Lesson 5: Japanese Feudalism

Key Idea

During Japan's Heian period, the emperor's authority weakened. The powerful Fujiwara clan gained influence by marrying their daughters to emperors and ruling on their behalf. The emperor became a figurehead, a symbolic leader with no real political control.

While the Fujiwara focused on court life, landowners in the countryside hired warriors for protection. These warrior clans grew powerful and began to challenge the central government. Soon, they fought one another for control over Japan.

Key Idea

As the emperor’s authority weakened, powerful warrior clans fought for control of Japan. The two most powerful rivals were the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Their struggle for dominance plunged the country into a long and violent civil war.

In 1185, Minamoto Yoritomo led his clan to victory. Instead of ruling from the emperor's court, he set up his own military government. This new government, called the shogunate, placed military power above the emperor's court.

Key Idea

As imperial power weakened, a new social structure formed in Japan. Powerful lords called daimyo controlled vast areas of land. This land was the source of their wealth and influence, but they needed people to work it and to defend it.

Most of the population consisted of peasants who farmed the fields. In exchange for the daimyo's protection and a place to live, peasants gave a large portion of their crops to their lord as taxes.

Key Idea

Samurai warriors followed a strict code of conduct that guided their entire lives. This unwritten set of rules was called bushido, which means "the way of the warrior." It defined what it meant to be a samurai in feudal Japan.

The code of bushido demanded absolute loyalty to a samurai's lord, the daimyo. It also placed personal honor above everything else, including life itself. A samurai would rather face death than live with shame or fail their master.