Ernest Schaal wrote:
> in article 1149721208.917882.266990@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, TXZZ at
> superoutland@aol.com wrote on 6/8/06 8:00 AM:
>
> >
> >>
> >> Funny, the Tokugawa Pax is attributed for the burst in new creativity in
> >> Japanese culture, and much of its arts flourished then.
> >
> > First, demographic progress was not as great as in the preceding civil
> > war period.
>
> There was less social rigidity, but then their was less social, economic, or
> artistic wealth.


YEs, but PROGRESS was less.  Japan in 16th was actually much more
developed that than the heian era from a demographic point of biew.

And Tokugawa japan was not that rigid; samurai status, for instance,
could be gained and lost; sometimes bought.