Samurai & Shoguns: Feudal Japan
Like Duolingo, but for Samurai & Shoguns: Feudal Japan. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
54 levels across 4 sections, about 108 minutes end to end, roughly 22 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Rise of the Warrior; Armor, Swords, and Skills; Daily Life and Culture; and The End of an Era. It starts from scratch.
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Key ideas in Samurai & Shoguns: Feudal Japan
- The central government's influence faded
- Provincial lords armed private guards
- Samurai social hierarchy
- Low status of traders
- Samurai eventually formed their own military government (Bakufu)
- The Shogun became the de facto political leader over the Emperor
- Why landowners shifted from imperial protection to private warriors
- The Emperor's power was symbolic during the Shogunate
- Daimyo were the regional lords who employed samurai
- The social hierarchy of Feudal Japan
- The Shogunate or Bakufu was the samurai-led government
- This system replaced the direct rule of the imperial court
- The transition of samurai from guards to political rulers
- The specific roles and relationships within the feudal system
- Distinguishing the roles and powers of the Emperor versus the Shogun
- Understanding the source of the Shogun's legitimacy through the Emperor
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Samurai & Shoguns: Feudal Japan the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Imagine you are a wealthy landowner in a lawless land. With no imperial army to call upon, why would you pay for private guards?
Get it right to open this lesson and 53 more in the app.
Where Samurai & Shoguns: Feudal Japan takes you
Step back in time to an era of brave warriors, powerful lords, and hidden spies. Learn how the samurai lived, fought, and shaped the history of Japan for centuries.
- 1
The Rise of the Warrior
- Who Were the Samurai?
- The First Shogun Takes Control
- Life in a Japanese Castle
- The Rules of Honor
- 2
Armor, Swords, and Skills
- How a Katana is Made
- Putting on the Heavy Armor
- Fighting on Horseback
- The Art of Bows and Arrows
- Training from a Young Age
- The Mystery of the Ninja
- 3
Daily Life and Culture
- Tea Ceremonies and Calm Minds
- Poetry and Writing for Warriors
- What People Ate and Wore
- 4
The End of an Era
- The Great Peace of Edo
- When Foreign Ships Arrived
- The Last Samurai Rebellion
- How the Samurai Live On Today
- Japan Becomes a Modern Nation
4 sections · 18 units · 54 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Samurai & Shoguns: Feudal Japan is taught in the The Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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