![]() ![]() Peasants began speaking collectively, oftentimes engaging in disputes against their social superiors. As a result, peasants, artisans, and merchants, relying on farmers for food, migrated toward these agricultural sites, creating urban centers for commerce. Competition over natural resources increased as commerce grew throughout Japan. The increased size of the villages and their status as economic hubs facilitated contact with outsiders. The coalescence of medieval villages gave way to the emergence of forts and castles, often along trade routes or rivers, which served as homes for daimyos (feudal lords) and local samurai groups. Appearing in Japan during the 13th century, this process was accelerated by the development of more advanced agricultural technology including double-cropping and increased fertilizer use. Buildings were built closer to one another, with moats and walls become increasingly common. Village nucleation is the process by which villages become amalgamated, creating larger and more complex settlements resembling multifunctional regional hubs. Social and economic trends Village nucleation Over time, however, the most powerful jito and shugo (daimyo) began challenging the authority of the shogun, eventually leading to the collapse of the feudal system in the 19th century. The daimyo used a portion of their income from taxation of peasants to pay the samurai, usually in rice. ![]() ![]() Unlike in Medieval European feudalism, the supervisors of the land, known as jitos (stewards) and shugos (constables), did not initially own the land themselves, which remained under shogunate control. The shogunates distributed estates ( shoen) to loyal subjects, the most powerful of whom became daimyo, or governors of vast land masses who often had private armies. At the same time, the warrior class ( samurai) gained political power that previously belonged to the aristocratic nobility ( kuge). The initial widespread practice of feudalism in Japan coincided with the instatement of the first shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo, who acted as the de facto ruler of Japan over the Japanese Emperor. In such a system, political power is diverted from a central monarch and control is divided up amongst wealthy landowners and warlords. Vassals offered their loyalty and services (military or other) to a landlord in exchange for access to a portion of land and its harvest. In Feudal Japan between 1185 CE and 1868 CE. ![]()
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