Name: ______________________________________

Date: ____________

Japanese Feudalism

Aim: How did feudalism impact Japanese society?

Do Now: How did cultural diffusion impact Japan? Provide a specific example.

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Japanese Government: Like the Chinese emperor, the Japanese

emperor claimed absolute power and built a capital city. However,
Japanese culture was never an exact copy of China. The Japanese
rejected several Chinese practices. For example, the Japanese never
adopted the Chinese idea of the Mandate of Heaven or the belief that
the gods choose, as well as remove, an emperor. Alternatively, the
Japanese believed that the emperor was directly descended from the
Sun Goddess. Because of this belief, the Japanese only had one dynasty
of emperor.

1. How was Japan’s government similar to China’s? Different than

China’s?
-Claimed power -Both had capital cities -Leadership rooted in religion
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-Mandate of heaven - Japanese believe that emperor is directly related to sun goddess and in china they believe that the dynasty gets power from
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gods -Remove emperor not allowed in Japan
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Rise of Feudalism: The emperor was an important political and religious figure in
Japan. However, by the 1100s, the emperor’s power was weakened, and Japan
collapsed into civil war. Unable to control the lords of Japan, the emperor lost his
political power. Therefore, a system of feudalism arose in Japan that was similar to
feudalism in Western Europe. In this new system, lords and their private armies
became very powerful. By 1192, Japan’s most powerful lord had the emperor
appoint him as Japan’s “Supreme Military Governor,” or Shogun. For the next 600
years, the Shoguns were the real rulers of Japan, while the emperors acted as a
figurehead. The Shogun stood at the top of the Japanese feudal system as a military
dictator. The period of the rule of shoguns (military leaders) in Japan became known
as the Tokugawa Shogunate.
2. Why did feudalism develop?
Civil war occurred an as a result the emperor lost power and land became split up among the different war lords/ landlords
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3. How did feudalism maintain order in Japan?

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The shoguns had ALOT of military power and maintain control over their land to keep the peace with other shogun lands. some of the
shoguns acted like a dictator and received full loyalty from their subjects
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