![]() The emperor only serves as an icon and leader while the shogun actually has the power to rule. ![]() “The shogun had the power to appoint and remove members from the government, institute law by decree, and negotiate treaties and agreements with foreign governments.” (Gale). Though the Emperor is at the top of the societal order, they hold little power as the shoguns are the actual rulers. Ronin, were samurais without masters and widely received prejudice from other samurai and daimyos. Samurai in the society and culture of Japan were valued greatly as they were the great warriors, however even they were discriminated against. The samurai being the warrior class, served under the “lords” and were a strong military force. These daimyos hired samurai and vassals to protect and serve on their lands. The Daimyo or lords are under the shoguns however still held tremendous power as they owned land. Other levels of the social hierarchy also experience segregation. These outcast were not allowed to marry outside of their social level just and were restricted to only their social level. Unlike European feudal society, in which the peasants (or serfs) were at the bottom, the Japanese feudal class structure placed merchants on the lowest rung. Some even consider the burakumin “foreign” and not Japanese (Kristof). Between the 12th and 19th centuries, feudal Japan had an elaborate four-tiered class system. The untouchables were treated as such from birth and labeled as such through heredity, children would be neglected by even parents and many social workers who they happen to come across in their lives. “Indistinguishable in appearance from other Japanese, they were discriminated against simply because they were the descendants of people whose jobs were considered ritually unclean, like butchering animals, tanning skins, making leather goods, digging graves and handling corpses.”(Kristof). These individuals had jobs that were related with death and thus they were labeled burakumin. As a military defence and socio-economic paradigm designed to direct the wealth of the land to the king while it levied. Japan’s untouchables were called the burakumin, they were the lowest social level. Feudalism as practiced in the Kingdoms of England during the medieval period was a state of human society that organized political and military leadership and force around a stratified formal structure based on land tenure. The levels of social hierarchy in the feudalism in order of the highest to lowest is the Emperor, Shogun, Daimyo, Samurai, Peasants, Craftsmen, and Merchants. A vassal held his land, or fief, as a grant from a lord. During the Edo period, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate. Feudalism was built upon a relationship of obligation and mutual service between vassals and lords. This hierarchy is continued towards the bottom, and the higher vassal is a senior to the lower vassal. Japan’s system of social hierarchy is feudalism. Feudalism can be visualized in the form of a pyramid: the uppermost spot is occupied by the major sovereign (major senior, that is, the king), below are the vassals who, in turn, have their own vassals.
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