What is an analysis of medieval Europe and Japan, comparing similarities and differences in social structure, values, and way of life?

Even though Europe and Japan are geographically far away from each other, both societies independently developed social structures that were quite similar during the region’s respective medieval periods. The social structure that both areas had in common during this time was known as feudalism. Both societies developed feudal structures and relationships in situations where it was difficult to create more centralized political organization for various reasons. Both feudalistic systems had some shared principles and practices, but they also had many key differences.
Feudalism can best be defined as a medieval political, economic, and social system where land was the most important commodity. Society was built of a system of hereditary hierarchical class structures based on landownership where kings were at the very top, followed by nobles, then warriors, with peasants (serfs) at the bottom. In Japanese feudalism, the hierarchy went emperor (mostly a figurehead), shoguns (military dictators), daimyo (lords), samurai (warriors), and artisans/serfs.
All of the members of the system were bound to one another by a system of loyalties and obligations. There was no social mobility. In all feudal systems, the lords would have warriors whose sole job in life was to protect the estate and all the people living there. Most of the people who lived on the estate in both systems were serfs who were tied to the land. As vassals (people who entered into a feudal obligatory relationship where they promised to serve another), the peasants would owe their landlords a large percentage of the crops that they grew. They were only allowed to keep a very small amount of the yield for themselves and their families. For this reason, most serfs were incredibly poor and had no option but the remain on their lord’s manor.
Key differences arose between feudalism in Europe as compared to in Japan. Firstly, the medieval periods for each area do not correspond exactly, but they do overlap. For example, the feudal medieval period in Europe lasted from 800 CE to 1400 CE (Common Era), while in Japan it lasted from 1192 CE to 1868 CE.
In Europe, feudal structures developed mainly because kings had limited power. Because kings could not keep centralized control of their kingdoms, they used feudalism as a way of having their nobles control smaller areas. However, in Japan, emperors had an even more difficult time centralizing control of their subjects, making feudalism attractive. Japan’s rugged mountainous terrain made keeping tabs on their landed aristocracy especially difficult. A feudal structure made that more possible. For much of the medieval period in Japan, the emperor was mostly a figurehead who held little real power. Most real power was held by the shogun, or military dictator, who ruled the countryside and controlled the daimyo and samurai.
Both European and Japanese feudal structures also created systems of protection, albeit in slightly different ways. Castles in both systems had tall walls, moats, and steep stairways for protection. In each region there was a warrior class, but there were key differences between the knights and the samurai. Both classes fought to protect the people who lived on their lord’s or daimyo’s land, but the samurai were actually legally obliged to fight via contract, while the knights were morally obliged via moral obligation to their lord. While both knights and samurai were taught to fight at an early age, knights were more poorly educated than their Japanese counterparts and used different weapons and codes of conduct. While European knights used more advanced technologies such as long bows, samurai used traditional samurai swords in battle. Knights used a code of conduct called chivalry, whereby they were expected to serve and protect those who were weaker than themselves. In comparison, bushido, the code of the samurai, can be thought of as courage and loyalty toward the daimyo above all else. It was considered better to commit suicide than to fail to protect the daimyo.
Another key difference in both systems was religion. In medieval Europe, the Catholic church was the unifying factor throughout kingdoms. The church was effectively the highest point in the feudal structure, even above the king. However, in Japan, there was no such unifying force. People practiced Shintoism, a traditional animistic religion. This religion focused on the worship of kami, or nature gods, who varied between groups based on geographic location. While the center of religious life on the European manor was the church, in Japan it was a Shinto shrine where the kami were worshipped.
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