what was feudalism?
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A country is ruled by a monarch. The monarch is the big boss of the country – technically, the country belongs to him.
The monarch lets certain allies of his, called Lords, own and run parts of the country as their land. In exchange for this privilege, they have to help the monarch when he requests it.
The Lords let certain allies of theirs, called Vassals (who may be Knights) own and run parts of their land. In exchange for this privilege, the vassals have to help the lords when they request it.
The common people, who are mostly peasants, merchants and artisans, live on the land owned by the vassals/lords/monarch and pay taxes (in the form of food or other goods they produce) to whoever owns the plot of land they live on.
So the Monarch owns all the land. But he subdivides some land for his allies (the lords) to use. The lords subdivide their land into even smaller chunks for the vassals to use. The king, lords, and vassals all benefit from the taxes provided by the peasants, merchants and artisans who make up the majority of the population.
If you want an explanation of Japanese feudalism, replace Monarch with Shogun, Lord with Daimyo, Vassal with Samurai.
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