1. The first member of the Fujiwara clan was Nakatomi no Katamari. He was a close friend of Emperor Tenji and supported him in his efforts of further centralizing and increasing the authority of the imperial government. Because of this, the Emperor granted him the highest charge in his court and gave him the Fujiwara surname. This clan managed to dominate the Japanese imperial power for centuries by the practice of marrying their daughters to every emperor. Because of the family tradition of future emperors being raised in the household of the mother and having to be loyal to their maternal grandfather, they were always able to perpetuate their dominance through marriages with every future Emperor.
2. The daimyo were an integral entity to feudal Japan. They were the most influential rulers among the Japanese community. Peasants were mainly fisherman and farmers who grew crops and fished. Farmers sometimes owned their own land to grow crops on, and other times they used the land owned by their daimyo. ... Although peasants did a lot of the important work, they were low in the feudal system. The samurai (or bushi) were the warriors of premodern Japan. They later made up the ruling military class that eventually became the highest ranking social caste of the Edo Period (1603-1867). Samurai employed a range of weapons such as bows and arrows, spears and guns, but their main weapon and symbol was the sword. The shōgun controlled foreign policy, the military, and feudal patronage. The role of the Emperor was ceremonial, similar to the position of the Japanese monarchy after the Second World War.
