THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN JAPAN BEFORE THE RISE OF THE SAMURAI CLASS

Abstract

In the early Middle Ages, the Japanese islands did not exist as a single political entity. On the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu, there was a constant struggle with the native population of non-Mongolic races - ayn (meaning bear) or emisi. For centuries, Japanese inhabitants pushed them out to the north and occupied their lands. In the early Middle Ages, Japan had a reverent eye on the Tang Dynasty, the most powerful state in the Far East at that time.