ABSTRACT
The most important point in the creation of the samurai legend, and in the codification of the samurai in Japanese history, was the Tokugawa period. An increasingly literate and stable nonsamurai population in both cities and countryside engaged even more directly in the creation and consumption of the samurai ideal through literature, drama, images, and other media. In Japan, the title of "gentlemen" was applied to the samurai class, pointing to an interesting contrast between Chinese and Japanese notions of gentility. But as these "gentlemen warriors" became firmly established at the top of the official social order, they were themselves deprived of the ability to move within that order. The fixed stipends that samurai received did more than simply articulate differences in samurai rank. Despite the establishment of samurai as a class exalted above all others in society, townspeople—especially merchants—were making enormous profits.
