Unlike European feudalism, Japanese feudalism had no true pyramid form, with a hierarchy of ‘inferior’ nobles being presided over by the monarch. This was mainly due to two facts: Firstly, Japanese authority was as centralized as the case was in the European nation states. Even though the majority of local aristocrats paid the emperor lip-service, Japan’s rugged terrain made it hard for the emperor to have full control of the local aristocracy, making local aristocrats in Japan much more powerful than their European counterparts.