Feudalism in Japan rose following the Heian period (between 782 and 1185CE) when the stable imperial government weakened and the nobles began paying less taxes to the emperor and established large private estates. This was the start of feudalism, with the Japanese lords becoming powerful Daimyos and each operating their own Samurai army from the 12th to 19th century.
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• Commonly each system involved land ownership for power.
• The concept of land for loyalty is prominent in Japan and Europe feudal systems.
• Similar social class pyramid structures. The pyramid class structure is similar to the European chart with the emperors/lords, nobles, church officials and the knights/warriors at the top. Both the Japanese and European feudal social structures where based on a social hierarchy of class and this was hereditary through family generations.
• Each system had warriors. The European Knights and the Japanese Samurai served their superiors and followed a code of ethics. The code of chivalry for European Knights served a similar moral purpose to the Samurais code. Each culture operated on values of loyalty, honour and protection.
The Japanese feudal system was founded by the Chinese philosopher Kong Qiu, known as Confucius. Confucius strongly believed in mortality and respect for elders and superiors. This provided the backbone to the Daimyo and the Samurais code of moral duty to protect the lower class and in turn they paid taxes to honour the warriors. Whereas, the European feudal system was based on the Catholic Church with moral obligations and lords offering payment for protection and vassals offered complete loyalty in