Feudalism In Western Europe And Japan

Miranda Bacon
P6 12­2­14
Feudalism in Western Europe and Japan

1. Some basic characteristics of feudalism in Japan and Europe were social classes. They both had people that were above, like the king or and emperor.
They also had people the were the the lowest class, like peasants and the serfs.
There were also vassals and lords that emerged. A lord gains people to manage his lands and a fighting force when he calls for it. A vassal gets land and titles, and the understanding that the lord will call the rest of his vassals to defend any one of them if needed.
2. The Magna Carta was a feudal document because it guaranteed certain rights of
English barons on their own lands free from the interference of the king.
However, the king has violated feudalism if he takes more power than he should.
The remedy that was proposed for this was allowing the barons to seize all the the king’s land if he did not change his ways
3. It is clear that vassals, though required to be loyal to their lords, were basically in the same social class and not to be treated as social inferiors. This is because vassals were basically the lords of smaller land inside of the lord’s land. All of the peasants had to listen to the vassal, and if he wanted, he could leave his lord if he could accuse him of one of the five crimes.
4. There wasn’t much difference between the loyalty emphase in Japanese feudalism and those in the European version. Japanese was loyal till death and the vassal would do absolutely anything for his lord, while the European vassals had the choice to leave their lord if the lord wasn’t good enough. Also, the
European vassal would have thought the Japanese vassal in the Tale of the

Miranda Bacon
P6 12­2­14
Feudalism in Western Europe and Japan

Heike was insane because he fought till death, only for his lord. Additionally, the
Japanese vassal would think the Magna Carta was unnecessary because they shouldn’t need a document to enforce their loyalty to their lord. 1. Western Europe and Japan have such similar political systems because the both evolved from the earliest form of governing, feudalism. They both have lords, who control the the vassals, who control the peasants.
2. A Confucian Bureaucrat would not like feudalism. This is because he is use to being in charge, but with feudalism, he has to obey the lords and vassals. He would criticize it on the grounds of paying the vassals for protection. However, I believe that the bureaucrat would prefer his own feudalism over the western version because he would prefer to follow the Confucian laws.
3. There are still some remnants of feudalism in Western Europe today, but there are only a few. There is currently a Queen that rules over everything. There are also “lords” that vote for their area. The “lords” are basically all of the other little countries that are in Western Europe. Also, in Japan, some people argue that some aspects of feudalism are still helpful. This is because there are tons of people in Japan and it would be easier to control them with “lords”.
4. Western feudal elites would not do very well with the idea of parliament. They would not like how all the power is evenly distributed. The feudal elites would basically lose all of their power. On the other hand, other elites that advised the king as a feudal lord would be happy about parliament because they would gain

Miranda Bacon
P6 12­2­14
Feudalism in Western Europe and Japan

more power. This would be difficult in Japan because of the the caste system.
Nobody in Japan would ever share the same amount of power, and so the lords would never be equal to the emperor.
5. The feudal system was ruled by a system of monarchs and lords. Kings lent land to lords and vassals who had serfs farm the land for them. Most modern governments are determined by election and representatives for all people.