What characteristic did the ruling class of the italian city-states and tokugawa japan have in common?

Dominant clans ruled. Basically both societies used the "Godfather" system in forms suited to their time and culture. Strong emphasis on clan, bloodline, obedience, social class divisions and racism in the sense of what we would now call nationality (nation states were just beginning to emerge and the concept of 'citizen' was fuzzy and evolving).

It is still true that for obvious reason the Japanese still equate nationality with race but while that's interesting, it's not what the question is looking for.

Hope this helps! have a blessed day <3

-18 metres sorry if im wrong

really and truely i dont know sorry