Describe the structure of feudal Japan under the shogunate, including the role of the samurai and the code of bushido.
Medieval Japan developed a feudal structure with some real similarities to Europe's, but its own distinct shape. Japan's emperor, based in Kyoto, remained the official, symbolic head of state, believed to have sacred authority -- but after the Genpei War (1180-1185), real political and military power shifted to the shogun, a military ruler. Minamoto no Yoritomo defeated the rival Taira clan in 1185 and was formally given the title of shogun by the emperor in 1192, founding the Kamakura Shogunate -- historians sometimes debate exactly which of those two dates marks the "true" beginning, a good reminder that clean start dates are often a simplification.
Beneath the shogun, regional lords called daimyo controlled their own territories, and beneath them served samurai, a professional warrior class who lived by a code of conduct later called bushido ("the way of the warrior"), which prized loyalty to one's lord, discipline, courage, and honor above personal safety. In some ways this resembles European knights serving lords under a code of chivalry, which you will compare directly next week -- but Japan's emperor kept his symbolic role even while losing real power, a structure without a close European equivalent.
Mastery looks like: They can describe the roles of emperor, shogun, daimyo, and samurai in feudal Japan, and explain bushido's core values accurately.
Common stumbles: Assuming the emperor held real political power just because he was the symbolic head of state, or confusing the roles of shogun and daimyo.