Which of the following was the second highest class within Japan's class system?

a. merchants

c. artisans

b. peasants

d. warriors

The answer is B, peasants. The Japanese class system was divided into 4 tiers or classes. The top was the samurai class. Next was the peasant or farmer class. Third were the artisans. And 4th were the merchants. According to Confucian beliefs, farmers were superior to artisans and merchants because they produced the food that all the other classes were dependent on. Although technically they were viewed as an honored class, these farmers lived under a huge tax burden for much of the feudal era. In fact, during the Tokugawa shogunate, they were forbidden from eating any of the rice that they grew. They had to give it all to their daimyo (or lord) and wait for the daimyo to return some of it as charity to them before they could eat it.