Feudalism

The great French historian Marc Bloch defined feudalism as:

"A subject peasantry; widespread use of the service tenement (i.e. the fief) instead of a salary...; supremacy of a class of specialized warriors; ties of obedience and protection which bind man to man...; [and] fragmentation of authority—leading inevitably to disorder."
In other words, peasants or serfs are tied to the land and work for the protection afforded by the landlord plus a portion of the harvest, rather than for money. Warriors dominate society and are bound by codes of obedience and ethics. There is no strong central government; instead, lords of smaller units of land control the warriors and peasants, but these lords owe obedience (at least in theory) to a distant and relatively weak duke, king, or emperor.

Feudalism was well established in Europe by the 800s CE but appeared in Japan only in the 1100s as the Heian period drew to a close and the Kamakura Shogunate rose to power.

"The feudal system, in its perfect form, was comprised of a small number of sadists and a large number of masochists."
- Shigurui, Takayuki Yamaguchi & Norio Nanjo

European feudalism died out with the growth of stronger political states in the 16th century, but feudalism in Japan held on until the Meiji Restoration of 1868.