state should only mitigate market affairs during times of pending crisis and that merchants were the best gauge in determining

12150-413: The level of t'ungchih (Chinese: 同知 ; pinyin: tóngzhī ), or sub-prefect, and below. Garbing themselves in the official robes of their rank in most ceremonial functions, these wealthy dignitaries would adopt the conduct of scholar-officials. Chinese language newspapers would list them exclusively as such and precedence at social functions would be determined by title. In colonial Indonesia ,

12285-522: The meantime had also benefited from and utilized Confucian ethics in their business practices. By the Song period, merchants often colluded with the scholarly elite; as early as 955, the Scholar-officials themselves were using intermediary agents to participate in trading. Since the Song government took over several key industries and imposed strict state monopolies, the government itself acted as

12420-473: The men of Dōjima. The year 1710 marks the beginning of this development, which also brought with it the emergence of the concept of trading in futures (延べ米 nobemai ). The Osaka merchants, like the Kyoto rice brokers three hundred years before, developed an increasingly monopolistic grasp on the rice trade, determining prices not only within Osaka, but in the entire Kinai (Home Provinces) area, and indirectly having

12555-515: The merchants, they formed their own guilds . Researchers have pointed to the rise of wage labour in late Ming and early Qing workshops in textile, paper and other industries, achieving large-scale production by using many small workshops, each with a small team of workers under a master craftsman. Although architects and builders were not as highly venerated as the scholar-officials, there were some architectural engineers who gained wide acclaim for their achievements. One example of this would be

12690-614: The merchants, traders, and peddlers of goods were viewed by the scholarly elite as essential members of society, yet were esteemed least of the four occupations in society, due to the view that they were a threat to social harmony from acquiring disproportionally large incomes, market manipulation or exploiting farmers. However, the merchant class of China throughout all of Chinese history were usually wealthy and held considerable influence above its supposed social standing. The Confucian philosopher Xunzi encouraged economic cooperation and exchange. The distinction between gentry and merchants

12825-452: The need for governmental control of such policies; exchange rates, monetary standards and the like had to be set by the government, and not left in the hands of an increasingly wealthy and powerful merchant class which was intended to be at the bottom of the neo-Confucian mibunsei class system. Reorganized in the Meiji period along with nearly every other element of the economy and polity,

12960-571: The nobility are buried. They are located in the southern districts of the city and date back to the 5th century. A group of megalithic tombs called Mozu Tombs are located in Sakai , Osaka Prefecture. Important works of the Kofun period is the excavation that diverted the course of the Yamato River , whose floods caused extensive damage, and the construction of important roads in the direction of Sakai and Nara . Maritime traffic connected to

13095-501: The number dropped to 872, of which 760 are currently managed by Osaka City. There are currently 24 wards in Osaka: per km Population numbers have been recorded in Osaka since as early as 1873, in the early Meiji era . According to the census in 2005, there were 2,628,811 residents in Osaka, an increase of 30,037 or 1.2% from 2000. There were 1,280,325 households with approximately 2.1 persons per household. The population density

13230-398: The people " (Chinese: 四民 ; pinyin: sì mín ), was an occupation classification used in ancient China by either Confucian or Legalist scholars as far back as the late Zhou dynasty and is considered a central part of the fengjian social structure (c. 1046–256 BC). These were the shi (warrior nobles, and later on gentry scholars), the nong (peasant farmers),

13365-414: The port of Naniwa-tsu increased in such a way that huge warehouses were built to stow material arriving and departing. The Kojiki records that during 390–430 CE, there was an imperial palace located at Osumi, in what is present day Higashiyodogawa ward , but it may have been a secondary imperial residence rather than a capital. In 645, Emperor Kōtoku built his Naniwa Nagara-Toyosaki Palace in what

13500-520: The prefectural administration. In October 2018, the city of Osaka officially ended its sister city relationship with San Francisco in the United States after the latter permitted a monument memorializing "comfort women" to remain on a city-owned property, circulating in the process a 10-page, 3,800-word letter in English addressed to San Francisco mayor London Breed . On November 1, 2020,

13635-427: The rainy season are June 7 and July 21 respectively. Summers are very hot and humid. In August, the hottest month, the average daily high temperature reaches 33.7 °C (93 °F), while average nighttime low temperatures typically hover around 25.8 °C (78 °F). Fall in Osaka sees a cooling trend, with the early part of the season resembling summer while the latter part of fall resembles winter. Precipitation

13770-457: The regional headquarters of many large-scale banks and corporations. The Midōsuji boulevard runs through Semba and connects Kita and Minami. Further south of Minami are neighborhoods such as Shinsekai (with its Tsūtenkaku tower), Tennoji and Abeno (with Tennoji Zoo , Shitennō-ji and Abeno Harukas ), and the Kamagasaki slums, the largest slum in Japan. The city's west side is

13905-404: The respect that they produced essential goods needed by themselves and the rest of society. Although they could not provide the state with much of its revenues since they often had no land of their own to be taxed, artisans and craftsmen were theoretically respected more than merchants. Since ancient times, the skilled work of artisans and craftsmen was handed down orally from father to son, although

14040-409: The same time, attempts were made at monetary policy, which largely resulted in solving the problems of the rice economy, while bringing debasement of the currency. The shogunate re-established the Rice Exchange in 1773, under governmental sponsorship, regulation, and organization; the shogunate also established its own rice storehouse at this time. The direct impetus for this was a series of riots, as

14175-488: The same values permeated and prevailed across other East Asian societies where China exerted considerable influence. Japan and Korea were heavily influenced by Confucian thought that the four occupational social hierarchy in those societies were modeled from that of China's. A similar situation occurred in the Ryūkyū Kingdom with the scholarly class of yukatchu , but yukatchu status was hereditary and could be bought from

14310-431: The same way today, especially in terms of gluttony, evidenced in the phrase, "Residents of Osaka devour their food until they collapse" ( 大阪は食倒れ , "Ōsaka wa kuidaore" ) . With the enormous changes that characterized the country after the Meiji Restoration (1868), and the relocation of the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo , Osaka entered a period of decline. From being the capital of the economy and finance, it became

14445-517: The shopkeepers), Chao Cuo (d. 154 BC) states that they wore fine silks, rode in carriages pulled by fat horses, and whose wealth allowed them to associate with government officials. Historians like Yu Yingshi and Billy So have shown that as Chinese society became increasingly commercialized from the Song dynasty onward, Confucianism had gradually begun to accept and even support business and trade as legitimate and viable professions, as long as merchants stayed away from unethical actions. Merchants in

14580-513: The south or southwest are possible. Osaka's sprawling cityscape has been described as "only surpassed by Tokyo as a showcase of the Japanese urban phenomenon". Central Osaka is roughly divided into downtown and uptown areas known as Kita ( キタ , "north") and Minami ( ミナミ , "south") . Kita is home to the Umeda district and its immediate surrounding neighborhoods, a major business and retail hub that plays host to Osaka Station City and

14715-528: The specific classes, such that, for example, a son born to a gong craftsman was able to become a part of the shang merchant class, and so on. Theoretically, any man could become an official through the Imperial examinations. From the fourth century BC, the shi and some wealthy merchants wore long flowing silken robes , while the working class wore trousers. During the ancient Shang (1600–1046 BC), Western Zhou (1046–771 BC), Spring and Autumn (770-481 BC), and early Warring States (475-221 BC) periods,

14850-445: The strength of a nation's riches in resources. The Imperial court followed this guideline by granting merchants licenses to trade in salt in return for grain shipments to frontier garrisons in the north. The state realized that merchants could buy salt licenses with silver and in turn boost state revenues to the point where buying grain was not an issue. Merchants banded in organisations known as huiguan or gongsuo ; pooling capital

14985-557: The surrender of the monks and subsequent razing of the temple. Toyotomi Hideyoshi constructed Osaka Castle in its place in 1583. Osaka Castle played a pivotal role in the Siege of Osaka (1614–1615). Osaka was long considered Japan's primary economic center, with a large percentage of the population belonging to the merchant class (see Four divisions of society ). Over the course of the Edo period (1603–1867), Osaka grew into one of Japan's major cities and returned to its ancient role as

15120-472: The third century CE the grand shrine of Sumiyoshi-taisha was inaugurated near the harbor, commissioned by consort Empress Jingū . This Shinto shrine structure survived historical events, which inaugurated a new style in the construction of Shinto shrines, called Sumiyoshi-zukuri . The maritime panorama enjoyed from the shrine gardens inspired several artists, and nowadays the representations of that type of landscape are called Sumiyoshi drawings . Towards

15255-464: The throne from his predecessor, was said to be a merchant. Archaeological artifacts and oracle bones suggest a high status was accorded to merchant activity. In the Spring and Autumn period , Hegemon of China Duke Huan of Qi appointed Guan Zhong , a merchant, as Prime Minister. He cut taxes for merchants, built rest stops for merchants, and encouraged other lords to lower tariffs. In Imperial China,

15390-507: The transformation of the shi class from warrior-aristocrats into merit-driven officials. When the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) unified China under the Legalist system, the emperor assigned administration to dedicated officials rather than nobility, ending feudalism in China, replacing it with a centralized, bureaucratic government. The form of government created by the first emperor and his advisors

15525-422: The two largest groups being Korean (60,110) and Chinese (39,551) 2021 years. Ikuno , with its Tsuruhashi district, is the home to one of the largest population of Korean residents in Japan, with 20,397 registered Zainichi Koreans . The commonly spoken dialect of this area is Osaka-ben , a typical sub-dialect of Kansai-ben . Of the many other particularities that characterize Osaka-ben, examples include using

15660-451: The whole of society, while the land tax exacted on farmers' lots and landholders' property produced much of the state revenue for China's pre-modern ruling dynasties. Therefore, the farmer was a valuable member of society, and even though he was not considered one with the shi class, the families of the shi were usually landholders that often produced crops and foodstuffs. From the ninth century BC (late Western Zhou dynasty ) to around

15795-505: The work of architects and structural builders were sometimes codified, illustrated, and categorized in Chinese written works. Artisans and craftsmen were either government-employed or worked privately. A successful and highly skilled artisan could often gain enough capital in order to hire others as apprentices or additional laborers that could be overseen by the chief artisan as a manager. Hence, artisans could create their own small enterprises in selling their work and that of others, and like

15930-464: The year it received a license from the shogunate. Since members of the samurai class, including daimyō (feudal lords) were paid in rice, not cash, the rice brokers and moneychangers played a crucial, and incredibly profitable, role in the emerging early modern economy of Japan. Over the course of the Edo period, the entire economy would not only shift from rice to coin, but would also see the introduction and spread of paper money initiated and facilitated by

16065-448: Was 11,836 persons per km . The Great Kantō earthquake caused a mass migration to Osaka between 1920 and 1930, and the city became Japan's largest city in 1930 with 2,453,573 people, outnumbering even Tokyo, which had a population of 2,070,913. The population peaked at 3,252,340 in 1940, and had a post-war peak of 3,156,222 in 1965, but has declined since, as the residents moved out to the suburbs. There were 144,123 registered foreigners,

16200-479: Was a period of exceptional social mobility, with instances of merchants of samurai-descent or commoners becoming samurai. By the eighteenth century samurai and merchants had become interwoven intimately, despite general samurai hostility toward merchants who as their creditors were blamed for the financial difficulties of a debt-ridden samurai class. In Silla Korea , the scholar-officials, also known as head rank 6, 5, and 4 (두품), were strictly hereditary castes under

16335-406: Was a very high level of overlap and mixing between the gentry and the merchants. Han dynasty writers mention merchants owning huge tracts of land. A merchant who owned property worth a thousand catties of gold—equivalent to ten million cash coins—was considered a great merchant. Such a fortune was one hundred times larger than the average income of a middle class landowner-cultivator and dwarfed

16470-578: Was charged of anyone found to have paid less. Over the fifteen years or so, until roughly 1750, the shogunate stepped in on a number of occasions to attempt to stabilize or control the economy. Though in 1730 the government budget as a whole was in balance (expenditures=revenue), interventions by the shogun over the ensuing years inadvertently led to economic collapse. Tokugawa Yoshimune made so many attempts at reforms and controls that he came to be known as Kome Kubō or Kome Shōgun (the Rice Shogun). At

16605-453: Was compared with the putting-out system used in European textile industries between the 13th and 18th centuries. As the interregional silk trade grew, merchant houses began to organize manufacture to guarantee their supplies, providing silk to households for weaving as piece work . In Ancient pre-Imperial China, merchants were highly regarded as necessary for the circulation of essential goods. The legendary Emperor Shun , prior to receiving

16740-479: Was declared the capital again in 744 by order of Emperor Shōmu , and remained so until 745, when the Imperial Court moved back to Heijō-kyō (now Nara ). By the end of the Nara period, Naniwa's seaport roles had been gradually taken over by neighboring areas, but it remained a lively center of river, channel, and land transportation between Heian-kyō (Kyoto today) and other destinations. Sumiyoshi Taisha Grand Shrine

16875-408: Was founded by Tamomi no Sukune in 211 CE. Shitennō-ji was first built in 593 CE and the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan. In 1496, Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists established their headquarters in the heavily fortified Ishiyama Hongan-ji , located directly on the site of the old Naniwa Imperial Palace. Oda Nobunaga began a decade-long siege campaign on the temple in 1570 which ultimately resulted in

17010-419: Was high and the educational system expanded rapidly, producing a middle class with a taste for literature and a willingness to support the arts. In 1927, General Motors operated a factory called Osaka Assembly until 1941, manufacturing Chevrolet , Cadillac , Pontiac , Oldsmobile , and Buick vehicles, operated and staffed by Japanese workers and managers. In the nearby city of Ikeda in Osaka Prefecture

17145-514: Was not as clear or entrenched as in Japan and Europe, and merchants were even welcomed by gentry if they abided by Confucian moral duties. Merchants accepted and promoted Confucian society by funding education and charities, and advocating Confucian values of self-cultivation of integrity, frugality, and hard work. By the late imperial period, it was a trend in some regions for scholars to switch to careers as merchants. William Rowe's research of rural elites in late imperial Hanyang, Hubei shows that there

17280-577: Was official name in 1868 after the Meiji Restoration . The older kanji (坂) is still in very limited use, usually only in historical contexts. As an abbreviation, the modern kanji 阪 han refers to Osaka City or Osaka Prefecture . During the Jōmon period (7,000 BCE), present-day Osaka was mostly submerged, and the Uemachi Plateau ( 上町台地 , Uemachi Daichi ) formed a 12 km long and 2.5 km wide peninsula separating Kawachi Bay from

17415-520: Was officially established as a municipality. The construction boom accelerated population growth throughout the following decades, and by the 1900s, Osaka was the industrial hub in the Meiji and Taishō periods. Osaka made noted contributions to redevelopment, urban planning and zoning standards in the postwar period, and the city developed rapidly as one of the major financial centers in the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area. Osaka

17550-431: Was originally restricted to women, and many women were employed in the silk-making industry. Even as knowledge of silk production spread to the rest of the world, Song dynasty China was able to maintain near-monopoly on manufacture by large scale industrialization, through the two-person draw loom, commercialized mulberry cultivation, and a factory production. The organization of silk weaving in 18th-century Chinese cities

17685-412: Was popular as it distributed risk and eased the barriers to market entry. They formed partnerships known as huoji zhi (silent investor and active partner), lianhao zhi (subsidiary companies), jingli fuzhe zhi (owner delegates control to a manager), xuetu zhi (apprenticeship), and hegu zhi (shareholding). Merchants had a tendency to invest their profits in vast swathes of land. Outside of China,

17820-887: Was still prominent in both dynasties. It was not until the Song dynasty (960–1279) that the recruitment of those who passed the exams and earned degrees was given greater emphasis and significantly expanded. The shi class also became less aristocratic and more bureaucratic due to the highly competitive nature of the exams during the Song period. Beyond serving in the administration and the judiciary, scholar-officials also provided government-funded social services, such as prefectural or county schools, free-of-charge public hospitals, retirement homes and paupers' graveyards. Scholars such as Shen Kuo (1031–1095) and Su Song (1020–1101) dabbled in every known field of science, mathematics, music and statecraft, while others like Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) or Zeng Gong (1019–1083) pioneered ideas in early epigraphy , archeology and philology . From

17955-443: Was traditionally considered Japan's economic hub. By the Kofun period (300–538) it had developed into an important regional port, and in the 7th and 8th centuries, it served briefly as the imperial capital. Osaka continued to flourish during the Edo period (1603–1867) and became known as a center of Japanese culture. Following the Meiji Restoration , Osaka greatly expanded in size and underwent rapid industrialization. In 1889, Osaka

18090-495: Was used by later dynasties to structure their own government. Under this system, the government thrived, as talented individuals could be more easily identified in the transformed society. However, the Qin became infamous for its oppressive measures, and so collapsed into a state of civil war after the death of the Emperor. The victor of this war was Liu Bang , who initiated four centuries of unification of China proper under

18225-427: Was widespread, and meanwhile, speculators were acting to "corner" the market and to control prices. This was the first of a number of riots, called uchikowashi (打壊し), which would grow in frequency and size over the next century or so. The shogunate set a price floor in 1735, forcing merchants in Edo to sell for no less than one ryō per 1.4 koku , and in Osaka no less than 42 momme per koku . A 10 momme fine

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