What Customs keep Structure in a Society?

One custom that helped Japan keep structure is feudalism. Feudalism is a way to organize people in classes. It is based on a fair exchange between all rankings because everyone helps each other out. Like for example the Shogun gave the Daimyos land then the Daimyos gave some land to the samurais then it would keep going on until the last rank. This helped structure society by having four different ranks. Which are the Shogun,Daimyos,samurais,and then lastly the peasants. The shoguns were the highest in ranking they controlled everything in Japan and were in charge /owned all the land in Japan. The second highest ranked were the Daimyos they helped the shogun rule Japan and in return from the shogun they would get land ,money, or sometimes administrative office.Then the samurais came they were the ones who promised everyone that they would protect them because they were a part of a powerful warrior class in Japan. They would also get land and money for return from the Daimyos. The last rank was the peasant. They were the lowest class but they did not complain at all because they got to keep some of the food that they grew and they felt secure because the samurais protected them from any enemy attacks. Without feudalism society would be very crazy,out of control, and unorganized. There would be so much chaos that a random person could come and just take power or people could be having wars against each other. This is on of the customs that helped Japan keep structure in society.

Another custom that helped Japan keep structure in society is Isolation. Isolation means when you are surrounded with water or if you are alone/away from other countries. Japan is isolated with water all around it. This custom helped society by protecting them. It protected them because in the medieval times if you were surrounded with water it helped from getting attacked from enemies or getting spotted. It was hard to get attacked from enemies because most of Japan is coverd with mountains which are high in elevation. Also if they were to get attacked the enemies would have to go to the kanto plain which is on the other side of the mountains and because of that the people in Japan would know when they are coming so they can prepare for the battle. It also helped them because the oceans were highways/routes to other countries for trade and the water provided unlimited sea food. If Japan was not isolated they could have got eazly attacked or spotted from enemies because they would be closer to other countries. It would also be harder to get sea food so they would have to grow food in the mountains or in the kanto plain which had a little bit of space for people to live in. Isolation was one of the customs that helped keep structure in society in Japan.

The last custom that I will be talking about is Bushido. Bushido is a samurai code that called all warriors to be honest,fair,and fearless in the face of death. This helped structure society for samurais by having a code for them called Bushido. It helped by telling samurais that you have to be fearless even tough you are about to die and if you failed to follow the code of Bushido you would have to get seppuku (Ritual Suicide). Samurais did seppuku if they did a crime, a shameful deed, insult to a person in a higher rank, or for preserving personal honor and for capture in a battle. If there was no code of Bushido anyone could say that they are a samurai. Also then the samurais would be scared and they would also have a lot of fear for death. Bushido helped structure society in Japan tremendously for Samurais.