A powerful feudal lord in medieval and early-modern Japan who controlled land and armies and served the shogun.
From Japanese 'daimyō,' combining 'dai' (great) and 'myō' (name/title), literally 'great name.' These lords ruled during Japan's feudal period and were central to samurai culture.
Daimyo were basically the Japanese version of European feudal lords, but with a crucial difference: samurai served daimyo with an absolute code of honor called bushidō that valued loyalty even unto death—no European knight vow was quite as rigid and philosophically complex.
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