The Warriors of Japan
The three individual classes that are categorized under the warrior classes are, the ronin, the samurai, and the diamyo. Each of these were similar to one another, but they all held different levels of power.
The Ronin
The ronin was quite similar to the samurai, but with a few key differences. First of all, unlike the samurai, the ronin had no master. Well, you may be asking how a samurai could have no master, and it's quite simple actually. The ronin was a basically a paid mercenary, fighting only to be paid.
The Samurai
The samurai is probably one the most well known groups from Japan. The samurai were often the most feared of all of the warriors. But wait, shouldn't they be loved for fighting to defend their country? Not quite. The samurai were fearless, and they cared nothing of death. They only worked to serve their master, one of the diamyo. In fact, if their master were to be killed, they were expected to commit seppuku, a form of ritual suicide. Committing seppuku brought their families great honor. Each samurai was to follow a code of conduct, similar to chivalry, called Bushido. If a samurai were to break the Bushido code, they were, again, expected to commit seppuku. Another contributing factor towards the fear of the samurai was how they tested their swords. Supposedly, they would wait with their new sword, and when an unsuspecting farmer walked past, they'd strike the farmer, and kill them. Even still, the samurai were very highly respected. Descendants of samurai are still highly respected in Japan today.
Diamyo
The diamyo were the Japanese equivalent of the European lord. As previously stated, the feudal system was definitely present in FEUDAL JAPAN. Vassals were still granted fiefs for service. Nothing was really that different, in terms of the feudal system. Obviously, it wasn't identical, but still similar. The diamyo were powerful warlords, that owned armies of samurai, and had vast hereditary land holdings. A few of the most powerful of them all became the Shogun.