It is hyp'ed that Japanese herrschaft (& society), rather than being considered as patrimonial-prebendary, is better interpreted as feudal, with the same essential structure as that of other feudal (esp western European) societies. This conclusion is reached though it is conceded that many of the formal features of pre-modern Japan, esp Tokugawa Japan (1603-1868) were similiar to, patrimonial-prebendary China. For viewed as a dynamic functional system, & as an ideal-typical construct over time, regardless of certain short-term changes in that society, the Japanese patrimonial features are atypical, while the feudal features are typical. The typical feudal features were the prime contributors to the success of the `breakthrough' of Tokugawa society & the establishment of modern capitalism in Japan, which is compatible with M. Weber's major thesis of the origin of modern indust'al capitalism. The patrimonial-prebendary thesis, however, remains of inestimable value in analyzing mainland Asian herrschaft & in explaining the differential receptivity to modern industrial order between `feudal' Japan & `patrimonial' mainland Asia. AA.