Hideyoshi: Military And Feudal Hierarchy

The Warrior class were part of the social class in Japan that included Shoguns, Daimyos and Samurais. The Shoguns would rule the Daimyos, who had control over the Samurais. Japan’s warrior class led to a lasting effect, enhanced weapons and effect on the social class which led to the alteration of the warrior class’ roles.

The samurai were the feudal warriors of ancient Japan. For thousands of years they upheld the code of bushido, the way of the warrior. Samurai were around for thousands of years, but when did they disappear? Does the code of bushido still exist to this day? Exploring the history of the samurai will give an explanation to what has happened to these formidable warriors.

The Japanese samurai had a specific code to live by called the Bushido. To be a samurai you must have courage, be just, have mercy,and be polite. You must also have honesty, have a sense of honor, be loyal, and have self-control. In Europe knights also had a code to live by and it was called the Knights Code of Chivalry. Like the samurai the knights lived by the following guidelines: Faith, Charity, Justice, Sagacity, Prudence, Temperance, Resolution, Truth, Liberality, Diligence, Hope, and Valour. The knights were taught these characteristics and lived by these to be the best they could at there job.

The occupations were ranked by how essential they were to Tokugawa Japan. Ieyasu created hereditary classes based on occupation. The samurai were the most essential to the shogun because the warriors protected the land of the daimyos, who were hand picked by the shogun and made sure taxes were paid for the land they owned. The peasants, making up most of the population, were farmers and fishermen. They were necessary to work the daimyos land and yield food for the nation. Artisans were less essential because they were more mobile, not owning land. Merchants, similar to artisans, did not own land and were even less valuable because Ieyasu did not view the salespeople as directly benefiting

Medieval Japan started in 1185 AD and ended in 1868 AD, this time included the Kamakura, Ashikaga, Sengoku-Jidai and the Tokugawa periods. Medieval Europe started with the Early Middle Ages in 476 CE, the High Middle Ages from 1000 to 1300 CE and the Late Middle Ages from 1300 CE to around 1500 CE. In the Japanese bakufu system, the emperor was the highest position then the shogun, daimyo, samurai, peasants, artisans and merchants. On the other hand, Medieval Europe’s highest social class was the pope then king, barons & archbishops, knights, craftsmen, farmers and at the bottom was the peasants. The purpose for feudalism in these times was to give order, it's also helped with protection, wealth,

It is an axiom of human nature that as long as there is an abundance of food, there will be class and government structures. Often, the wealthy rule over the poor and the poor work for the wealthy. Feudalism is one such governing style that bows to this truth. Feudalism was born in medieval Europe and Japan and heavily influenced their cultures and traditions. Feudalism founded itself upon the idea that the wealthy nobles owned the land and gifted it to vassals, who in turn were loyal to the nobles and allowed peasants to work the land, who then intern received protection. Because both societies circumscribed to the same form of government (that is feudalism), there will be similarities in class structure; however, European and Japanese feudalism

The societies of feudal Europe and shogunate Japan had many similarities and differences. These society's roughly fell between the time period of 400CE and 1800 CE. Both societies had rich cultures and defined history. Many similarities and differences were found in the social structure, the development of the warrior classes and the religion practiced by both societies.

The it went Lords or Barons who was given land by the king to look after in return to provide military. Then it went Knights who were the warriors of of that time. They were there to provide military service and to protect the kingdom. Lastly it went Peasants who were at the bottom of the class and were given land by the Knights in return for crops which they had to make. Each class was very important and without this it would fail. In the Tokugawa era of Japan they also had a class system which went Emperor who was at the top but had no power but he was just given respect. Then it was shoguns who were in charge of everything as they overthrew the emperor. Then it went Daimyo whose job was to keep peace in villages. Then it was farmer who provided crops for everyone one to eat. After farmers it went artisans who made all the art and clothes in Japan. Finally it went Merchants who ran stores and sold many

Tokugawa leyasu was born 1543.When leyasu .When leyasu 4 year old, he got the education suitable for a nobleman. In 1605 he received the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yōzei. After being shogun few years he created the Tokugawa shogunate, which ushered in the Edo period, and was the third Shogunal government. In 1609 leyasu chose to distance Japan from European influence. Few year later leyasu died at age 73 , his tomb was in a pubic place ,people can worship him in there. We can see leyasu was a powerful person in japan.

The first humans arrived to Japan around 35,000 B.C. Japan has a history of being locked out to the outside world, refusing to open its borders to foreigners. In 1633, the Sakoku Policy, issued a “locked country” law that banned immigrants from entering Japan on penalty of death and disallowed Japanese from leaving Japan. The first historic papers mentioning Japan date to around the 5th century, legend holds that Emperor Jimmu was the primary emperor of an imperial line that is still in place today. Archaeological proof gathered by a number of scholars implied the imperial rule started later, the third to seventh centuries AD, during the Kofun period. Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to re-join the country and effectively founded the Tokugawa Shogunate.

“The bakufu, controlled by Askikaga Takauji, passed a far-reaching law in 1352 that authorized shugo to earmark half of a province’s revenue for military provisions (hanzei), thereby linking the machinery of tax collection to the procurement of provisions. This law allowed commanders to control enough cash to bankroll their forces, thereby solving the endemic deficiencies of supply, and contributing, in the process, to the sudden appeal of the shugo office among the ambitious,” (Conlan 85).

There are four-class systems, which are samurai, peasant, artisan and merchant, during the Tokugawa period in Japan. I will choose merchant class to learn more about this class system. Unlike the merchant class in Europe feudal society, the merchant class was ranked at the bottom class in feudal society in Japan, and the samurai is the top class. The merchants are the most despised people during the Tokugawa period, such as trader and shop-keeper. Unless for the business, it’s prohibited that higher class mix with the merchant class.

Tokugawa leyasu (Matsudaira Takechiyo) was the first shogun warrior and started the shogunate called the tokugawa shogunate in Edo (Now known as Tokyo). He is remembered as one of the most important warriors in japanese history. Tokugawa was born in 1542, in the Mikawa Province. His father, Matsudaira Hirotada was the Lord of the province During the time of his birth, Civil war had been occurring in Japan. There were many violent fights between lords of other provinces which lasted almost a century. When Tokugawa was four, his father sent him as a hostage to secure an alliance between his clan and another clan called Imagawa. He was raised and educated by the Imagawa clan. In 1567 Tokugawa’s father had been killed by his own soldiers who were bribed by the Oda clan which had left him the role as leader of the Matsudaira clan. The matsudaria clan was also in alliance with a Oda Nobunaga who was a commanding neighbour. Tokugawa also changed his name from Matsudaria which was the name of where he came from to Tokugawa. He also changed his individual name to Ieyasu instead of Takechiyo which was his birthname. He is now known and remembered as Tokougawa Ieyasu.

Who were the noble Samurai? These warriors were some of the best known in Japan. As they were trained from a very young age, the Samurais were very loyal and very well armed with different weapons and well made armor.

Yuzan Daidoji, Oscar Ratti, and Thomas Cleary. The Code of the Samurai. Boston: Tuttle, 1999. 10-44.