What happened to the peasant girl?

[deleted]

[deleted]

I'm betting she found a place in the princess's household, as a reward for her loyalty. She protected the princess from Tahei and Matashichi and was obviously trustworthy, whereas Tahei and Matashichi couldn't be trusted one iota. That's why they had to be let go their own way when the princess was safe. They still couldn't be trusted. Lords and leaders prized loyalty and I think the princess would not have let the servant girl go.

"Feudal Japanese society was strictly stratified (nobles, samurai, priests, artisans, merchants, farmers, and "untouchables" aka peasant laborers)"

I know this person posted this on IMDb over a decade ago and will never see this response, but I just can't let this stand.

Peasants and "untouchables" are not interchangeable. And actually the merchant class was considered lower than the peasant class in feudal Japan. Despite being more materially well off (such that poorer samurai in the Edo period might intermarry with merchants or even become merchants themselves and lose their nominally higher class status), merchants were considered lower in social status because, unlike peasants, they didn't produce anything, nor did they really own anything; they just bought and sold and speculated. They were considered parasites and money-grubbers and disliked. Artisans/craftsmen were also considered lower than peasants, but higher than merchants because they produced things of value and possessed important skills.

This person also forgot a still lower class: the burakumin, also called eta (literally "filth") or hinin ("non-humans"), who did the "dirty" work, associated with death, which "decent" society wouldn't touch, such as butchers and undertakers. Even up into modern times the burakumin and their descendants are discriminated against, though this attitude is thankfully starting to be challenged in recent years. It's possible that this group is what the person was referring to by "untouchables", but burakumin weren't exactly peasants or general laborers, but a caste that was confined specifically to what was considered the dirty work in society.

By the way, if anyone reading this is interested, there's an excellent movie called "Departures" from 2008 which challenges the stigma around morticians in Japan, a role traditionally associated with burakumin and looked down on by the general public. The movie was very popular in Japan and may have contributed to changing attitudes.