Meshchanin (English spelling)

Japanese: メシチャニーン（英語表記）meshchanin

The term refers to the townspeople, petty bourgeoisie, and by extension, vulgar people in pre-revolutionary Russia. Its origins are in the Polish "mieszczanin," meaning city dwellers. In the 18th century, it referred to all city dwellers, and in the 19th century, it was narrower, referring to lower classes of citizens (small merchants, artisans, etc.). Compared to the cities and bourgeoisie in Western history, Russian cities generally had a stronger administrative character, and even at the end of the 19th century, the bourgeoisie's numbers and their political influence were small, with wealthy merchants (including factory owners, who could be called industrial capitalists) and meshchanins combined making up just over half of the city dwellers.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

革命前ロシアの町人身分，小市民，転じて俗物の意。語源はポーランド語の〈都市住民mieszczanin〉。18世紀には都市民全体を，19世紀にはより狭く，下層市民(小商人，職人など)を指す。西欧史上の都市とブルジョアジーに比べると，ロシアでは一般に都市は行政的性格が強く，19世紀末でもブルジョアジーの数とその政治的影響力は小さく，富裕な商人身分(工場主をも含み，むしろ産業資本家と呼びうる)とメシチャニーンを合わせても都市居住者の半分余であった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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