The Introduction Of The Feudal System In Japan During The Late Heian Period Brou

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Term Paper Title	The Introduction Of The Feudal System In Japan During The Late Heian Period Brou
# of Words	1000
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4

The introduction of the Feudal system in Japan during the late Heian period brought about massive social and political changes in the country. Though the people remained, their way of living changed radically, altering Japan's place in the world significantly.  In many cases, direct comparisons can be drawn between differing situations in pre-feudal and feudal Japan, though this isn't to say that all changes occurred at the same time. For the purposes of this paper, most references to feudal Japan refer to the period circa the rise of and during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu as Shogun, as well as the reign of his son Hidetada. It is at this point that feudalism seems to have stabilized in Japan.

Pre-feudal Japan was a freely accessible island, encouraging a relatively free exchange of cultural ideas, products and even occasional people to and from the mainland.  This state of free trade enriched the individual, providing everyone who had the ability to perform trade with an income of foreign goods. As the system began to approach feudalism, taxes were imposed on trade, increasing the coffers of the state instead.  "Economic gains and a new self-realization among the warrior-farmer class brought about changes in the structure of society and a certain degree of social mobility." (Morton, 95)

This "social mobility" was a side effect of the change in systems. Conceivably with new systems come new leaders, but towards the stabilization of the feudal system, the class system within Japan stabilized and froze. This was aided by the strong central leadership of first Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who truly formed the basis of feudalism by setting up his vassals with lands to care for and pay taxes from. He also instituted campaigns to gain control of the

outlying provinces that were not yet vassal-states. Interestingly enough, the important leaders of this period were prime examples of the ability of a man with skills to advance his position, with those like Nobunaga taking control from their previously weak positions.

Feudal control of the provinces encouraged efficiency in the populace in order to increase production, benefiting all involved, vassal and especially each lord higher in the system.  Peasants were encouraged to learn trades as well as farming in order to produce more for export as opposed to simply allowing raw resources to be used up in Japan. In general, such finished products could command a higher value than raw resources, again enriching the countr...

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