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What Makes A Society Feudal?

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What makes a society feudal? To answer this I am going to look at two important ideas which Duus brings up. The first important idea that he presents is that feudalism has no definition that everyone agrees on, which has created controversy surrounding the question of Japan 's Feudalism. Duus addresses this controversy and then shows that he believes Japan did indeed have feudalism due to having many similarities with European feudalism. The second important point is that the vassal system, particularly that of military men, is a defining feature in Japan 's feudalism. He shows that the rise, and later decline, of the vassal system is crucial in holding together Japan 's feudalism. When vassals began to shift from a military focus to a more aristocratic one, the feudal system declined and eventually faded entirely. The first important idea is that there is disagreement on what feudalism is, and that despite the different interpretations of the word, Duus shows that due to Japan 's similar traits with Western Europe, he believes Japan to have gone through a Feudal period. He explains that there are two extremes for the definition of feudalism. The first extreme is that feudalism is exclusive to Western Europe, particularly northern France. The second extreme is the Marxist view that all societies go through a feudal stage as they pass from ancient society to a modern society. The middle ground opinion is that a feudal system is not exclusive to Western Europe, and is a

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