Feudalism developed slightly later in Japan than in Europe. Europe's feudalism was influenced most likely by the Roman empire and Germanic tribes. Japan's feudal tradition can be traced to T'ang China and the uji organization in early Japan. The most probable cause of this delay must have been because of Japan's isolation from lack of invasions from foreign countries or city states. Both systems began with legalistic attitudes and stressed vassal-lord- obligations, designed to ensure the allegiance of the former in periods of consecutive wars. The legal foundations were very different in the Japanese and European feudal systems. European feudalism was grounded in Roman legal structure, as for Japan feudalism had as its basis Chinese Confucian morality.
In the west the Pope in Rome had the power to tell European kings basically what to do. In Japan there really was not anybody with that kind of authority and power to look up to. Both each were …show more content…
Problems with inheritance became the main weakness and reason for the fall of Europe's feudalism system. The centralization of strong lordships, whether as kings (such as England or France's rulers) or territorial rules (Holy Roman empire), undercut the localization of government which was essential to feudalism. Japan's warriors had to follow the code of Bushido which is very similar to the Code of Chivalry which the knights of Europe followed. The Emperor of Japan was seen as a god unlike Europe who saw their kings and queens as ruling by permission by god not as god his/her