In feudal Europe there was an emperor or a king who had his nobles who ruled areas. The areas were given to them by the king to reign free and in return they swore to help the king in wars or similar things. These noble people were not necessarily warriors or great conquerors, just good diplomats. The land was owed by them and everythign that the people who lived on those lands made they had to give a percentage to the noble, who paid taxes to the king, or kept everything if they had struck a deal of that kind.
Feudal Japan was different because the people who ruled were not nobles but rather military and war generals who were called shoguns. The emperor himself was not an important figure and didn't decide much. The shoguns controlled everything and since there was a highly militaristic tradition developed merchants were not important and trading was heavily state regulated. Shoguns would even practice complete isolationist policies to prevent trading with foreigners. People had to pay taxes to them.
