Japan's+Feudal+System

Japan Feudal System:

Questions:
 * In what ways did Japan's Feudalism shape Japanese Society compared to European feudalism and European society?
 * How did the differences/similarities between feudal japan and feudal Europe affect their development?
 * How was feudal japan and feudal Europe different/similar to each other?

//**__Q #1:__**// In what ways did Japan's Feudalism shape Japanese Society compared to European feudalism and European society? Feudal societies were built on a system of hereditary classes. The children of formers become farmers. While the children of lords become lords and ladies. In both feudal Japan and Europe constant warfare made warriors the most important class, knight. A lord granted (a fief) to his vassals. In exchange for the fief, the vassal would provide military service to the lord. The obligations and relations between lord, vassal and fief from the basis of feudalism. Both Japan and Europe had landowning and non-landowning castes. Influence of Confucianism from China ~1200 that create the 4 casts, royalty, samurai warrior, peasant, “the rest”, mostly merchants and day laborers. In 1185, following the defeat of the rival Taira clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed Shogun and established a base of power in Kamokura, the Hojo clan came to rule as regents for the shoguns. The Kamakura shogunate was eventually overthrown by Emperor Go- Daigo, who was soon himself defeated by Ashikaga shogunatefailed to control the feudal warlords, and a civil erupted in 1467 which opened a century-long Sengoku period. As in Europe it could have been much better for the general population, any system could have been better or wise, depending on the rulers and the people. Japan Works Cited

"History of Japan." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 May 2013. Web. 22 May 2013.
Feudalism in Japan is very similar to Feudalism in Europe. Feudalism is the contract between people that goes down a line where the place it start’s has the most power. In Japan, the people at the top (Emperor/ Empress) did not actually have that much power since in Japan, Feudalism is more about respect. This caused the people to be more controlled by the warrior class than the emperor. The warrior class (shogun, daimyo, samurai) were like the lords, barons, and knights in European feudalism. Shoguns form the warrior class is superior to the others and basically makes the emperor his puppet. This means the emperor is really a figurehead that seems powerful. In the European feudal system the king is the king and not just a figurehead. I can see how having an emperor being the puppet of the supreme commander of the army may change the society though the different choices taken. Japanese feudalism is like European feudalism in that there is not much to no social mobility, but unlike European feudalism people would probably like to be farmers a bit more and that can change how well the society works. Works Cited Cranny, Michael William, and Graham Jarvis. "Medieval Japan." //Pathways: Civilizations through Time//. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall Ginn Canada, 1998. N. pag. Print. "Feudal Japan - Simply Japan." //Feudal Japan - Simply Japan//. Weebly, Jan. 2010. Web. 20 May 2013. "How Did Feudalism Develop in Japan?" //Yahoo! Answers//. Yahoo!, 2009. Web. 20 May 2013. Szczepanski, Kallie. "Feudalism in Japan And Europe." //About.com Asian History//. About.com, n.d. Web. 20 May 2013.

__//**Q**// #2:__ How did the differences/similarities between feudal japan and feudal Europe affect their development? As early as the 9th century, a new trend was coming to rise. It was not any sort of modern viral video, but a source of power. It was called feudalism. Feudalism was basically a classification that would divide peasants by where they were in the society, and it was also used as a sort of custom, in which labor could be traded for money, land, and other sources of power. It had originally begun in Europe, but its influence was brought to Japan by European missionaries, who were attempting to bring Christianity into the Japanese culture. Eventually, feudalism did start in Japan, and there became classes, in which a person would be put into, depending on their social rank. The system consisted on the Emperor/Empress, The Warrior Class (Shogun, Daimyo, and Samurai), Farmers/Peasants, Artisans, Merchants, and finally, The Underclass (Butchers, Executioners, Tanners, Entertainers, Beggars, Vagrants, Ainu, Slaves, and Courtesans). This feudal system is different than the one in Europe because first Japan’s structure has the peasants after the warrior class while the European feudal system has the peasants at the bottom. Also, the Japanese Feudal systems narrow their classes into more specific detail than the Europeans. European feudal development is different than the Japan’s development because they developed trade for them to get goods from other countries. Also, diseases developed more in Europe than Japan because European towns have a lot of people living in it and they were not clean.

__//**Q:3:**//__ How was feudal Japan and feudal Europe similar and different to each other? Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe is different and similar to each other in many different ways. Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe were built on a system of hereditary classes. The noble were a t the top, flowed by warriors, with tenant farmers or serfs. But European feudalism was based on the idea that the feudal Lord provide protection for the peasantry, while Japan Feudalism was based on the ideas of the Chinese philosopher Confucius.

Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe have a lot in common. Japan and Europe both used warriors, Knights/Samurai who were paid to protect the land. They were <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">developed for a way of protection against attack. In both societies there was a <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">unifying religious principle, which in Europe was Christianity and the authority of the <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Church, and in Japan were Shintoism and the authority of the Emperor. In both

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">cases, a social hierarchy attempted, with considerable success, to control <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">everyone’s lives; everyone owed their fealty to someone, except for the kings in <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Europe or Emperor in Japan, who didn’t owned loyalty to anyone, since there was <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">no higher authority. Japan, like Europe, had a highly stratified social class system, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">with nobles on top, followed by warriors, then merchants and craftsmen, and finally <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">farmers. The warriors were bound by a code of ethics. Knights were supposed to <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">hew to the concept of chivalry, while samurai were bound by the precepts of <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Bushido, or “the Way of the Warrior.” The Japanese feudal daimyo, or nobles, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">fought amongst each other, especially during times of political instability. For the <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">elites, court life in both societies were very similar, with courtesans and artists being <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">given patronage to produce works of art in painting and literature. For the lower <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">classes, the practice of paying taxes in exchange for cultivating the soil was the <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">same for both societies, with the exception being that Japanese peasants were not <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">as bound to the land as were the European serfs. They had similar types of <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">weaponry, European armor was considerably tougher, and skilled swordsmen were <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">much to be feared and respected. Both Feudal empires had a form of enclosed <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">castle or housing structure that was designed to protect the feudal lords. Equipped <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">with archers and whatever the lord could afford, many cities inside the gates of the property <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"> for the villagers to be protected in times of war.

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif';">Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe have a lot of similarities but they also have a lot of differences. In Europe feudalism had been a permanent aspect of the people’s lives since the 800s CE, and ended in the sixteenth century. In Japan it only started in the 1100s, and it did not end until the 1868. Japanese feudalism was based on the ideas of a Chinese philosopher Kong Qiu or Confucius. Confucius stressed morality and respect for elders and obligation to other feudal superiors. European feudalism was based on the idea that the feudal Lord would give protection for peasants that provided the landowning Lord with food, soldiers and taxes when he needed them. European knight gained land from their lord as payment for their service. Japanese samurai did not own any land, the daimyo used a portion of their income from taxing European knight gained land from their lord as payment for their service. Japanese samurai did not own any land, the daimyo used a portion of their income from taxing European knight gained land from their lord as payment for their service. Japanese samurai did not own any land, the daimyo used a portion of their income from taxing the peasants to pay the samurai a salary, usually paid in rice. Japan had a more formalized and ritualized kind of culture, Europe had elaborate rules of courtesy applied at all levels of society, and European peasants were crude for the most part. Interpretations of gender roles varied between Japan and Europe, samurai women were expected to be as strong as the men and to face death without flinching, on the other hand European women were seen as fragile flowers that needed protection. Knights and samurai had a different idea about death, samurai would commit suicide in order to maintain their honor it was a ritual called seppuku, and the knights were not allowed to commit suicide as a law by the Catholic Church.