Societies under Shogun RuleThe Ming & Qing Essay

Societies under Shogun RuleThe Ming & Qing - Essay Example This period, which started in 1368 until 1644, is marked by the decline of the decadent feudal system and the emergence of the embryonic capitalism in China. However, Japan’s shogun period was part of the early feudal system that would dominate Japan for more than 700 years. (Morgan 2003, 42) As both Ming/Qing and the Shogun societies were established as feudal societies above all, therefore, they share many characteristics. For instance, both had governments and rulers who enforced control over a highly fragmented society. The shogunate in Japan imposed guidelines for the creation and preservation of a stable national structure. This was achieved by implementing a highly hierarchical society, wherein the primary morality is based upon public rapport between master and subordinate. (Ratti & Westbrook 1991, 62) Such perspective determined the shape and functionality of the major social organizations of the shogunate societies. To illustrate: one of the rules/norms in the Japanese society then was that there was no more despicable crime than that of rebellion against a master. Because of this hierarchical social structure, the shogun was able to elevate the social structure which sealed the subjects of the nation into classes according to a vertical order of pragmatic impo rtance drawing heavily upon the military character and strength of the warriors to whom all other subjects were subordinated. The social pyramid follows this structure with the shogun and his class at the top. From 1615 onward, laws specifically determining the legal positions of and functions of the imperial court and its aristocratic families (Kuge sho-hatto), of the military class (Buke Sho-hatto), of religious orders (Jin-hatto), of the farmers (Goson-hatto), of commoners in Edo and, by analogy, in every town (Edo-machiju-sadame) were issued by the military government of the Tokugawa shoguns.