How was the wealth of ancient Japan measured?

Japan's feudal society between the 12th and 19th centuries had a four-tier class system. Unlike the feudal societies of other countries, where the peasants were at the bottom, the feudal class structure in Japan was such that the merchants were at the bottom. At that time, Japan was also influenced by Confucianism in China, and the members of society who participated in production were very important, so in Japan, farmers and fishermen were more important than shopkeepers and traders who were not engaged in production.

And above these two classes was the samurai class. Japanese feudal society was ruled by the samurai class. Although they were only 10% of the Japanese population at that time.

On the ladder of social classes, below the samurai were peasants and merchants. According to Confucian ideals, peasants were superior to artisans and merchants and had a better social status because they produced the food on which all classes depended. Although on the face of it they were considered an honorable class, for most of the feudal era, the peasants were burdened with heavy taxes.

During the third Tokugawa shogunate, rice farmers were forbidden to eat any rice they cultivated. They had to give all the money and food to the daimyo who managed the land, and then wait for the daimyo to give back some money for charity.

Although artisans produced many good-looking and necessary goods, such as clothes, kitchenware, and woodcuts, they were considered less important than peasants. The lowest strata of feudal society in Japan were occupied by merchants. Merchants were extremely ostracized in Japan at the time, called "parasites", who profited from the labor of the more productive peasant and artisan classes.

Merchants were required to live in an area, and the upper classes were forbidden to mingle with them, except in business. Despite this, many merchant families amassed a great deal of wealth. As their economic power grows, so does their political influence, and so do the restrictions on them.

In ancient Japan, there were many ways to measure wealth, the most important of which was to see how much land a person had, and the larger his land, the higher the wealth.

How did the wealth of ancient Japan measure it? And the way they measured it was very unique, and the way we measure it is that we in China now.

Japanese people don't like money management or investing very much, but they have a habit of saving money.

1. The proportion of cash in household assets in Japan is as high as 52%, while the proportion of cash in household assets in the United States is only 13%, and in Europe it is 35%, which is in between.

In Japan, Yukiaki tends to respect the way he gets paid for his hard work. That is, to underestimate the so-called investment income.

In Japan, there are very few successful experiences of investing (mainly ** investment). After the bubble economy and the subsequent economic recession, the stereotype of "investment = speculation" became deeply entrenched.

In Japan, more than 80% of financial assets are owned by people over the age of 50. This group of people has a lot of financial assets because of retirement payments, property inheritance, insurance maturity payments, etc., but most of them are very restrained in their investment because the priority is how not to "reduce" their assets, rather than how to continue to "increase". On the other hand, the younger generation in their 30s and 40s needs to spend most of their income from their jobs on housing loans and education, and the funds they can invest are very limited.

In other words, in Japan, due to factors such as social attitudes, economic recession, and disposable income, the concept of investment and financial management has not been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and many people still feel that cash is more secure.

2. Generally, Japanese financial planners will ask customers to make their real "financial statements" to him, and then analyze and formulate a "financial plan" that is most suitable for them with them.

Nowadays, the more popular planning method is to divide the funds into working capital (emergency reserves), the use of predetermined funds, and profit-generating funds.

Liquidity is mainly prepared for sudden emergencies such as illness, injury, and disasters, and it is required to be liquidated immediately. Therefore, this fund can be reserved in a flexible way such as demand deposits, fixed deposits, short-term fixed deposits, MRF, MMF, etc. In terms of amount, it is generally recommended to be 6 times the average monthly living expenses (about 1 million yen).

3. In addition to paying insurance and household expenses, Japanese people will invest in ** or buy treasury bonds, **, etc. Another common way for Japanese people to manage their money is to save money. Bank of Japan interest rates are very low, especially demand deposits, which are close to zero.

In order to avoid low interest rates, Japanese people who are able to do so prefer to deposit in foreign currency abroad, and choose the currencies of countries with strong currencies and high interest rates. The Japanese follow the financial management principle of diversified investment, and they will be more rational when managing money.