Daily life in Medieval Japan

1. Clothing

1.1. Silk kimono for the upper classes, with obi belts.

1.2. Lower classes wore simpler cotton and linen clothing.

1.3. Women and samurai blackened their teeth, ohaguro.

1.4. Zori sandals and straw boots in winter.

1.5. Tattoos used as punishment

2. Entertainment & Travel

2.1. Sumo, falconry, kenmari, go, shogi, and temari.

2.2. Traditional toys for children: kites, dolls

2.3. Noh theater popular from the 14th century

3. Death & Funerals

3.1. Oban festival in July/August to honor ancestors.

3.2. Cremation was the common treatment for the dead.

3.3. Buddhists believed that people were reincarnated after going to hell, so they performed ceremonies to honor them.

3.4. Death and funeral rituals in medieval Japan were a rich mixture of Buddhist and Shinto traditions.

3.5. Funerals were very important and included multiple rituals and offerings to guide the deceased to the afterlife.

4. Marriage

4.1. Marriage was seen as a process by which families could raise their status by uniting among powerful or high-ranking families.

4.2. Samurai wife were expected to their homes.

4.2.1. For this reason, at their weddings they were given a gift of a knife as a symbol of this.

4.3. Husbands could decide to end the marriage through a letter to their wife.

5. Family

5.1. The family in medieval Japan was organized around the ie, which included close relatives, emphasizing family loyalty and welfare.

5.2. Women, who took care of the children and performed household chores, also had social restrictions, even in samurai families where they defended the home.

6. Education

6.1. Formal education limited to aristocrats and Buddhist monks.

6.2. Samurai began educating their children.

6.3. Education in military strategy and Confucian philosoph

6.4. classes and samurai, who had access to literature, arts and philosophy, participating in

6.5. Education and skills were taught at home, varying according to social class and gender.

7. Shopping and Meals

7.1. Markets were set up several times a month for farmers to sell their products.

7.2. Use of chopsticks, trays, and specific serving customs.

7.3. These stalls sold not only food, but also handicrafts, metals and products that help people perform much more complicated activities.

7.4. Before they were based on exchanges, then with coins they began to create the money that served to acquire products, this was imported from China.

7.5. The basis of the diet was rice, supplemented with vegetables, seafood and fruits.