Depicting Japanese medieval society is a complex and difficult task.
The first reason is obvious; lack of a written clue about social groups that did not play a significant social role. Primarily, this applies to artisans and farmers.
The information regarding the artisans and farmers we have today is from written clues about large landowners and their state management. The second reason is access to information and its processing, that is, the methodology and terminology of Japanese historians.
With all the changes in society that came into force with the new shogun, a rough division can still be made that has been maintained throughout the Japanese Middle Ages as a constant: the Emperor; Shogun; warriors within which there were still divisions; nobility; Shinto and Buddhist clergy; farmers, artists, traders, peasants, excommunicated.
At the start of the twentieth century there were approximately 250,000 Native Americans in the USA – just 0.3 per cent of the population – most living on reservations where they exercised a limited degree of self-government.
