Peasants ranked below samurai and above artisans and merchants in the Tokugawa period’s commonly described social hierarchy.
The model is often summarized as shi-nō-kō-shō: samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants. Peasants were placed second because agricultural production was regarded as the material foundation of society and the principal source of rice taxes. Artisans ranked below them because they transformed materials into goods, while merchants were placed last because they were viewed as profiting from exchange rather than producing essential goods.
This hierarchy was an official ideal rather than a complete description of everyday life. The Tokugawa order also included court nobles, religious institutions, entertainers, outcast communities, and many other groups. Wealth and practical influence could contradict formal rank: some merchants became extremely rich, while many samurai faced financial difficulties. Peasants were not legally identical to all rural residents, and social rules varied by domain. The four-part model is therefore useful for understanding state ideology but should not be treated as a simple, perfectly rigid census of everyone in Japan.