HOW DID FEUDALISM IN JAPAN FORM?

Japan has little amount of land. Because of this, during the 700s CE, the
imperial government wanted to encourage land reclamation projects.
Draining swamps and clearing forests, but it was expenseive. The imperial
government of Japan granted tax exemptions and decreased the amount of
taxes due for people who funded these projects.
745 CE- the government made the tax exemption for reclaiming land
permanent and also hereditary/ These tax exemption programs impacted
wealthy families, as they were the ones who could afford to fund such
programs. They were also given exemptions from government inspection and
judicial authority. Before long, semi-independent estates, called shoen
(private tax-free estates owned by powerful land owners), covered most of
Japan.
The numerous tax exemptions though greatly limited the money coming into
the government. BEcause of this, the central government weakened and
could not provide military protection for the estates. Soon the estate leaders
hired bushi (warriors) and formed their own armies. Bushi that served a lord
or leader of an estate came to be called Samurai. By the 1100s CE all
members of the warrior class were called samurai, as you have learned.
The lords of these huge estates, were called daimyo. The former owners of
the small estates managed their former land and in return, gained the
protection of their daimyo.
basis for feudal system:
Because Japan had limited amount of land the japanese government offers
tax exemptions for people who fund land reclamation projects
V
Taking advantage of the tax ex. wealthy families support land reclamation
projects, thereby gaining large amounts of tax-free land.
V
The tax ex. weaken government, because of this, the government cant
protect the leaders of estates.
V
To protect themselves, the leaders of the estates form private armies
V

Soon powerful, mostly independent estates cover most of Japan

V
The estates often consolidate into larger estates ruled by a Daimyo
V
The former owners of small estates become the managers of their former
land and plege loyalty to their dimyo. In return the manager gains protection
of the daimyo. This interaction sets up the basis for a feudal system.

HOW DID FEUDALISM IN JAPAN CHANGE?

Daimyos soon began to fight eachother for more land and power. By the
1100s, two families became dominant: the Taira and the Minamoto. After a
decade of fighting, Minamoto emerged victorious. In 1185, the leader of the
Minamoto, Yoritomo, declared himself the emperor's military deputy or
shogun. He set up a separate military government in Kamakura. This city was
about 300 miles away from the imperial capital of Kyoto. THIS CHANGE
MARKED THE OFFICIAL BEGINNING OF FEUDALISM IN JAPAN.
In essence, Yoritomo and his military government controlled Japan. The
imperial government continued to exist, but had no real power. Yoritomo
appointed vassals as regional governors and stewards. In return, the vassals
pledge their loyalty to the shogun. The vassals collected taxes, managed
estates, and maintained the peace within their areas. Each vassas had a
private army of samurai.
Soon conflict raged between vassal warlords and the shogun and the vassals
loyal to him. Eventally in the early 1300s the shogun of the Ashikaga family
gained control of about 1/4 of Japan. However, the samurai and vassals who
fought for the Ashikaga felt that the family was keeping too much land for
itself. Because of this, many supporters broke away from the shogun and
gained control of their own domains. Tese warlords became a new type of
daimyo.
These diamyo set up mini-kingdoms that were completely independents form
the shogun government. Each of these kingdoms had a castle in which the
daimo's army of samurai lived. The daimyo administered their own law and
gained revenues by taxing their subjects. Also, some daimyo improved their
land through crop rotation, road building, and terrace farming.
1500s- powero f daimyo weakened because of fights. Tokugawa shogun

brought 200 daimyo under his control. Most daimyo served as vassals for the
shogun. The dimyo were granted land from the shogun. In return, the daimyo
pledge to give military and other services to the shogun.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN FEUDAL JAPAN AND FEUDAL EUROPE:

- Both systems were based ont he relationship between lords and vassals
(lord grants land to vassals, vassal offers protection and services)
- Warfare between various lords and vassals were common. This warfare
prevented regions from unifying.
- Noble families in both regions used marriage to form alliances. Marrying to
strengthen an alliance was quite commonplace.
- Lords and vassals in Europe and Japan often centered on a castle and its
surrounding area. Also, the nobility in both regions hired warriors for
protection. Knights in Europe. Samurai in Japan.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FEUDAL JAPAN AND FEUDAL EUROPE:

- the way land was owned in these two places. In europe, the lord or vassal
owned the farmland in their domains, not the peasants. In japan, however,
the peasants owned the land they farmed and, because of this, there was a
limit on how much a shogun or daimyo could exploit that land for their own
purposes.
- In europe, lords often calimed they went to war for religious reasons..
Indeed, the crusades were supposedly fueled by a religious zeal to regain the
palestine region for christianity. In contrast, the religion did not motivate the
shogun and diamyo to fight wars. In Japan, nobles fought wars for power and
wealth, which was also a motivation for European nobles
-Lords in feudal Europe laid the foundation for representative government
trhough such dovuments as the MAgna carta. In addition, in feudal England,
the government was divided in to the House of Lords and the House of
COmmons. This division formed the basis of parliamentary government. In
feudal Japan, the shogun and diamyo did not contribute to the formation of a
representative government.
- Feudal Japan had an emperor, and feudal Europe had kings. During each
country's medieval periods, both the Japanese emperor and the European

kinds had little power. What then is the difference between the two? The
Japanese emperor presided over all of Japan, but one king did not reign over
all of Euorpe. Rather, there were many kings in Europe, and these kings
tended to compete with each other. In addition, large sections of Europe did
not have any king.
- Feudalism lasted much longer in EUrope than Japan. In western europe,
feudalism started during the 400s and lasted until the early 1400s, but in
Japan it started around 1100s and lasted until about 1600 CE.

HOW WAS SOCIETY IN FEUDAL JAPAN STRUCTURED?

Society was divided into seven levels. As feudalism dveloped, these levels
became more rigid. Which made moving from one level to another difficult.
The emperor occupied the highest level, even though he was basically a
figurehead who had no power. Below him was the shogun, who was the
military ruler of Japan and thereby held the most power. The daimyo often
served as vassals to the shogun. However, during some periods they acted
independently of the shogun. The shogun and daimyos hired warriors called
Saurai for protection. The shogun, daimyo, and samurai made up the warrior
class, whcih was Japan's nobility.
Below the warrior class were the common people, which included peasants,
artisans, and merchants. Of these groups, the Japanese held the peasants in
the highest esteem because they produced food tat fed the people. Since the
artisans created products that people sued, they were ranked next. The
merchants occupied the lowest level in Japanese society. Why? The japanese
believe that merchants did not contribute much to society except the
movement of goods and food.
Japan is made up of many small islands. The country is made up of
four main islands: HOKKAIDO in the North, HONSHU, SHIKOKU, and
KYUSHU in the South. All four islands separate the Pacific Ocean and
the Sea of Japan. Korea is Japan's closest neighbor.

Japan, from around 1200 to 1700 was a feudal society.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOCIETIES:

Kings- In europe kings held the highest position in society and like the
Japanese emperor often had little to no power. The lords owned lage amounts

of land, had armies of warrior and as a result often became powerful. In this
way, they were similar to both the shogun and the daimyo. However, Europe
did not have one powerful lord, like the shogun, that ruled the region.
Warriors- Knights and vassals were granted land from their lord and in reutnr
pledge to serve and protect him. In this way, the vassal and lord relationship
was similar to the shogun and daimyo relationship. However, the samurai
never owned land as knights did; instead, they often lived int eh castle of
their shogun or daimyo.
Peasants: in Japan peasants had a much higher status than serfs in feudal
Europe. As you learned, Japanese peasants owned the land they tiled. Lords,
knights, and vassals however owned the land in their domains, and the serfs
were bound to that land. Also, with Japanese feudalism, peasants were
respected because they produced food that fed people- an attribute that was
taken fro granted in Feudal Europe.
Artisans- These statuses were similar in both places. Both were near the
bottom fot he social ladder. Merchants however had more respect in europe
than they had in feudal japan. This was primarily due to the influence of
Confucianism in Japan. Indeed, by the late middle ages in europe, many
merchants had become wealthy and politcally influential.

HOW WERE KNIGHTS AND SAMURAI SIMILAR AND DIFFERENT:

- Both Knights and samurai were members of the nobility in their respective
societies. IN addition, they both followed a code of behavior- bushi for
samurai and chivalry for knights. Furthermore both knights and samurai were
skilled at handling a variety of weapons and often wore elaborate armor.
differences:
- Knights often received pieces of lands for protecting their lord or vassal,
Samurai didn't receive lands for their services, but instead they were often
paid in food and lodging.
- The code of chivalry that a knight followed stressed defense of the Christian
church, loyalty to his lord, courage in battle, and generosity to the feeble.
Also, knights often championed a lady by protecting her and defending her
honor. This relationship between a knight and his lady sparked the
imagination of many writers, who transofmred it through their writing into an
idealized romantic love
The bushido of the samurai also emphasized courage in battle, loyalty to a
lord, kindness, and ercy. The samurai, though, carried loyalty to an extreme

through a ritual act of suicide called hara-kiri. If a samurai failed his lord in a
battle, he was expected to commit suicide. This suicide involved a samurai
using a knife to cut his abdomen, after which an assistant would cut off the
warrior's head.
- bushido didn't require samurai to protect women and did not idealize
romance
- Busho stressed that a samurai should be educated and support the arts. In
contract, few knights were well educate and many were illiterate.
-The bushido did not instruct the samurai to defend religion