Japanese Feudalism Dbq Essay

Although they became more powerful throughout the feudal period, at the beginning, they were considered one of the lowest sub categories in the hierarchy.”

Since the beginning of civilization, all them have strived for a government system. For medieval Europe this government system was Feudalism. Feudalism was a working system for all aspects of the medieval life including culture and economy. The Black Death was a horrible disease that caused horrible symptoms and was responsible for the deaths of over one third of the population in Europe. The Black Death accelerated the fall of feudalism accelerated the fall of feudalism by completely disrupting its systems. Consequently, the black death caused the stable system, known as feudalism to cease to exist in Europe.

Have you ever wondered if there was really a difference between the Samurai and a Knight and if not what are the similarities? Some people may think there are more differences than similarities but the reality is they are more of the same than different. They are actually very alike. These two places Japan and Europe are going through very similar problems.They are fighting each other because neither of them were very stable in the medieval times. The warriors in Japan are called the ‘’Samurai’’ and in Europe the warriors are called ‘’Knights’’. They may seem different at first but they have way more similarities than differences. The similarities are much greater than the amount of differences. I learned this by studying these main areas; Social positions, Training and armor, and Life/honor and death.

Some of these are the roles of the military leaders and that women were not allowed to be involved in any sort of combat in Medieval Europe. Conversely, in Tokugawa Japan women were able to train to become a Samurai and would still be a regular wife. Also, in Medieval Europe women were much lower in society, but in Tokugawa Japan, women were almost equal to men at the time. This is one of the many differences between Tokugawa Japan’s social system and Medieval Europe's social system. Medieval Europe also had a slightly different warrior system. Examples of these are that lances were longer than the Japanese Naginata, and swords were much bigger than the Japanese Katana. In Medieval Europe, lords were the military leaders, while in Tokugawa Japan, Shoguns and Daimyos lead the military system. Samurai and knights had different approaches to death, as knights were bound by Catholic law, while Samurai were not religious. Tokugawa Japan had many cultural and traditional differences from Medieval

Feudal Japan and feudal Europe had contrasting social hierarchies. Feudal Europe’s hierarchy was based on religion and wealth, whereas feudal Japan’s hierarchy was based on military and necessities (Doc A). Lords in Japan were not a

Social order was officially ceased and mobility between the farmers, warriors, artisans, and merchants was prohibited. This was part of the systematic plan to maintain stability. The fifteen Tokugawa shoguns made their foremost goals political stability and complete isolationism. The stability gained by isolation and strict class control caused feudal Japan to double in population going from fifteen million to thirty million. They also increased in urbanization and the influence of the merchant class. This shows Japan and Europe 's differences. Merchants were looked up to in Europe and were looked down upon in Japan. Their social structure went the Emperor, Shogun, Diamyos, Samurai, peasants, artisans, then the merchants. Another difference was how women were seen. In Europe, women were considered fragile and in Japan they were expected to be brave and honorable. In Japan there were people known as Bushidos. This meant, "The Way of the Warrior". Begin a warrior was a way of life to

The societies of Tokugawa Japan (c.1603-1867C.E.) and medieval Europe (c.1000-1500C.E.) had two things in common; a feudal system. A feudal system is something that features hierarchies or social structures. The feudal system normally starts with a religion, which is at the very top of the social pyramid, then it’s the King or monarch for Europe and the shogun for Japan, then there are the nobles for Europe and the daimyos for Japan. As we go down the pyramid there are the warriors, like the knight in Europe and the samurai in Japan, then there are the peasants. The peasants were included in both eras and are at the lowest part of the pyramid.

Japan and Europe had unique lifestyles, one part being its military. It consisted of archers, who wielded bows and skilled swordsmen, called samurai. In Europe however, their military consisted of archers and swordsmen called knights. These two military figures share many similarities between each other, outweighing the differences. The three similarities between samurai and knights are moral codes, training, and their ranking in feudalism.

The social order in feudal Europe and Japan are very similar in many ways. In Document A, there are two pyramids showing the feudal system. These pyramids are very similar because it shows who is more powerful on top and who is weaker at the bottom. Another example is daimyos and lords are the same and both have people to worship them. The next proof is in Document B which shows that the samurais and knights have to give loyalty to their lords and have to fight for them. There are differences too, which are that in Document

In the 1500s and the 1600s the feudal system was beginning to fall. Different countries were trying new different types of governments instead of the dysfunctional feudal system. The feudal system consisted of many different nobles ruling over their own land. It was not a uniform system of ruling over the country. There were small city-states run by a singular ruler. Most of the population were poor farmers, that had no idea what was happening within the country. Obviously this system was not the best. Eventually countries found a more efficient way of running their countries. A single ruler began to consolidate the power from the city-states and make a more uniform government for the country. The ways these absolute monarchs consolidated and increased their powers were similar in the 1600s and 1700s, by decreasing the nobles’ powers, increasing military, and increasing bureaucracy.

During the 18th and early 19th century the world experienced new changes in world powers with imperialist countries and countries who experienced imperialism. One example of this would be Japanese imperialism in Korea during 1910-1945, a 35 year harsh change in Korea’s culture, impacting both countries in negative and positive ways in the years to come. Everything started during the Meiji period, a period where Japan saw change within its government creating a centralized bureaucracy. But also change within the military occurred with the replacement of Samurai authority. Trying to be equal competitors in world power as their Western neighbors. Japan had gotten imperialist ideas from 1853 when the U.S. black ships steamed

Katsu’s family lived in Edo, Japan. Even though Edo had been transformed into a big city known as present day Tokyo, it had started out small. In 1457 Edo was a small little-known fishing village, that later grew into the largest metropolis in the world. The city, followed under Tokugawa shogunate, was the de facto capital and center of political power. It was built around Edo castle, formerly known as Chiyoda castle, which had been the chief headquarters for Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1590. (History.com, “Edo”) The people of Edo followed a strict caste system, greatly impacted by the Chinese Confucian values. The Feudal Japanese Society, people of Edo, was divided into four different castes: the Nobles, the Samurai, the Peasants, and the Chonin. The nobles included: the emperor; the figurehead of society, the shogun; the most powerful military lord, and the daimyos; lords who controlled their own region of Japan. The samurai were the professional warriors who were bound by a code of loyalty and honor to a daimyo. The peasants, included of farmers and fishermen, was the largest social group of whom were all legally bound to by the person who owned their land. Chonin, last on the

Imagine yourself in a dark building not knowing what’s around each corner. You make your way through this building facing disease, hunger, war, pressure, and being stuck on the bottom floor of the building. This is exactly how the middle ages were. During the middle ages citizens were forced into religion and faced the issues following feudalism, hunger, disease, and war. In summary the middle ages were not a good period rather they were a time of darkness.

From the Kamakura Period of the late twelfth century to the Meiji Restoration in the nineteenth century, the samurai have held prominent positions as noble warriors in Japanese society. They have come to be famous in modern, Western pop culture as the fierce, stoic guards of feudal Japan, but their practices and rituals extended beyond wielding katanas and donning impressive armor. Samurai practices were rich and complex, with strict codes, ritual suicide, and a history of influencing culture and politics (“Samurai”).

It is noted that there are 3 honour codes that are informally enforced. Firstly, Nobles and gentles were anticipated to act more dignified than the lower class, towards which they had commitment as overlords of an end-result of medieval administration. Secondly, loyalty to the military leaders was private and officers were individual from a strong fellowship which declared the privilege of comprehensive self-management. Lastly, officers battled for the conservation and improvement of conventional triumph. However, it is noted that the army officers glorify courage over other virtues and condemned cowardice in which the offender is subject to be penalized.