Rokugan Local Governance:
Servants
A single samurai household of the lowest ranks of a clan would be performing all of these duties themselves. Local heimin could be ordered to assist the family on tasks of heavy and unpleasant physical labor, though many bushi would take it as a point of pride that they are able to chop wood and haul water as ably as anyone. However, as a household grows in wealth, these tasks can be passed on to servants or retainers that are then paid out of the samurai household's supply of rice to assume such duties. At the lowest levels, this will be heimen who live in the surrounding town to come in and do periodic chores such as gardening or laundry. Then, if the household is wealthy enough, it might bring in a young unmarried woman more permanently to take care of the children, or a wetnurse to nurse an infant. With greater wealth, a cook or some servants to assist with cleaning or dressing could be brought into the home. The number and role of the servants depends on the wealth of the household.
Some of the duties that may be taken by servants are:
As the Samurai Family grows in wealth, due to the productivity of their village or due to greater support and upkeep from their daimyo, or through their own actions, they are able to bring in more servants, fulfilling more roles in the house, and those servants are more likely to become full time residents of the house.
Changes through the Ages
In ancient Rokugan, when Inari first blessed the lands with rice and the blessings of the kami and new technologies first allowed for the mass cultivation of rice, the population of Rokugan was low, with only a handful of samurai directly related to the ruling families of Rokugan and many, many heimen.
This low population, coupled with a new food source that was much more productive per field-worker than any previous crop, as well as a peaceful Empire, allowed for each samurai to have many servants indeed. Even the poorest, most ascetic monk would travel with a servant during these ancient days, and it was unthinkable for a samurai to travel without a whole retinue of at least four or five servants.
Many of the customs of the Highest Courts developed around this time period, and some of the most wealthy still live in this fashion. However, as population grew and more once-servants were elevated to the orders of the samurai caste, the ability to have dozens of servants in attendance on you diminished for most samurai save the most wealthy...and ostentatious.
A single samurai household of the lowest ranks of a clan would be performing all of these duties themselves. Local heimin could be ordered to assist the family on tasks of heavy and unpleasant physical labor, though many bushi would take it as a point of pride that they are able to chop wood and haul water as ably as anyone. However, as a household grows in wealth, these tasks can be passed on to servants or retainers that are then paid out of the samurai household's supply of rice to assume such duties. At the lowest levels, this will be heimen who live in the surrounding town to come in and do periodic chores such as gardening or laundry. Then, if the household is wealthy enough, it might bring in a young unmarried woman more permanently to take care of the children, or a wetnurse to nurse an infant. With greater wealth, a cook or some servants to assist with cleaning or dressing could be brought into the home. The number and role of the servants depends on the wealth of the household.
Some of the duties that may be taken by servants are:
- Housekeeping chores such as cleaning, laundry, and the preparation and preservation of food - This will usually be done by household servants or cooks, usually heimen women who might do this with part of their days and then return to their own households to do the same in the evening.
- Childrearing - This will be done usually by a wetnurse (for infants), a nursing heimen woman who has or has recently lost an infant of their own. Older children are cared for by nursemaids, called Komori, unmarried teenage girls who are moved into the household for this task.
- Acquiring the goods the household needs through trade or favors - This would be done by the Goyo Shonin, the main purchaser of goods who oversees many of the other servants.
- Growing a vegetable garden - Done by gardeners, often who tend the gardens as part of their tasks outside the samurai estate.
- Fulfilling the spiritual obligations of the household to honor the ancestors and appease the kami - This can be done by a household monk or spiritual advisor, though it is usually supervised by the elderly parents left in the home.
- Patrolling and maintaining the property one has been given - Hired ashigaru guards, or even samurai guards for households of sufficient stature.
As the Samurai Family grows in wealth, due to the productivity of their village or due to greater support and upkeep from their daimyo, or through their own actions, they are able to bring in more servants, fulfilling more roles in the house, and those servants are more likely to become full time residents of the house.
Changes through the Ages
In ancient Rokugan, when Inari first blessed the lands with rice and the blessings of the kami and new technologies first allowed for the mass cultivation of rice, the population of Rokugan was low, with only a handful of samurai directly related to the ruling families of Rokugan and many, many heimen.
This low population, coupled with a new food source that was much more productive per field-worker than any previous crop, as well as a peaceful Empire, allowed for each samurai to have many servants indeed. Even the poorest, most ascetic monk would travel with a servant during these ancient days, and it was unthinkable for a samurai to travel without a whole retinue of at least four or five servants.
Many of the customs of the Highest Courts developed around this time period, and some of the most wealthy still live in this fashion. However, as population grew and more once-servants were elevated to the orders of the samurai caste, the ability to have dozens of servants in attendance on you diminished for most samurai save the most wealthy...and ostentatious.
