Japanese Feudalism Research Paper

These three points prove that feudalism in Africa, Europe, and Japan were all linked together. They all had similar social systems, which had lord-like people near the top and peasants at varying degrees of status near the bottom. Next, they all had peasants who pledged loyalty to someone of higher status in order to gain protection. Lastly, they all had warriors to fight their battles and were of great importance. From looking at this evidence, it can be seen that there is a clear relationship between feudalism in Europe, Africa, and Japan.

Under the daimyos, warfare changed from heroic combat to a more modern conflict. The constant state of war damaged the Japanese economy and because of that, some peasants engaged in futile rebellions against

The Tokugawa shogunate was a very important and stable government in Japanese history. It was the connection of the feudalism and capitalism of Japan. For over two hundred years, challenges to Tokugawa authority were few, and this era was known as the time of Great Peace. In general, its appearance for the populace was grateful, because of a period of freedom from the warfare marked Sengoku, from the middle of 15th century to the end of 16th century. During that period, the chain of islands that makes up Japan was ruled by samurai and warlords. During the late sixteenth-century Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and finally Tokugawa Ieyasu took power in succession and finally united the whole Japan. However, the success of Tokugawa

The long, battle-weary, four hundred year period from the late twelfth century through the Kamakura period (1185-1333), Muromachi period (1336-1573), and well into the sixteenth century is referred to as Japan’s medieval period. The imperial government’s authority was deteriorating, the provinces were in chaos as warrior clans fought amongst themselves, and regional military chieftains challenged the imperial government for the right to rule. Medieval Japan saw the development of feudalism and a militaristic society led by samurai clans. The Gempei War, Shokyu War, Mongol Invasions, Kemmu Restoration, and The Onin War are five key turning points in Japan’s transition from a centralized imperial government to feudalism. These conflicts also demonstrate the evolution of the samurai ethos.

Feudalism was a social system that divided all people into a certain class based on wealth, job, and power. Knights and samurais were both put into this system. Although many believe that knights

From the commencement, the Tokugawa command fixated on rebuilding instruction in social, political and global activities after a period of conflict. The political construction guaranteed all daimyos to the shogunate and limited any discrete daimyo from obtaining too much land or control. Like most civilizations I find the social hierarchy to be very fascinating. In japans case it went from peasants, artisans, farmers, samurai, daimyo, shogun and emperor.

Feudalism was the form of government in medieval Europe during the Middle Ages. The system of feudalism lasted for as long as it did because everybody had a role to keep the system functioning. The peasants and serfs made goods and worked the farms, the knights protected everyone, the lords and ladies gave land to peasants, serf, and knights, and the monarch ruled the area, telling everybody what to do. This way of life worked because it kept everybody doing the things they had to do. If they didn’t follow their duties and responsibilities, they were punished with anything from being put in the stocks, getting whipped, or even as extreme as being executed. The decline of feudalism was caused by three main factors, political changes in England caused by the Magna Carta and the Model Parliament, the bubonic plague, and the Hundred Years War.

First, the two regions have similar class hierarchy societies. These class systems were heredity so you were born into what you would be. With the constant warfare, is made the warrior class the most important, these warriors worked for local lords. In Japan, these warriors are known as samurais and were lowest class of aristocratic nobility. In Japan, women were allowed to become a samurai and fight alongside the men. In Western Europe, however, their warriors were called knights and were the third in their class system. Contrasting the Japanese samurais, women were not allowed to become knights. Both warrior classes were bound by codes, the samurais had the Bushido code and the knights had the Code of Justinian.

The feudal system had positives and negatives, for example there was order of power it did not matter how much land, children, and money they had it all depended on their job in the manor. The Knights could get land when they returned from manor. Lords are a sort of nobles and surfs are less powerful and get less things than regular peasants. Knights had restrictions that kept from being on the battle field lords where like the second command to the king he over sees the manor. Surfs basically live where they work. The lord was expected to do Judaism duty. The lord was also expected to pay taxes to the king. The feudal pyramid made it near impossible to gain power

Feudalism had two main roots. One was the sense of honor during wars across Europe in the early Middle Ages, where the knights fought for the honor of their leader, the king, and remained with him until death. In return, the leader rewarded his men with treasures and glory. The second was the system of land lording. In this system, land lords granted land to a person in return for services or on certain conditions. The lord controlled the land and collected taxes. He also supervised the farming of his land while the peasants were farming. Peasants did not belong to themselves, everything like their food, home, and clothes belonged to the lords. Most struggled to produce enough

European Feudalism and Japanese Feudalism are very similar when it comes to their government system, which always begins with the highest rank to the lowest rank of both systems in their governments. The highest rank in the Europeans Feudalism system is the king, and for the Japanese, it’s the emperor. The Europeans had one king who owned all power, provides money, recruits the army on demand, and grants land by the lord. Japanese Feudalism is a little different for their highest rank. The Japanese had one emperor who owns no political power, the actual ruler in the Japanese system is called the shogun, or supreme military leader who is chosen by the emperor for life. European and Japanese Feudalism have many similarities in their government system, starting with the highest power which is the ruler of their government, and scaffolds down to a peasant or farm type of person.

The time of feudalism in Japan took place from the 12th via 19th centuries. In Theory, the emperor was the one who headed the Japanese Society. But Fact of the matter was that he was powerless, though regarded, figurehead. Real power laid in the hands of the shogun/ supreme military commander. In 1192 Yoritomo Minamoto was appointed as the shogun. He was the one who set up the kamakura shogunate, it was the first of three military dynasties that ruled almost 700 hundred years in Japan. Shogun quiet often controlled only small part of Japan. He gave lands to vassal lords who in return agreed to support him through military/armies when in need. They began to be known as Great warrior lords called daimyo. They, later on granted land to the smaller

Traditionally, there are various areas in Japan that reflect feudalism. Note that feudalism refers to the system of government that existed in medieval Japan where there were noble families, military servants, and peasants (Duus, 4). Members of noble families held land and peasants worked for them in exchange of military protection. All governing and administrative powers concentrated on nobles. They were treated as lords and exercised absolute authority on their subjects. Peasants used to live in the land belonging to these lords, provide them with labor and other services including a share of the farm’s produce (Karl, 183). People related on the basis of lordship and vassalage depending on the social class one belonged. Feudalism prevailed

As a result, many Japanese industries expanded into Manchuria with the help of the Japanese government, who desired the concept of fukoku kyōhei, which aimed to increase Japan’s economic and military power. World War I presented Japan a great opportunity to further two of its primary goals: propagating the idea of Pan-Asianism under Japanese rule, and acquiring natural resources for its growing industries. By allying with Britain and America, Japan could seize many imperial holdings of Germany and its allies for itself, as well as sell their military goods to the Western allies. Due to Japan’s support of the winning side of the war and its inclusion in the League of Nations, they had recognition from the Western powers that their new colonies were legitimate. As heard from the many first-hand stories of people in these newly acquired territories, the Pan-Asianism Japan espoused was nothing more than a ruse, and Japan would act much the same as the previous Western rulers.

Late Feudalism in Japan was characterized by its contradictory nature of being centralized politically while maintaining feudal institutions, thus earning the title of a “centralized feudalist state” (Reischauer, pg. 73 - 74). Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa bakufu, wanted to encourage an era of peace after the constant bloodbath that occurred during the second phase of feudalism in Japan, and this was the basis of most of the changes that distinguish Late Feudalism from the other two phases. The most notable change he implemented was the revival of Confucianism; this resulted in declining rates of crime and violence and a rise in literacy rates, a phenomenon that was based on Confucius’ famous phrase, “The gentleman is not a utensil” (Confucian Analects, Handout #1). In terms of individualism, Confucianism encouraged individuals to