Feudalism C/C

Feudalism of Japan and Europe-- Compare/Contrast Essay

The feudal hierarchy system developed independently in two different societies that are very far away from each other, showing that perhaps this feudal like system is in human nature. The social system in both Japan and Europe was based on militaristic hierarchies, however there were differences in the layers of hierarchy. The economic systems in both Japan and Europe was based mostly of regionalized areas and agriculture, however there were still differences in the systems of trade. The modern consequence of Japan and Europe developing in this way is that Europe is more rememberable. One reason this is so is because the merchants in Europe were more free, therefore able to bring in more money and more of a help to support the civilization, therefore making Europe more known and advanced. Japan can be said to be less rememberable in this way because the merchants of Japan were very low, therefore not bringing as much to Japan and not getting Japan as much notice from the outside world.
The social system in both Japan and Europe was based on militaristic hierarchies, however there were differences in the layers of hierarchy. The hierarchy of Japan was in the order of peasants at the bottom, giving food to the samurai's in trade for protection, and then the samurai, who gave loyalty to the daimyo in trade for land, then the daimyo, who gave loyalty to the shogun in trade for land, then the shogun at the top who was the top of the military and held a lot of power in the kingdom. Although the emperor of Japan ruled, that does not mean that he reigned, the warrior class and mostly the shogun held most of the power and influence. Similarly, Europe had a hierarchy with peasants at the bottom, who gave food to the knight in trade for protection, then the knight, who gave loyalty to the lord in trade for land, then the lord, who gave loyalty to the king in trade for land. Europe had a very large peasant class that would have been very dependent on the knight's protection and all the other military. The military in Europe also had a lot of power and influence because there were a lot of invasions of Europe making the military very important. The two areas are also similar because they both had reciprocal systems. This can be seen in the hierarchies. The different levels helped each other out by doing things like trading food for protection and trading loyalty to land. Another similarity between the military of the two areas is that both had codes of honor.
On the other hand, Europe and Japan still had differences in the layers of hierarchy. Samurai got money but knight's got land. Europe had different layers of hierarchy, whereas Japan only had the main hierarchy. Europe had a special hierarchy for the church, which was Catholic at the time. The pope was at the top, then archbishop, then bishop. The church also held a lot of power in the European states. Japan didn't have a very powerful religion with a hierarchy until very later on, when Buddhism gained a lot of popularity but even then there was no hierarchy and there were still other popular religions and philosophy that held popularity instead of just the one religion. Another difference between the two areas is that Japan educated it's women but Europe did not, women were very low to them but in Japan they had some status.
The economic systems in both Japan and Europe was based mostly on regionalized areas and agriculture, however there were still differences in the systems of trade. Even though the areas were so far apart, the economies still had some similarities. Both got a lot of food from agriculture and the peasants and serfs helped provide the food by tending the crops for their lords in trade for protection. When the agricultural technology of both areas became more advanced it made it easier on the peasants and serfs to produce the food and helped to keep everyone better fed. There was also a lot of trade that helped societies to interact with each other along with helping the economies to flourish. Japan and Europe being regionalized also helped the economy because it made the travel and trade easier since everything was closer. The reciprocal systems also helped the economies because it made organization and peace among all the levels of the hierarchy. Everything worked between the levels due to the reciprocal system so the economy was better off.
The economic systems of Japan and Europe were unalike in that there trade was a lot different. Although both had trade that helped the economies, merchants were at very different levels of the hierarchies. In Europe, the merchant had a somewhat high status. The merchant brought many goods and was thought of somewhat well. The merchant had quite a bit of freedom in Europe, allowed to roam wherever and not being bound like a serf would be. However, this was not the case in Japan. In Japan the merchants were very low on the hierarchy. In fact, they were even lower than the artisans who were lower than the peasants of Japan. Most likely merchants were not respected and didn't have as mush freedom as in Europe. Maybe Japan was more suspicious of the merchants since they were isolated. This can be said to be so because the merchants were very low and the only outside influences were from China, whereas Europe let the merchants go everywhere and repected them, bringing in many outside influences and were not isolated at all.
In conclusion, Japan and Europe had very similar hierarchies with still some differences. One can say that Japan and Europe had more similarities in their feudal hierarchies than there were differences. This can especially be seen in their society and economy. The two were both regionalized, militaristic, agricultural, reciprocal, and had agricultural technology. The few differences were Europe had more layers of hierarchy, the merchants were more free, knights get land, whereas in Japan merchants were low, women were educated, and samurai got money. It is possible that it is in human nature to divide into different groups and be organized in such a way that everyone supports each other at different levels, since Japan and Europe were so far apart and yet both had the hierarchy. Even though Japan and Europe were far apart and didn't have contact with each other, both developed very well with strong hierarchies, societies, and economies.This can show that maybe it is human nature to develop some sort of hierarchy, since both developed independently and yet were so similar in their hierarchies.