Chugen (Household Servant): Status and Role
A consideration of the servants in samurai households, called chugen, can help visitors gain a deeper understanding of life in the samurai houses of the Edo period (1603–1867).
Chugen
Chugen are first mentioned in the Kamakura period (1185–1333), when they make an appearance as low-status soldiers who accompanied their samurai masters. It is said these soldiers were called chugen (meaning roughly “middle place”), because their rank fell between that of the lowest-ranking samurai (ashigaru) on the one hand and that of the messengers-cum-porters (komono) on the other.
During the Edo period, consecutive generations of chugen came to serve specific samurai families. Although there are stories of chugen who, in return for devoted service, were well-treated by their samurai families and who ultimately formed mutually beneficial relationships with them, there are also stories of chugen making use of samurai authority to further their own interests.
While some chugen commuted to the residence, others were quartered in the nagaya-mon (“longhouse gate”).
Life
Between 1830 and 1868, a chugen’s average annual salary amounted to 360 kg of rice, or three ryo. A ryo was the standard unit of currency at that time. Chugen also received five cups of brown rice per day. While a chugen’s meals were usually provided by his samurai master, chugen were quite poor, and many remained unmarried their entire lives. Some had no choice but to wear their masters’ discarded clothing, and also took on side jobs like making straw sandals or cultivating bonsai trees to supplement their incomes.
Clothing
Chugen typically wore cotton clothing that they made themselves unless accompanying their masters on business, in which case they were provided with clothes bearing a symbol unique to the family they served. Spear-carriers, sandal-bearers, and umbrella-holders often wore straight-sleeved coats called happi with their masters’ crests sewn onto the back of the garment. Those who carried their masters’ wooden chests of extra clothing (hasamibako) and other cargo-bearers wore navy or yellow happi with a crest. Chugen would also be given an appropriate happi for special occasions like the New Year’s celebration or coming-of-age ceremonies for the family’s children.
Work
Within wealthy households, the individual roles and duties of each chugen were well-defined, along with their status with respect to one another. However, in less prosperous samurai households, chugen often had to shoulder numerous responsibilities simultaneously.
In principle, a chugens work was to watch the traffic in and out of the gates of the residence, manage and clean the grounds, bring water, draw baths, care for the horses, and accompany their masters on business. When attending their masters outside the residence, they might act as pike-bearers, carry sandals, haul trunks full of clothing, or lead horses. Chugen of especially high-ranking samurai might also bear their masters’ palanquins.
