Tokugawa Ieyasu founded the Tokugawa shogunate in the 12th, in Tokyo (Articles, 2014). The last of the shoguns consisted of those from the Tokugawa clan, the rule ended in the 16th, thus when Japanese feudal society began to disintegrate.
Emperor
The Emperor and his family were of the highest rank in Japanese society, as the emperor was placed as the legitimate ruler of Japan, although he was without any real political power (Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, 2014). The emperor was a powerful religious leader, and was worshipped as a descendent of the sun goddess, he and his family were treated with much respect, and they lived in a rich and artistic life surrounded by families of nobles. The emperor also had the power of …show more content…
They were all treated with much respect, except for the Ronin (Articles, 2014). The Shogun had the most power, and just below the Shoguns, were the Daimyos, and then the Samurais, and below the Samurais were the Ronin. They all had different amounts of power, and different degrees of respect given to each (Feudal Japan, 2014).
Shogun – The Shogun was a political and military leader, and the most powerful of the system throughout the Tokugawa shogunate. The shogun was considered a noble, as he had a very high social status. Other classes provided economic needs for the Shogun, in return providers received protection and privileges (textbook).
Daimyo – The Daimyos owned their own private armies of Samurai, and much land, yet they ran their estates by the Shoguns rules (Feudal Japan, 2014). They had complete military and economic power, and if they became powerful enough they had a chance of becoming Shogun. They were treated with much respect, as the lower classes had provided for them.
Samurai – Samurai worked under Daimyo control, within the Daimyos armies. Their status gave them a fairly high social status, yet little political power. The lower classes also provided for them, just the same as the Shoguns and the