Question

briefly describe similarities and differences between the feudal economic structures of medieval Europe and medieval japan

Answer 1

In feudal Europe there was an emperor or a king who had his nobles who ruled areas. The areas were given to them by the king to reign free and in return they swore to help the king in wars or similar things. These noble people were not necessarily warriors or great conquerors, just good diplomats. The land was owed by them and everythign that the people who lived on those lands made they had to give a percentage to the noble, who paid taxes to the king, or kept everything if they had struck a deal of that kind.

Feudal Japan was different because the people who ruled were not nobles but rather military and war generals who were called shoguns. The emperor himself was not an important figure and didn't decide much. The shoguns controlled everything and since there was a highly militaristic tradition developed merchants were not important and trading was heavily state regulated. Shoguns would even practice complete isolationist policies to prevent trading with foreigners. People had to pay taxes to them.

Answer 2

How Japanese Castles are similar to European Castle
They had large and tall walls for protection
They often had moats around them to discourage the digging of tunnels
They had narrow and steep stairways to make assault difficult


Unlike European feudalism Japan’s feudalism system did not have a true pyramid form with the monarch presiding over the less important nobles. 

the authority in Japan was much less centralized than it was in the nation-states of Europe
Secondly, even though the lower nobility in Japan (the samurai) swore fealty to their local lords, the local lords didn’t give the samurai any land of their own.
hope this helps