Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Japan, the common people, as distinguished from the nobility.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • They belong to the samurai class, and, doubtless, their naturally superior position weighs with the heimin.

    Unbeaten Tracks in Japan Isabella Lucy 2004

  • The ceremony did not correspond with the rules laid down for marriages in the books of etiquette that I have seen, but this is accounted for by the fact that they were for persons of the samurai class, while this bride and bridegroom, though the children of well-to-do merchants, belong to the heimin.

    Unbeaten Tracks in Japan Isabella Lucy 2004

  • As he entered he had seen them lead away a _heimin_ (commoner) who had undergone the punishment.

    The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 1 (of 2)

  • The daimyo ruled their territories by the power of the sword; and any samurai could slay at will any heimin (commoner).

    China and the Post-War World 1943

  • A large public bath-house and a public laundry bore evidence that the _yama-no-mono_ liked clean linen as well as their _heimin_ neighbors on the other side of the hill.

    Kokoro Japanese Inner Life Hints Lafcadio Hearn 1877

  • Youths, who might in another era have aspired to offices of State, had become the trusted servants of Oki heimin.

    Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Second Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

  • There were no exchanges of civilities, as upon meeting _heimin_; a Japanese of the better class would as soon think of taking off his hat to a

    Kokoro Japanese Inner Life Hints Lafcadio Hearn 1877

  • Of the four great classes of the nation -- Samurai, Farmers, Artizans, and Merchants (the Shi-No-Ko-Sho, as they were briefly called, after the initial characters of the Chinese terms used to designate them) -- the last three were counted together under the general appellation of Heimin, "common folk." ll heimin were subject to the samurai; any samurai being privileged to kill the heimin showing him disrespect.

    Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation Lafcadio Hearn 1877

  • The faces I saw seemed much like the faces of the _heimin_, except that I fancied the ugly ones were uglier, making the pretty ones appear more pretty by contrast.

    Kokoro Japanese Inner Life Hints Lafcadio Hearn 1877

  • Thither we went, and were as nicely received as in a _heimin_ residence.

    Kokoro Japanese Inner Life Hints Lafcadio Hearn 1877

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