![Koboto Santaro, a Japanese military commander Wellcome V0037661](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Koboto_Santaro%2C_a_Japanese_military_commander_Wellcome_V0037661.jpg)
were the hereditary military nobility
and officer
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
of
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
and
early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the ''
daimyo
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally ...
'' (the great feudal landholders). They had high prestige and special privileges such as wearing
two swords and ''
Kiri-sute gomen
''Kiri-sute gomen'' ( or ) is an old Japanese expression dating back to the feudal era ''right to strike'' (right of samurai to kill commoners for perceived affronts). Samurai had the right to strike with their sword at anyone of a lower class wh ...
'' (right to kill anyone of a lower class in certain situations). They cultivated the ''
bushido
is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle. There are multiple bushido types which evolved significantly through history. Contemporary forms of bushido are still used in the social and economic organization of Japan. ...
'' codes of martial virtues, indifference to pain, and unflinching loyalty, engaging in many local battles.
Though they had predecessors in earlier military and administrative officers, the samurai truly emerged during the
Kamakura shogunate
The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459.
The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...
, ruling from 1185 to 1333. They became the ruling political class, with significant power but also significant responsibility. During the 13th century, the samurai proved themselves as adept warriors against the invading
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
. During the peaceful
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
(1603 to 1868), they became the stewards and chamberlains of the daimyo estates, gaining managerial experience and education.
In the 1870s, samurai families comprised 5% of the population. As modern militaries emerged in the 19th century, the samurai were rendered increasingly obsolete and very expensive to maintain compared to the average conscript soldier. The
Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
ended their feudal roles, and they moved into professional and entrepreneurial roles. Their memory and weaponry remain prominent in
Japanese popular culture
Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be t ...
.
Terminology
In Japanese, historical warriors are usually referred to as , meaning 'warrior', or , meaning 'military family'. According to translator
William Scott Wilson
William Scott Wilson (born 1944, Nashville, Tennessee) is known for translating several works of Japanese literature, mostly those relating to the martial tradition of that country.
Wilson has brought historical Chinese and Japanese thought, ph ...
: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning 'to wait upon', 'accompany persons' in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, ''
saburau''. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean 'those who serve in close attendance to the nobility', the Japanese term ''
saburai'' being the nominal form of the verb." According to Wilson, an early reference to the word ''saburai'' appears in the ''
Kokin Wakashū
The , commonly abbreviated as , is an early anthology of the ''waka'' form of Japanese poetry, dating from the Heian period. An imperial anthology, it was conceived by Emperor Uda () and published by order of his son Emperor Daigo () in about ...
'', the first imperial anthology of poems, completed in the early 900s.
In modern usage, ''bushi'' is often used as a synonym for ''samurai''; however, historical sources make it clear that ''bushi'' and ''samurai'' were distinct concepts, with the former referring to
soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
s or
warrior
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have been p ...
s and the latter referring instead to a kind of hereditary
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
. The word ''samurai'' is now closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class. These warriors were usually associated with a
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
and their lord, and were trained as officers in military tactics and grand strategy. While these samurai numbered less than 10% of then Japan's population, their teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in modern
Japanese martial arts
Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts.
The usage ...
.
History
Asuka and Nara periods
![Helmet MET DT305558](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Helmet_MET_DT305558.jpg)
Following the
Battle of Hakusukinoe
The Battle of Baekgang or Battle of Baekgang-gu, also known as Battle of Hakusukinoe ( ja, 白村江の戦い, Hakusuki-no-e no Tatakai / Hakusonkō no Tatakai) in Japan, as Battle of Baijiangkou ( zh, c=白江口之战, p=Bāijiāngkǒu Zhīzh ...
against
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
China and
Silla
Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...
in 663 AD, which led to a retreat from Korean affairs, Japan underwent widespread reform. One of the most important was that of the
Taika Reform
The were a set of doctrines established by Emperor Kōtoku (孝徳天皇 ''Kōtoku tennō'') in the year 645. They were written shortly after the death of Prince Shōtoku and the defeat of the Soga clan (蘇我氏 ''Soga no uji''), uniting Japan ...
, issued by Prince Naka-no-Ōe (
Emperor Tenji
, also known as Emperor Tenchi, was the 38th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')天智天皇 (38)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 5 ...
) in 646. This edict allowed the Japanese aristocracy to adopt the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
political structure, bureaucracy, culture, religion, and philosophy.
[William Wayne Farris, ''Heavenly Warriors – The Evolution of Japan's Military, 500–1300'', ]Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
, 1995. As part of the
Taihō Code
The was an administrative reorganisation enacted in 703 in Japan, at the end of the Asuka period. It was historically one of the . It was compiled at the direction of Prince Osakabe, Fujiwara no Fuhito and Awata no Mahito. Nussbaum, Louis-Fr ...
of 702, and the later
Yōrō Code
The was one iteration of several codes or governing rules compiled in early Nara period in Classical Japan. It was compiled in 718, the second year of the Yōrō regnal era by Fujiwara no Fuhito et al., but not promulgated until 757 under the ...
,
[''A History of Japan'', Vol. 3 and 4, George Samson, Tuttle Publishing, 2000.] the population was required to report regularly for the census, a precursor for national conscription. With an understanding of how the population was distributed,
Emperor Monmu
was the 42nd emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 文武天皇 (42) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession.
Monmu's reign spanned the years from 697 through 707.
Traditional narrative
Befo ...
introduced a law whereby 1 in 3–4 adult males were drafted into the national military. These soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in return were exempted from duties and taxes.
This was one of the first attempts by the imperial government to form an organized army modeled after the Chinese system. It was called "Gundan-Sei" (
:ja:軍団制) by later historians and is believed to have been short-lived.
The Taihō Code classified most of the Imperial bureaucrats into 12 ranks, each divided into two sub-ranks, 1st rank being the highest adviser to the emperor. Those of 6th rank and below were referred to as "samurai" and dealt with day-to-day affairs and were initially civilian public servants, in keeping with the original derivation of this word from , a verb meaning 'to serve'.
['']Nihon Kokugo Daijiten
The , often abbreviated as the and sometimes known in English as ''Shogakukan's Japanese Dictionary'', is the largest Japanese language dictionary published. In the period from 1972 to 1976, Shogakukan published the 20-volume first edition. The ...
'', entry for available online her
(in Japanese)['']Daijirin
is a comprehensive single-volume Japanese dictionary edited by , and first published by in 1988. This title is based upon two early Sanseidō dictionaries edited by Shōzaburō Kanazawa (金沢庄三郎, 1872–1967), ''Jirin'' (辞林 "Forest o ...
'', second edition, 1995['']Nihon Kokugo Daijiten
The , often abbreviated as the and sometimes known in English as ''Shogakukan's Japanese Dictionary'', is the largest Japanese language dictionary published. In the period from 1972 to 1976, Shogakukan published the 20-volume first edition. The ...
'', entry for available online her
(in Japanese)['' Shin Meikai kokugo jiten, Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten'', fifth edition, 1997][''Digital ]Daijisen
The is a general-purpose Japanese dictionary published by Shogakukan in 1995 and 1998. It was designed as an "all-in-one" dictionary for native speakers of Japanese, especially high school and university students.
History
Shogakukan intended for ...
'', entries for and available online her
(in Japanese) Military men, however, would not be referred to as "samurai" for many more centuries.
Heian period
In the early
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
, during the late 8th and early 9th centuries,
Emperor Kanmu
, or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the sco ...
sought to consolidate and expand his rule in northern
Honshū
, historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...
and made military campaigns against the
Emishi
The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...
, who resisted the governance of the
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
-based imperial court. Emperor Kanmu introduced the title of ''sei'i-taishōgun'' (), or ''
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...
'', and began to rely on the powerful
regional clans to conquer the Emishi. Skilled in mounted combat and archery (
kyūdō
''Kyūdō'' ( ja, 弓道) is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is based on '' kyūjutsu'' ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō, a ...
), these clan warriors became the emperor's preferred tool for putting down rebellions; the most well-known of which was
Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
was a court noble, general and ''shōgun'' of the early Heian period of Japan. He served as Dainagon, Minister of War and ''Ukon'e no Taisho'' (Major Captain of the Right Division of Inner Palace Guards). He held the ''kabane'' of Ōsukune and ...
. Though this is the first known use of the title ''shōgun'', it was a temporary title and was not imbued with political power until the 13th century. At this time (the 7th to 9th centuries), officials considered them to be merely a military section under the control of the
Imperial Court.
Ultimately, Emperor Kanmu disbanded his army. From this time, the emperor's power gradually declined. While the emperor was still the ruler, powerful clans around Kyoto assumed positions as ministers, and their relatives bought positions as
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
s. To amass wealth and repay their debts, magistrates often imposed heavy taxes, resulting in many farmers becoming landless. Through protective agreements and political marriages, the aristocrats accumulated political power, eventually surpassing the
traditional aristocracy.
Some clans were originally formed by farmers who had taken up arms to protect themselves from the imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands and collect taxes. These clans formed alliances to protect themselves against more powerful clans, and by the mid-Heian period, they had adopted
characteristic armor and
weapons (''tachi'').
File:Gosannen kassen.jpg, The Gosannen War
The Gosannen War (後三年合戦, ''gosannen kassen''), also known as the Later Three-Year War, was fought in the late 1080s in Japan's Mutsu Province on the island of Honshū.
History
The Gosannen War was part of a long struggle for power wi ...
in the 11th century
File:Sasaki Toyokichi - Nihon hana zue - Walters 95208.jpg, Samurai on horseback, wearing ō-yoroi
The is a prominent example of early Japanese armor worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The term ''ō-yoroi'' means "great armor."(Mondadori, 1979, p. 507).
History
''Ō-yoroi'' first started to appear in the 10th century during the midd ...
armor, carrying a bow (''yumi
is the Japanese term for a bow. As used in English, refers more specifically to traditional Japanese asymmetrical bows, and includes the longer and the shorter used in the practice of and , or Japanese archery.
The was an important weap ...
'') and arrows in an ''yebira
are types of quiver used in Japanese archery. The quiver is unusual in that in some cases, it may have open sides, while the arrows are held in the quiver by the tips which sit on a rest at the base of the ebira, and a rib that composes the upper ...
'' quiver
File:Kyujutsu10.jpg, Heiji rebellion in 1159
Late Heian Period, Kamakura Bakufu, and the rise of samurai
![Samurai o-yoroi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Samurai_o-yoroi.jpg)
The
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...
(1185–1333) saw the rise of the samurai under shogun rule as they were "entrusted with the security of the estates" and were symbols of the ideal warrior and citizen. Originally, the emperor and non-warrior nobility employed these warrior nobles. In time they amassed enough manpower, resources and political backing, in the form of alliances with one another, to establish the first samurai-dominated government. As the power of these regional clans grew, their chief was typically a distant relative of the emperor and a lesser member of either the
Fujiwara Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include:
; Families
* The Fujiwara clan and its members
** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...
,
Minamoto
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...
, or
Taira
The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided i ...
clan.
Though originally sent to provincial areas for fixed four-year terms as magistrates, the ''toryo'' declined to return to the capital when their terms ended, and their sons inherited their positions and continued to lead the clans in putting down rebellions throughout Japan during the middle- and later-Heian period. Because of their rising military and economic power, the warriors ultimately became a new force in the politics of the imperial court. Their involvement in the
Hōgen Rebellion
In Japanese, Hōgen may refer to several words. Among them:
* Hōgen (era) (保元, 1156–1159), an era in Japan
* Hōgen rebellion, a short civil war in 1156
* dialect (方言) — for example: "eigo no hōgen" (English dialect)
See also
* ...
in the late Heian period consolidated their power, which later pitted the rivalry of Minamoto and Taira clans against each other in the
Heiji Rebellion of 1160.
The victor,
Taira no Kiyomori
was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.
Early life
Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first so ...
, became an imperial advisor and was the first warrior to attain such a position. He eventually seized control of the central government, establishing the first samurai-dominated government and relegating the emperor to figurehead status. However, the Taira clan was still very conservative when compared to its eventual successor, the Minamoto, and instead of expanding or strengthening its military might, the clan had its women marry emperors and exercise control through the emperor.
The Taira and the Minamoto clashed again in 1180, beginning the
Genpei War
The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...
, which ended in 1185. Samurai fought at the naval
battle of Dan-no-ura
The was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū. On April 25, 1185 (or March 24, 1185 by the official page of Shimonoseki City), the fleet of the Minamoto clan ...
, at the Shimonoseki Strait which separates Honshu and
Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
in 1185. The victorious
Minamoto no Yoritomo
was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...
established the superiority of the samurai over the aristocracy. In 1190 he visited Kyoto and in 1192 became ''
Sei'i Taishōgun'', establishing the Kamakura shogunate, or ''Kamakura bakufu''. Instead of ruling from Kyoto, he
set up the shogunate in
Kamakura
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939.
Kamak ...
, near his base of power. "Bakufu" means "tent government", taken from the encampments the soldiers would live in, in accordance with the Bakufu's status as a military government.
After the Genpei war, Yoritomo obtained the right to appoint ''
shugo
, commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...
'' and ''
jitō
were medieval territory stewards in Japan, especially in the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates. Appointed by the ''shōgun'', ''jitō'' managed manors including national holdings governed by the provincial governor ( kokushi). There were also d ...
'', and was allowed to organize soldiers and police, and to collect a certain amount of tax. Initially, their responsibility was restricted to arresting rebels and collecting needed army provisions and they were forbidden from interfering with ''
Kokushi'' officials, but their responsibility gradually expanded. Thus, the samurai class became the political ruling power in Japan.
File:Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba e2.jpg, Samurai of the Shōni clan
was a family of Japanese nobles descended from the Fujiwara family, many of whom held high government offices in Kyūshū. Prior to the Kamakura period (1185–1333), "Shōni" was originally a title and post within the Kyūshū ( Dazaifu) governm ...
gather to defend against Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
's Mongolian army during the first Mongol Invasion of Japan, 1274
File:Battle of Yashima Folding Screens Kano School.jpg, Battle of Yashima
Battle of Yashima (屋島の戦い) was one of the battles of the Genpei War on March 22, 1185 in the Heian period. It occurred in Sanuki Province (Shikoku) which is now Takamatsu, Kagawa.
Background
Following a long string of defeats, the Tai ...
folding screens
Ashikaga shogunate and the Mongol invasions
Various samurai clans struggled for power during the
Kamakura
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939.
Kamak ...
and
Ashikaga shogunate
The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669.
The Ashikaga shogunate was establ ...
s.
Zen Buddhism
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
spread among the samurai in the 13th century and helped to shape their standards of conduct, particularly overcoming the fear of death and killing, but among the general populace
Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most wid ...
was favored.
In 1274, the Mongol-founded
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
in China sent a force of some 40,000 men and 900 ships to invade Japan in northern Kyūshū. Japan mustered a mere 10,000 samurai to meet this threat. The invading army was harassed by major thunderstorms throughout the invasion, which aided the defenders by inflicting heavy casualties. The Yuan army was eventually recalled, and the invasion was called off. The Mongol invaders used small bombs, which was likely the first appearance of bombs and gunpowder in Japan.
The Japanese defenders recognized the possibility of a renewed invasion and began construction of a
great stone barrier around
Hakata Bay
is a bay in the northwestern part of Fukuoka city, on the Japanese island of Kyūshū. It faces the Tsushima Strait, and features beaches and a port, though parts of the bay have been reclaimed in the expansion of the city of Fukuoka. The bay ...
in 1276. Completed in 1277, this wall stretched for 20 kilometers around the border of the bay. It would later serve as a strong defensive point against the Mongols. The Mongols attempted to settle matters in a diplomatic way from 1275 to 1279, but every envoy sent to Japan was executed.
Leading up to the second Mongolian invasion,
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
continued to send emissaries to Japan, with five diplomats sent in September 1275 to Kyūshū.
Hōjō Tokimune
of the Hōjō clan was the eighth ''shikken'' (officially regent of the shōgun, but ''de facto'' ruler of Japan) of the Kamakura shogunate (reigned 1268–84), known for leading the Japanese forces against the invasion of the Mongols and fo ...
, the
shikken
The was a titular post held by a member of the Hōjō clan, officially a regent of the shogunate, from 1199 to 1333, during the Kamakura period, and so he was head of the ''bakufu'' (shogunate). It was part of the era referred to as .
During rou ...
of the Kamakura shogun, responded by having the Mongolian diplomats brought to Kamakura and then beheading them. The graves of the five executed Mongol emissaries exist to this day in Kamakura at Tatsunokuchi. On 29 July 1279, five more emissaries were sent by the Mongol empire, and again beheaded, this time in
Hakata. This continued defiance of the Mongol emperor set the stage for one of the most famous engagements in Japanese history.
In 1281, a Yuan army of 140,000 men with 5,000 ships was mustered for another invasion of Japan. Northern Kyūshū was defended by a Japanese army of 40,000 men. The Mongol army was still on its ships preparing for the landing operation when a typhoon hit north Kyūshū island. The casualties and damage inflicted by the typhoon, followed by the Japanese defense of the Hakata Bay barrier, resulted in the Mongols again being defeated.
![Takezaki suenaga ekotoba3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Takezaki_suenaga_ekotoba3.jpg)
The thunderstorms of 1274 and the typhoon of 1281 helped the samurai defenders of Japan repel the Mongol invaders despite being vastly outnumbered. These winds became known as ''kami-no-Kaze'', which literally translates as "wind of the gods". This is often given a simplified translation as "divine wind". The ''kami-no-Kaze'' lent credence to the Japanese belief that their lands were indeed divine and under supernatural protection.
During this period, the tradition of Japanese swordsmithing developed using
laminated or piled steel, a technique dating back over 2,000 years in the Mediterranean and Europe of combining layers of soft and hard steel to produce a blade with a very hard (but brittle) edge, capable of being highly sharpened, supported by a softer, tougher, more flexible spine. The Japanese swordsmiths refined this technique by using multiple layers of steel of varying composition, together with
differential heat treatment
Differential heat treatment (also called selective heat treatment or local heat treatment) is a technique used during heat treating to harden or soften certain areas of a steel object, creating a difference in hardness between these areas. There ar ...
, or tempering, of the finished blade, achieved by protecting part of it with a layer of clay while quenching (as explained in the article on
Japanese swordsmithing
Japanese swordsmithing is the labour-intensive bladesmithing process developed in Japan for forging traditionally made bladed weapons ( ''nihonto'') including ''katana'', ''wakizashi'', ''tantō'', ''yari'', ''naginata'', ''nagamaki'', ''tachi'', ...
). The craft was perfected in the 14th century by the great swordsmith
Masamune
, was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the ''Sōshū'' school. However, many of his forged ''tachi'' were made into ...
. The Japanese sword (''
tachi
A is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and ''katana'' generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on t ...
'' and ''
katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...
'') became renowned around the world for its sharpness and resistance to breaking. Many swords made using these techniques were exported across the
East China Sea
The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...
, a few making their way as far as India.
![Himeji_castle_in_may_2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Himeji_castle_in_may_2015.jpg)
Issues of inheritance caused family strife as
primogeniture
Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
became common, in contrast to the division of succession designated by law before the 14th century. Invasions of neighboring samurai territories became common to avoid infighting, and bickering among samurai was a constant problem for the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates.
Sengoku period
The ''
Sengoku jidai
The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615.
The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various ...
'' ("warring states period") was marked by the loosening of samurai culture, with people born into other social strata sometimes making a name for themselves as warriors and thus becoming ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' samurai.
Japanese war tactics and technologies improved rapidly in the 15th and 16th centuries. Use of large numbers of infantry called
ashigaru
were infantry employed by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The first known reference to ''ashigaru'' was in the 14th century, but it was during the Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi period) that the use of ''ashigaru'' became prevalent by various ...
("light-foot", because of their light armor), formed of humble warriors or ordinary people with ''naga yari'' (a long
lance
A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier ( lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike si ...
) or ''
naginata
The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...
'', was introduced and combined with cavalry in maneuvers. The number of people mobilized in warfare ranged from thousands to hundreds of thousands.
![Kenshin Uesugi's armour](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Kenshin_Uesugi%27s_armour.jpg)
The
arquebus
An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier.
Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...
, a
matchlock
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Before ...
gun, was introduced by the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
via a Chinese pirate ship in 1543, and the Japanese succeeded in assimilating it within a decade. Groups of mercenaries with mass-produced arquebuses began playing a critical role. By the end of the Sengoku period, several hundred thousand firearms existed in Japan, and massive armies numbering over 100,000 clashed in battles.
Azuchi–Momoyama period
Oda, Toyotomi and Tokugawa
Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
was the well-known lord of the
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
area (once called
Owari Province
was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were ...
) and an exceptional example of a samurai of the Sengoku period. He came within a few years of, and laid down the path for his successors to follow, the reunification of Japan under a new ''bakufu'' (shogunate).
Oda Nobunaga made innovations in the fields of organization and war tactics, made heavy use of arquebuses, developed commerce and industry, and treasured innovation. Consecutive victories enabled him to realize the termination of the Ashikaga Bakufu and the disarmament of the military powers of the Buddhist monks, which had inflamed futile struggles among the populace for centuries. Attacking from the "sanctuary" of Buddhist temples, they were constant headaches to any warlord and even the emperor who tried to control their actions. He died in 1582 when one of his generals,
Akechi Mitsuhide
, first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...
, turned upon him with his army.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
and
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
, who founded the Tokugawa shogunate, were loyal followers of Nobunaga. Hideyoshi began as a peasant and became one of Nobunaga's top generals, and Ieyasu had shared his childhood with Nobunaga. Hideyoshi defeated Mitsuhide within a month and was regarded as the rightful successor of Nobunaga by avenging the treachery of Mitsuhide. These two were able to use Nobunaga's previous achievements on which build a unified Japan and there was a saying: "The reunification is a rice cake; Oda made it. Hashiba shaped it. In the end, only Ieyasu tastes it." (Hashiba is the family name that Toyotomi Hideyoshi used while he was a follower of Nobunaga.)
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became a grand minister in 1586, created a law that non-samurai were not allowed to carry weapons, which the samurai caste codified as permanent and hereditary, thereby ending the social mobility of Japan, which lasted until the dissolution of the Edo shogunate by the Meiji revolutionaries.
The distinction between samurai and non-samurai was so obscure that during the 16th century, most male adults in any social class (even small farmers) belonged to at least one military organization of their own and served in wars before and during Hideyoshi's rule. It can be said that an "all against all" situation continued for a century. The authorized samurai families after the 17th century were those that chose to follow Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. Large battles occurred during the change between regimes, and a number of defeated samurai were destroyed, went ''
rōnin
A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...
'' or were absorbed into the general populace.
Invasions of Korea
![Ulsan waesung attack](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Ulsan_waesung_attack.jpg)
In 1592 and again in 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, aiming to invade China through Korea, mobilized an army of 160,000 peasants and samurai and
deployed them to Korea. Taking advantage of arquebus mastery and extensive wartime experience from the Sengoku period, Japanese samurai armies made major gains in most of Korea. A few of the famous samurai generals of this war were
Katō Kiyomasa
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. His court title was Higo-no-kami. His name as a child was ''Yashamaru'', and first name was ''Toranosuke''. He was one of Hideyoshi's Seven Spears of Shizugatake.
Biography
...
,
Konishi Yukinaga
Konishi Yukinaga (小西 行長, baptized under the personal name Agostinho (Portuguese for Augustine); 1558 – November 6, 1600) was a Kirishitan daimyō under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He is notable for his role as the vanguard of the Japanes ...
, and
Shimazu Yoshihiro
was the second son of Shimazu Takahisa and the younger brother of Shimazu Yoshihisa. Traditionally believed to be the 17th head of the Shimazu clan, he was a skilled general during the Sengoku period who greatly contributed to the unification o ...
. Katō Kiyomasa advanced to
Orangkai territory (present-day Manchuria) bordering Korea to the northeast and crossed the border into Manchuria.
He withdrew after retaliatory attacks from the
Jurchens
Jurchen (Manchu language, Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian people, East Asian Tungusic languages, Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They ...
there, as it was clear he had outpaced the rest of the Japanese invasion force. Shimazu Yoshihiro led some 7,000 samurai and, despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated a host of allied Ming and Korean forces at the
Battle of Sacheon in 1598, near the conclusion of the campaigns. Yoshihiro was feared as ''Oni-Shimazu'' ("Shimazu ogre") and his nickname spread across Korea and into China.
![YoshiClimber](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/YoshiClimber.jpg)
In spite of the superiority of Japanese land forces, the two expeditions ultimately failed, though they did devastate the Korean peninsula. The causes of the failure included Korean naval superiority (which, led by Admiral
Yi Sun-sin
Admiral Yi Sun-sin (April 28, 1545 – December 16, 1598) was a Korean admiral and military general famed for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Imjin war in the Joseon Dynasty. Over the course of his career, Admiral Yi fough ...
, harassed Japanese supply lines continuously throughout the wars, resulting in supply shortages on land), the commitment of sizable Ming forces to Korea, Korean guerrilla actions, wavering Japanese commitment to the campaigns as the wars dragged on, and the underestimation of resistance by Japanese commanders.
In the first campaign of 1592, Korean defenses on land were caught unprepared, under-trained, and under-armed. They were rapidly overrun, with only a limited number of successfully resistant engagements against the more experienced and battle-hardened Japanese forces. During the second campaign in 1597, Korean and Ming forces proved far more resilient and with the support of continued Korean naval superiority, managed to limit Japanese gains to parts of southeastern Korea. The final death blow to the Japanese campaigns in Korea came with Hideyoshi's death in late 1598 and the recall of all Japanese forces in Korea by the
Council of Five Elders
The Council of Five Elders (Japanese: :jp:五大老, 五大老, ''Go-Tairō'') was a group of five powerful feudal lords (Japanese: 大名, ''Daimyō'') formed in 1598 by the Regent (Japanese: 太閤 ''Sesshō and Kampaku, Taikō'') Toyotomi Hideyo ...
, established by Hideyoshi to oversee the transition from his regency to that of his son Hideyori.
Battle of Sekigahara
![Sekigaharascreen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Sekigaharascreen.jpg)
Many samurai forces that were active throughout this period were not deployed to Korea; most importantly, the ''
daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
s''
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
carefully kept forces under his command out of the Korean campaigns, and other samurai commanders who were opposed to Hideyoshi's domination of Japan either mulled Hideyoshi's call to invade Korea or contributed a small token force.
Most commanders who opposed or otherwise resisted or resented Hideyoshi ended up as part of the so-called Eastern Army, while commanders loyal to Hideyoshi and his son (a notable exception to this trend was Katō Kiyomasa, who deployed with Tokugawa and the Eastern Army) were largely committed to the Western Army; the two opposing sides (so named for the relative geographical locations of their respective commanders' domains) later clashed, most notably at the
Battle of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...
which was won by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Eastern Forces, paving the way for the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate.
Social mobility was high, as the ancient regime collapsed and emerging samurai needed to maintain a large military and administrative organizations in their areas of influence. Most of the samurai families that survived to the 19th century originated in this era, declaring themselves to be the blood of one of the four ancient noble clans:
Minamoto
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...
,
Taira
The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided i ...
,
Fujiwara Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include:
; Families
* The Fujiwara clan and its members
** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...
and Tachibana clan (samurai), Tachibana. In most cases, however, it is difficult to prove these claims.
Tokugawa shogunate
![Edo social structure](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Edo_social_structure.svg)
After the Battle of Sekigahara, when the Tokugawa shogunate defeated the Toyotomi clan at summer campaign of the Siege of Osaka in 1615, the long war period ended. During the Tokugawa shogunate, samurai increasingly became courtiers, bureaucrats, and administrators rather than warriors. With no warfare since the early 17th century, samurai gradually lost their military function during the Tokugawa era (also called the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
).
By the end of the Tokugawa era, samurai were aristocratic bureaucrats for the ''daimyōs'', with their ''daishō'', the paired long and short swords of the samurai (cf.
katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...
and wakizashi) becoming more of a symbolic emblem of power rather than a weapon used in daily life. They still had the legal right to cut down any commoner who did not show proper respect , but to what extent this right was used is unknown. When the central government forced ''daimyōs'' to cut the size of their armies, unemployed rōnin became a social problem.
Theoretical obligations between a samurai and his lord (usually a ''daimyō'') increased from the Genpei era to the Edo era. They were strongly emphasized by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, which were required reading for the educated samurai class. The leading figures who introduced Confucianism in Japan in the early Tokugawa period were Fujiwara Seika (1561–1619), Hayashi Razan (1583–1657), and Matsunaga Sekigo (1592–1657).
The conduct of samurai served as role model behavior for the other social classes. With time on their hands, samurai spent more time in pursuit of other interests such as becoming scholars.
Modernization
![Kamei Koremi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Kamei_Koremi.jpg)
The relative peace of the Tokugawa era was shattered with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry (naval officer), Matthew Perry's massive U.S. Navy steamships in 1853. Perry used his superior firepower to force Japan to open its borders to trade. Prior to that only a few harbor towns, under strict control from the shogunate, were allowed to participate in Western trade, and even then, it was based largely on the idea of playing the Franciscans and Dominican order, Dominicans against one another (in exchange for the crucial arquebus technology, which in turn was a major contributor to the downfall of the classical samurai).
From 1854, the samurai army and the navy were modernized. A Nagasaki Naval Training Center, naval training school was established in Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Nagasaki in 1855. Naval students were sent to study in Western naval schools for several years, starting a tradition of foreign-educated future leaders, such as Admiral Enomoto Takeaki, Enomoto. French naval engineers were hired to build naval arsenals, such as Yokosuka and Nagasaki. By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867, the Japanese navy of the ''shōgun'' already possessed eight western-style steam warships around the flagship Japanese battleship Kaiyo Maru, ''Kaiyō Maru'', which were used against pro-imperial forces during the Boshin War, under the command of Admiral Enomoto Takeaki. A French Military Mission to Japan (1867) was established to help modernize the armies of the Bakufu.
![Samurai with sword](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Samurai_with_sword.jpg)
The last showing of the original samurai was in 1867 when samurai from Nagato Province, Chōshū and Satsuma Province, Satsuma provinces defeated the shogunate forces in favor of the rule of the emperor in the Boshin War. The two provinces were the lands of the ''daimyōs'' that submitted to Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
Dissolution
![Iinuma Sadakichi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Iinuma_Sadakichi.jpg)
In the 1870s, samurai comprised five percent of the population, or 400,000 families with about 1.9 million members. They came under direct national jurisdiction in 1869, and of all the classes during the Meiji revolution they were the most affected.
Although many lesser samurai had been active in the Meiji Restoration, Meiji restoration, the older ones represented an obsolete feudal institution that had a practical monopoly of military force, and to a large extent of education as well. A priority of the Meiji government was to gradually abolish the entire class of samurai and integrate them into the Japanese professional, military and business classes. Their traditional guaranteed salaries were very expensive, and in 1873 the government started taxing the stipends and began to transform them into interest-bearing government bonds; the process was completed in 1879. The main goal was to provide enough financial liquidity to enable former samurai to invest in land and industry. A military force capable of contesting not just China but the imperial powers required a large conscript army that closely followed Western standards. Germany became the model. The notion of very strict obedience to chain of command was incompatible with the individual authority of the samurai. Samurai now became ''Shizoku'' (; this status was abolished in 1947). The right to wear a katana in public was abolished, along with the right to execute commoners who paid them disrespect. In 1877, there was a Satsuma rebellion, localized samurai rebellion that was quickly crushed.
Younger samurai often became exchange students because they were ambitious, literate and well-educated. On return, some started private schools for higher education, while many samurai became reporters and writers and set up newspaper companies. Others entered governmental service. In the 1880s, 23 percent of prominent Japanese businessmen were from the samurai class; by the 1920s the number had grown to 35 percent.
Philosophy
Religious influences
The philosophies of Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, influenced the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching because it offered a process to calm one's mind. The Buddhist concept of reincarnation and rebirth led samurai to abandon torture and needless killing, while some samurai even gave up violence altogether and became Buddhist monks after coming to believe that their killings were fruitless. Some were killed as they came to terms with these conclusions in the battlefield. The most defining role that Confucianism played in samurai philosophy was to stress the importance of the lord-retainer relationship—the loyalty that a samurai was required to show his lord.
Literature on the subject of ''bushido'' such as ''Hagakure'' ("Hidden in Leaves") by Yamamoto Tsunetomo and '' Gorin no Sho'' ("Book of the Five Rings") by Miyamoto Musashi, both written in the Edo period, contributed to the development of ''bushidō'' and Zen philosophy.
According to Robert Sharf, "The notion that Zen is somehow related to Japanese culture in general, and bushidō in particular, is familiar to Western students of Zen through the writings of D. T. Suzuki, no doubt the single most important figure in the spread of Zen in the West." In an account of Japan sent to Father Ignatius Loyola at Rome, drawn from the statements of Anger (Han-Siro's western name), Xavier describes the importance of honor to the Japanese (Letter preserved at College of Coimbra):
In the first place, the nation with which we have had to do here surpasses in goodness any of the nations lately discovered. I really think that among barbarous nations there can be none that has more natural goodness than the Japanese. They are of a kindly disposition, not at all given to cheating, wonderfully desirous of honour and rank. Honour with them is placed above everything else. There are a great many poor among them, but poverty is not a disgrace to any one. There is one thing among them of which I hardly know whether it is practised anywhere among Christians. The nobles, however poor they may be, receive the same honour from the rest as if they were rich.
Doctrine
![Onikojima_Yatarō](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Onikojima_Yatar%C5%8D.jpg)
In the 13th century, Hōjō Shigetoki (born 1198), Hōjō Shigetoki wrote: "When one is serving officially or in the master's court, he should not think of a hundred or a thousand people, but should consider only the importance of the master." Carl Steenstrup notes that 13th- and 14th-century warrior writings (''gunki'') "portrayed the ''bushi'' in their natural element, war, eulogizing such virtues as reckless bravery, fierce family pride, and selfless, at times senseless devotion of master and man". Feudal lords such as Shiba Yoshimasa (1350–1410) stated that a warrior looked forward to a glorious death in the service of a military leader or the emperor: "It is a matter of regret to let the moment when one should die pass by ... First, a man whose profession is the use of arms should think and then act upon not only his own fame, but also that of his descendants. He should not scandalize his name forever by holding his one and only life too dear ... One's main purpose in throwing away his life is to do so either for the sake of the Emperor or in some great undertaking of a military general. It is that exactly that will be the great fame of one's descendants."
![Akashi Gidayu writing his death poem before committing Seppuku](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Akashi_Gidayu_writing_his_death_poem_before_committing_Seppuku.jpg)
In 1412, Imagawa Sadayo wrote a letter of admonishment to his brother stressing the importance of duty to one's master. Imagawa was admired for his balance of military and administrative skills during his lifetime, and his writings became widespread. The letters became central to Tokugawa-era laws and became required study material for traditional Japanese until World War II:
"First of all, a samurai who dislikes battle and has not put his heart in the right place even though he has been born in the house of the warrior, should not be reckoned among one's retainers ... It is forbidden to forget the great debt of kindness one owes to his master and ancestors and thereby make light of the virtues of loyalty and filial piety ... It is forbidden that one should ... attach little importance to his duties to his master ... There is a primary need to distinguish loyalty from disloyalty and to establish rewards and punishments."
Similarly, the feudal lord Takeda Nobushige (1525–1561) stated: "In matters both great and small, one should not turn his back on his master's commands ... One should not ask for gifts or enfiefments from the master ... No matter how unreasonably the master may treat a man, he should not feel disgruntled ... An underling does not pass judgments on a superior."
Nobushige's brother Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) also made similar observations: "One who was born in the house of a warrior, regardless of his rank or class, first acquaints himself with a man of military feats and achievements in loyalty ... Everyone knows that if a man doesn't hold filial piety toward his own parents he would also neglect his duties toward his lord. Such a neglect means a disloyalty toward humanity. Therefore such a man doesn't deserve to be called 'samurai'."
The feudal lord Asakura Yoshikage (1428–1481) wrote: "In the fief of the Asakura, one should not determine hereditary chief retainers. A man should be assigned according to his ability and loyalty." Asakura also observed that the successes of his father were obtained by the kind treatment of the warriors and common people living in domain. By his civility, "all were willing to sacrifice their lives for him and become his allies."
Katō Kiyomasa
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. His court title was Higo-no-kami. His name as a child was ''Yashamaru'', and first name was ''Toranosuke''. He was one of Hideyoshi's Seven Spears of Shizugatake.
Biography
...
was one of the most powerful and well-known lords of the Sengoku period. He commanded most of Japanese clans, Japan's major clans during the invasion of Korea. In a handbook he addressed to "all samurai, regardless of rank", he told his followers that a warrior's only duty in life was to "grasp the long and the short swords and to die". He also ordered his followers to put forth great effort in studying the military classics, especially those related to loyalty and filial piety. He is best known for his quote: "If a man does not investigate into the matter of Bushido daily, it will be difficult for him to die a brave and manly death. Thus it is essential to engrave this business of the warrior into one's mind well."
![Oishi Yoshio Gishi Seppuku No Zu Painting](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Oishi_Yoshio_Gishi_Seppuku_No_Zu_Painting.png)
Nabeshima Naoshige (1538–1618 AD) was another Sengoku ''daimyō'' who fought alongside Kato Kiyomasa in Korea. He stated that it was shameful for any man to have not risked his life at least once in the line of duty, regardless of his rank. Nabeshima's sayings were passed down to his son and grandson and became the basis for Tsunetomo Yamamoto's ''Hagakure''. He is best known for his saying, "The way of the samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or more cannot kill such a man."
Torii Mototada (1539–1600) was a feudal lord in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu. On the eve of the battle of Sekigahara, he volunteered to remain behind in the doomed Fushimi Castle while his lord advanced to the east. Torii and Tokugawa both agreed that the castle was indefensible. In an act of loyalty to his lord, Torii chose to remain behind, pledging that he and his men would fight to the finish. As was custom, Torii vowed that he would not be taken alive. In a dramatic last stand, the garrison of 2,000 men held out against overwhelming odds for ten days against the massive army of Ishida Mitsunari's 40,000 warriors. In a moving last statement to his son Tadamasa, he wrote:
"It is not the Way of the Warrior [i.e., ''bushidō''] to be shamed and avoid death even under circumstances that are not particularly important. It goes without saying that to sacrifice one's life for the sake of his master is an unchanging principle. That I should be able to go ahead of all the other warriors of this country and lay down my life for the sake of my master's benevolence is an honor to my family and has been my most fervent desire for many years."
It is said that both men cried when they parted ways, because they knew they would never see each other again. Torii's father and grandfather had served the Tokugawa before him, and his own brother had already been killed in battle. Torii's actions changed the course of Japanese history. Ieyasu Tokugawa successfully raised an army and won at Sekigahara.
The translator of ''Hagakure'',
William Scott Wilson
William Scott Wilson (born 1944, Nashville, Tennessee) is known for translating several works of Japanese literature, mostly those relating to the martial tradition of that country.
Wilson has brought historical Chinese and Japanese thought, ph ...
, observed examples of warrior emphasis on death in clans other than Yamamoto's: "he (Takeda Shingen) was a strict disciplinarian as a warrior, and there is an exemplary story in the ''Hagakure'' relating his execution of two brawlers, not because they had fought, but because they had not fought to the death".
The rival of Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) was Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578), a legendary Sengoku warlord well versed in the Chinese military classics and who advocated the "way of the warrior as death". Japanese historian Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki describes Uesugi's beliefs as: "Those who are reluctant to give up their lives and embrace death are not true warriors ... Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death. When you leave the house determined not to see it again you will come home safely; when you have any thought of returning you will not return. You may not be in the wrong to think that the world is always subject to change, but the warrior must not entertain this way of thinking, for his fate is always determined."
Families such as the Imagawa were influential in the development of warrior ethics and were widely quoted by other lords during their lifetime. The writings of Imagawa Sadayo were highly respected and sought out by Tokugawa Ieyasu as the source of Japanese feudal law.
![Sekigahara Kassen Byōbu-zu (Gifu History Museum)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Sekigahara_Kassen_By%C5%8Dbu-zu_%28Gifu_History_Museum%29.jpg)
Historian H. Paul Varley notes the description of Japan given by Jesuit leader St. Francis Xavier: "There is no nation in the world which fears death less." Xavier further describes the honour and manners of the people: "I fancy that there are no people in the world more punctilious about their honour than the Japanese, for they will not put up with a single insult or even a word spoken in anger." Xavier spent 1549 to 1551 converting Japanese to Christianity. He also observed: "The Japanese are much braver and more warlike than the people of China, Korea, Ternate and all of the other nations around the Philippines."
Arts
In December 1547, Francis was in Malacca (Malaysia) waiting to return to Goa (India) when he met a low-ranked samurai named Anjiro (possibly spelled "Yajiro"). Anjiro was not an intellectual, but he impressed Xavier because he took careful notes of everything he said in church. Xavier made the decision to go to Japan in part because this low-ranking samurai convinced him in Portuguese that the Japanese people were highly educated and eager to learn. They were hard workers and respectful of authority. In their laws and customs they were led by reason, and, should the Christian faith convince them of its truth, they would accept it en masse.
By the 12th century, upper-class samurai were highly literate because of the general introduction of Confucianism from China during the 7th to 9th centuries and in response to their perceived need to deal with the imperial court, who had a monopoly on culture and literacy for most of the Heian period. As a result, they aspired to the more cultured abilities of the nobility.
[Matsura, Yoshinori Fukuiken-shi 2 (Tokyo: Sanshusha, 1921)]
Examples such as Taira no Tadanori, Taira Tadanori (a samurai who appears in the ''Heike Monogatari'') demonstrate that warriors idealized the arts and aspired to become skilled in them. Tadanori was famous for his skill with the pen and the sword or the "bun and the bu", the harmony of fighting and learning.
Samurai were expected to be cultured and literate and admired the ancient saying "bunbu-ryōdō" (wikt:文武両道, 文武両道, literary arts, military arts, both ways) or "The pen and the sword in accord". By the time of the Edo period, Japan had a higher literacy comparable to that in central Europe.
The number of men who actually achieved the ideal and lived their lives by it was high. An early term for warrior, "uruwashii", was written with a kanji that combined the characters for literary study ("bun" 文) and military arts ("bu" 武), and is mentioned in the Heike Monogatari (late 12th century). The Heike Monogatari makes reference to the educated poet-swordsman ideal in its mention of Taira no Tadanori's death:
[
In his book "Ideals of the Samurai" translator William Scott Wilson states: "The warriors in the ''Heike Monogatari'' served as models for the educated warriors of later generations, and the ideals depicted by them were not assumed to be beyond reach. Rather, these ideals were vigorously pursued in the upper echelons of warrior society and recommended as the proper form of the Japanese man of arms. With the Heike Monogatari, the image of the Japanese warrior in literature came to its full maturity."][Wilson, p. 26] Wilson then translates the writings of several warriors who mention the Heike Monogatari as an example for their men to follow.
Plenty of warrior writings document this ideal from the 13th century onward. Most warriors aspired to or followed this ideal otherwise there would have been no cohesion in the samurai armies.
Culture
As aristocrats for centuries, samurai developed their own cultures that influenced Japanese culture as a whole. The culture associated with the samurai such as the Japanese tea ceremony, tea ceremony, monochrome ink painting, rock gardens and poetry was adopted by warrior patrons throughout the centuries 1200–1600. These practices were adapted from the Chinese arts. Zen monks introduced them to Japan and they were allowed to flourish due to the interest of powerful warrior elites. Musō Soseki (1275–1351) was a Zen monk who was advisor to both Emperor Go-Daigo and General Ashikaga Takauji (1304–58). Musō, as well as other monks, served as a political and cultural diplomat between Japan and China. Musō was particularly well known for his garden design. Another Ashikaga patron of the arts was Yoshimasa. His cultural advisor, the Zen monk Zeami, introduced the tea ceremony to him. Previously, tea had been used primarily for Buddhist monks to stay awake during meditation.
Education
In general, samurai, aristocrats, and priests had a very high literacy rate in kanji. Recent studies have shown that literacy in kanji among other groups in society was somewhat higher than previously understood. For example, court documents, birth and death records and marriage records from the Kamakura period, submitted by farmers, were prepared in Kanji. Both the kanji literacy rate and skills in math improved toward the end of Kamakura period.
Some samurai had ''buke bunko'', or "warrior library", a personal library that held texts on strategy, the science of warfare, and other documents that would have proved useful during the warring era of feudal Japan. One such library held 20,000 volumes. The upper class had ''Kuge bunko'', or "family libraries", that held classics, Buddhist sacred texts, and family histories, as well as genealogical records.
Literacy was generally high among the warriors and the common classes as well. The feudal lord Asakura Norikage (1474–1555 AD) noted the great loyalty given to his father, due to his polite letters, not just to fellow samurai, but also to the farmers and townspeople:
There were to Lord Eirin's character many high points difficult to measure, but according to the elders the foremost of these was the way he governed the province by his civility. It goes without saying that he acted this way toward those in the samurai class, but he was also polite in writing letters to the farmers and townspeople, and even in addressing these letters he was gracious beyond normal practice. In this way, all were willing to sacrifice their lives for him and become his allies.
In a letter dated 29 January 1552, St Francis Xavier observed the ease of which the Japanese understood prayers due to the high level of literacy in Japan at that time:
There are two kinds of writing in Japan, one used by men and the other by women; and for the most part both men and women, especially of the nobility and the commercial class, have a literary education. The bonzes, or bonzesses, in their monasteries teach letters to the girls and boys, though rich and noble persons entrust the education of their children to private tutors.
Most of them can read, and this is a great help to them for the easy understanding of our usual prayers and the chief points of our holy religion.
In a letter to Ignatius of Loyola, Father Ignatius Loyola at Rome, Xavier further noted the education of the upper classes:
The Nobles send their sons to monasteries to be educated as soon as they are 8 years old, and they remain there until they are 19 or 20, learning reading, writing and religion; as soon as they come out, they marry and apply themselves to politics.
They are discreet, magnanimous and lovers of virtue and letters, honouring learned men very much.
In a letter dated 11 November 1549, Xavier described a multi-tiered educational system in Japan consisting of "universities", "colleges", "academies" and hundreds of monasteries that served as a principal center for learning by the populace:
But now we must give you an account of our stay at Kagoshima, Cagoxima. We put into that port because the wind was adverse to our sailing to Meaco, which is the largest city in Japan, and most famous as the residence of the King and the Princes. It is said that after four months are passed the favourable season for a voyage to Meaco will return, and then with the good help of God we shall sail thither. The distance from Cagoxima is three hundred leagues. We hear wonderful stories about the size of Meaco: they say that it consists of more than ninety thousand dwellings. There is a very famous University there, as well as five chief colleges of students, and more than two hundred monasteries of bonzes, and of others who are like coenobites, called Legioxi, as well as of women of the same kind, who are called Hamacutis. Besides this of Meaco, there are in Japan five other principal academies, at Coya, at Negu, at Fisso, and at Homia. These are situated round Meaco, with short distances between them, and each is frequented by about three thousand five hundred scholars. Besides these there is the Academy at Bandou, much the largest and most famous in all Japan, and at a great distance from Meaco. Bandou is a large territory, ruled by six minor princes, one of whom is more powerful than the others and is obeyed by them, being himself subject to the King of Japan, who is called the Great King of Meaco. The things that are given out as to the greatness and celebrity of these universities and cities are so wonderful as to make us think of seeing them first with our own eyes and ascertaining the truth, and then when we have discovered and know how things really are, of writing an account of them to you. They say that there are several lesser academies besides those which we have mentioned.
Names
A samurai was usually named by combining one kanji from his father or grandfather and one new kanji. Samurai normally used only a small part of their total name.
For example, the full name of Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
was "Oda Kazusanosuke Saburo Nobunaga" (), in which "Oda" is a clan or family name, "Kazusanosuke" is a title of vice-governor of Kazusa province, "Saburo" is a formal nickname (''yobina''), and "Nobunaga" is an adult name (''nanori'') given at genpuku, the coming of age ceremony. A man was addressed by his family name and his title, or by his ''yobina'' if he did not have a title. However, the ''nanori'' was a private name that could be used by only a very few, including the emperor. Samurai could choose their own ''nanori'' and frequently changed their names to reflect their allegiances.
Samurai were given the privilege of carrying two swords and using 'samurai surnames' to identify themselves from the common people.
Marriage
Samurai had arranged marriages, which were arranged by a go-between of the same or higher rank. While for those samurai in the upper ranks this was a necessity (as most had few opportunities to meet women), this was a formality for lower-ranked samurai. Most samurai married women from a samurai family, but for lower-ranked samurai, marriages with commoners were permitted. In these marriages a dowry was brought by the woman and was used to set up the couple's new household.
A samurai could take concubines, but their backgrounds were checked by higher-ranked samurai. In many cases, taking a concubine was akin to a marriage. Kidnapping a concubine, although common in fiction, would have been shameful, if not criminal. If the concubine was a commoner, a messenger was sent with betrothal money or a note for exemption of tax to ask for her parents' acceptance. Even though the woman would not be a legal wife, a situation normally considered a demotion, many wealthy merchants believed that being the concubine of a samurai was superior to being the legal wife of a commoner. When a merchant's daughter married a samurai, her family's money erased the samurai's debts, and the samurai's social status improved the standing of the merchant family. If a samurai's commoner concubine gave birth to a son, the son could inherit his father's social status.
A samurai could divorce his wife for a variety of reasons with approval from a superior, but divorce was, while not entirely nonexistent, a rare event. A wife's failure to produce a son was cause for divorce, but adoption of a male heir was considered an acceptable alternative to divorce. A samurai could divorce for personal reasons, even if he simply did not like his wife, but this was generally avoided as it would embarrass the person who had arranged the marriage. A woman could also arrange a divorce, although it would generally take the form of the samurai divorcing her. After a divorce, samurai had to return the betrothal money, which often prevented divorces.
Women
Maintaining the household was the main duty of women of the samurai class. This was especially crucial during early feudal Japan, when warrior husbands were often traveling abroad or engaged in clan battles. The wife, or ''okugatasama'' (meaning: one who remains in the home), was left to manage all household affairs, care for the children, and perhaps even defend the home forcibly. For this reason, many women of the samurai class were trained in wielding a polearm called a ''naginata
The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...
'' or a special knife called the ''Kaiken (dagger), kaiken'' in an art called ''tantojutsu'' (lit. the skill of the knife), which they could use to protect their household, family, and honor if the need arose. There were women who actively engaged in battles alongside male samurai in Japan, although most of these female warriors were not formal samurai.
A samurai's daughter's greatest duty was political marriage. These women married members of enemy clans of their families to form a diplomatic relationship. These alliances were stages for many intrigues, wars and tragedies throughout Japanese history. A woman could divorce her husband if he did not treat her well and also if he was a traitor to his wife's family. A famous case was that of Tokuhime (Oda), Oda Tokuhime (Daughter of Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
); irritated by the antics of her mother-in-law, Lady Tsukiyama (the wife of Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
), she was able to get Lady Tsukiyama arrested on suspicion of communicating with the Takeda clan (then a great enemy of Nobunaga and the Oda clan). Ieyasu also arrested his own son, Matsudaira Nobuyasu, who was Tokuhime's husband, because Nobuyasu was close to his mother Lady Tsukiyama. To assuage his ally Nobunaga, Ieyasu had Lady Tsukiyama executed in 1579 and that same year ordered his son to commit seppuku to prevent him from seeking revenge for the death of his mother.
Traits valued in women of the samurai class were humility, obedience, self-control, strength, and loyalty. Ideally, a samurai wife would be skilled at managing property, keeping records, dealing with financial matters, educating the children (and perhaps servants as well), and caring for elderly parents or in-laws that may be living under her roof. Confucian law, which helped define personal relationships and the code of ethics of the warrior class, required that a woman show subservience to her husband, filial piety to her parents, and care to the children. Too much love and affection was also said to indulge and spoil the youngsters. Thus, a woman was also to exercise discipline.
Though women of wealthier samurai families enjoyed perks of their elevated position in society, such as avoiding the physical labor that those of lower classes often engaged in, they were still viewed as far beneath men. Women were prohibited from engaging in any political affairs and were usually not the heads of their household. This does not mean that women in the samurai class were always powerless. Powerful women both wisely and unwisely wielded power at various occasions. Throughout history, several women of the samurai class have acquired political power and influence, even though they have not received these privileges ''de jure''.
After Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 8th ''shōgun'' of the Muromachi shogunate, lost interest in politics, his wife Hino Tomiko largely ruled in his place. Nene (aristocrat), Nene, wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was known to overrule her husband's decisions at times, and Yodo-dono, his concubine, became the ''de facto'' master of Osaka castle and the Toyotomi clan after Hideyoshi's death. Tachibana Ginchiyo was chosen to lead the Tachibana clan after her father's death. Yamauchi Chiyo, wife of Yamauchi Kazutoyo, has long been considered the ideal samurai wife. According to legend, she made her kimono out of a quilted patchwork of bits of old cloth and saved pennies to buy her husband a magnificent horse, on which he rode to many victories. The fact that Chiyo (though she is better known as "Wife of Yamauchi Kazutoyo") is held in such high esteem for her economic sense is illuminating in the light of the fact that she never produced an heir and the Yamauchi clan was succeeded by Kazutoyo's younger brother. The source of power for women may have been that samurai left their finances to their wives. Several women ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne as Empress of Japan, female imperial ruler (女性 天皇, josei tennō)
As the Tokugawa period progressed more value became placed on education, and the education of females beginning at a young age became important to families and society as a whole. Marriage criteria began to weigh intelligence and education as desirable attributes in a wife, right along with physical attractiveness. Though many of the texts written for women during the Tokugawa period only pertained to how a woman could become a successful wife and household manager, there were those that undertook the challenge of learning to read, and also tackled philosophical and literary classics. Nearly all women of the samurai class were literate by the end of the Tokugawa period.
File:Kasuga_no_Tsubone_(c._1880).jpg, ''Lady Kasuga, Kasuga no Tsubone fighting robbers'' – Adachi Ginkō, Adachi Ginko (c. 1880)
File:Hangaku Gozen by Yoshitoshi.jpg, Hangaku Gozen by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Yoshitoshi, c. 1885
File:Onodera_Junai_no_tsuma_斧寺重内の妻_%28No._4,_The_Wife_of_Onodera_Junai%29_%28BM_2008,3037.15404%29.jpg, Japanese woman preparing for jigai, ritual suicide
File:Tomita Nobutaka and his wife Yuki no Kata defend Tsu Castle by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 1885.png, Yuki no Kata defending Tsu Castle. 18th century
File:Femme-samurai-p1000704.jpg, A samurai class woman.
Foreign samurai
Several people born in foreign countries were granted the title of samurai.
After Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98), Bunroku and Keichō no eki, many people born in the Joseon dynasty were brought to Japan as prisoners or cooperators. Some of them served ''daimyōs'' as retainers. One of the most prominent figures among them was Kim Yeocheol, who was granted the Japanese name Wakita Naokata and promoted to Commissioner of Kanazawa city.
The English sailor and adventurer William Adams (sailor, born 1564), William Adams (1564–1620) was among the first Westerners to receive the dignity of samurai. The ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
presented him with two swords representing the authority of a samurai, and decreed that William Adams the sailor was dead and that Anjin Miura (), a samurai, was born. Adams also received the title of ''hatamoto'' (bannerman), a high-prestige position as a direct retainer in the ''shōgun''s court. He was provided with generous revenues: "For the services that I have done and do daily, being employed in the Emperor's service, the Emperor has given me a living". (Letters) He was granted a fief in Hemi () within the boundaries of present-day Yokosuka City, "with eighty or ninety husbandmen, that be my servants". (Letters) His estate was valued at 250 ''koku''. He finally wrote "God hath provided for me after my great misery", (Letters) by which he meant the disaster-ridden voyage that initially brought him to Japan.
Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn, a Dutch colleague of Adams on their ill-fated voyage to Japan in the ship De Liefde, was also given similar privileges by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Joosten likewise became a hatamoto samurai and was given a residence within Ieyasu's castle at Edo. Today, this area at the east exit of Tokyo Station is known as Yaesu (八重洲). Yaesu is a corruption of the Dutchman's Japanese name, Yayousu (耶楊子). Joosten was given a Red Seal Ship (朱印船) allowing him to trade between Japan and Indo-China. On a return journey from Jakarta, Batavia, Joosten drowned after his ship ran aground.
Yasuke (弥助) was a Affinity (medieval), retainer of Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
, and possible samurai, originally from Portuguese Mozambique, Africa. Weapon bearer of Nobunaga. He served in the Honnō-ji incident. According to Thomas Lockley's African Samurai in the 'Oda vassal clan, the Maeda [archives]' there was mention of him receiving 'a stipend, a private residence ... and was given a short sword with a decorative sheath.' However, there is no mention of him being allowed to wear a daishō pairing as a samurai.
Italy, Italian Jesuit missionary, Giuseppe Chiara, entered Japan at a time when Christianity was Kakure Kirishitan, strictly forbidden in an attempt to locate fellow priest Cristóvão Ferreira who had Apostasy, apostatized his Christian faith at the hands of torture by the Japanese authorities in 1633. Di Chiara was also tortured and eventually became an apostate as well. After the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638, he arrived on the island of Oshima and was immediately arrested in June 1643. He later married a Japanese woman, taking the name and samurai status of her late husband, Okamoto San'emon (Japanese language, Japanese: 岡本三右衛門), and lived in Japan until his death in 1685, at the age of 83.
Weapons
* Japanese swords are the weapons that have come to be synonymous with the samurai. ''Chokutō'', swords from the Nara period, featured a straight blade. By 900, curved ''tachi
A is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and ''katana'' generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on t ...
'' appeared, and ultimately the ''katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...
''. Smaller commonly known companion swords are the ''wakizashi'' and the ''tantō''. Wearing a long sword ''(katana'' or ''tachi)'' together with a smaller sword became the symbol of the samurai, and this combination of swords is referred to as a ''daishō'' (literally "big and small"). During the Edo period only samurai were allowed to wear a ''daisho''. A longer blade known as the Ōdachi, ''nodachi'' was also used in the fourteenth century, though primarily used by samurai on the ground.
* The ''yumi
is the Japanese term for a bow. As used in English, refers more specifically to traditional Japanese asymmetrical bows, and includes the longer and the shorter used in the practice of and , or Japanese archery.
The was an important weap ...
'' (longbow), reflected in the art of ''kyūjutsu'' (lit. the skill of the bow) was a major weapon of the Japanese military. Its usage declined with the introduction of the Tanegashima (gun), ''tanegashima'' (Japanese matchlock) during the Sengoku period, but the skill was still practiced at least for sport. The ''yumi'', an asymmetric composite bow made from bamboo, wood, rattan and leather, had an effective range of if accuracy was not an issue. On foot, it was usually used behind a Commons:Tate (shield), ''tate'' (), a large, mobile wooden shield, but the ''yumi'' could also be used from horseback because of its asymmetric shape. The practice of shooting from horseback became a Shinto ceremony known as ''yabusame'' ().
* Commons:Samurai pole weapons, Pole weapons including the ''yari'' (spear) and ''naginata
The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...
'' were commonly used by the samurai. The ''yari'' displaced the ''naginata'' from the battlefield as personal bravery became less of a factor and battles became more organized around massed, inexpensive foot troops (''ashigaru
were infantry employed by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The first known reference to ''ashigaru'' was in the 14th century, but it was during the Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi period) that the use of ''ashigaru'' became prevalent by various ...
''). A charge, mounted or dismounted, was also more effective when using a spear rather than a sword, as it offered better than even odds against a samurai using a sword. In the Battle of Shizugatake where Shibata Katsuie was defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, seven samurai who came to be known as the "Seven Spears of Shizugatake" () played a crucial role in the victory.
* Tanegashima (gun), ''Tanegashima'' were introduced to Japan in 1543 through Portuguese trade. ''Tanegashima'' were produced on a large scale by Japanese gunsmiths, enabling warlords to raise and train armies from masses of peasants. The new weapons were highly effective; their ease of use and deadly effectiveness led to the ''tanegashima'' becoming the weapon of choice over the ''yumi''. By the end of the 16th century, there were more firearms in Japan than in many European nations. ''Tanegashima''—employed ''en masse'', largely by ''ashigaru'' peasant foot troops—were responsible for a change in military tactics that eventually led to establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate and an end to civil war. Production of ''tanegashima'' declined sharply as there was no need for massive amounts of firearms. During the Edo period, ''tanegashima'' were stored away and used mainly for hunting and target practice. Foreign intervention in the 19th century renewed interest in firearms, but the ''tanegashima'' was outdated by then, and various samurai factions purchased more modern firearms from European sources.
* Commons:Samurai cannons, Cannon became a common part of the samurai's armory by the 1570s. They often were mounted in castles or on ships, being used more as anti-personnel weapons than against castle walls or the like, though in the Siege of Nagashino, siege of Nagashino castle (1575) a cannon was used to good effect against an enemy siege tower. The first popular cannon in Japan were swivel-breech loaders named ''kunikuzushi'' or "province destroyers". ''Kunikuzushi'' weighed and used chambers, firing a small shot of . The Arima clan of Kyushu used cannon like this at the Battle of Okinawate against the Ryūzōji clan.
* Commons:Samurai staff weapons, Staff weapons of many shapes and sizes made from oak and other hard woods were used by the samurai, commonly known ones include the ''bō'', the ''jō'', the ''hanbō'', and the ''tanbō''.
* Commons:Samurai clubs and truncheons, Clubs and truncheons made of iron or wood, of all shapes and sizes were used by the samurai. Some like the ''jutte'' were one-handed weapons, and others like the ''kanabō'' were large two-handed weapons.
* Commons:Samurai chain weapons, Chain weapons, various weapons using chains were used during the samurai era, the ''kusarigama'' and ''kusari-fundo'' are examples.
File:Katana brique.svg, Cross sections of Japanese sword lamination methods.
File:Katana (common shema).png, Diagram of the Katana sword.
File:Samurai Japanese.jpg, Samurai with various armor and weapons, c. 1802–1814
File:Tachi dedicated to Daizaifu Tenmangu by Shimazu Shigehide made in 1787.jpg, Antique Japanese tachi
A is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and ''katana'' generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on t ...
File:Antique_Japanese_(samurai)_katana_met_museum.jpg, Antique Japanese katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...
File:脇差 Blade and Mounting for a Short Sword (Wakizashi).jpg, Antique Japanese wakizashi
File:Himeji_Oshiro_Matsuri_August09_007.jpg, Reenactors with Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock), Tanegashima at Himeji Castle Festival
File:Yumi-p1000624.jpg, Japanese arrow stand with a pair of Yumi bows.
File:The bow of the Kamakura period.JPG, The bow of the Kamakura period
File:The arrow of the Kamakura period.JPG, The arrow of the Kamakura period
File:Naginata(2).JPG, A naginata
The ''naginata'' (, ) is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades (''nihontō''). ''Naginata'' were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru (foot soldiers) and sōhei ( ...
blade from the Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...
File:Yari-p1000604.jpg, Three yari (Kagi yari, omi yari and su yari) mounted in koshirae
Armor
As far back as the seventh century Japanese warriors wore a form of lamellar armor, which evolved into the armor worn by the samurai. The first types of Japanese armor identified as samurai armor were known as ''ō-yoroi
The is a prominent example of early Japanese armor worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The term ''ō-yoroi'' means "great armor."(Mondadori, 1979, p. 507).
History
''Ō-yoroi'' first started to appear in the 10th century during the midd ...
'' and ''dō-maru''. These early samurai armors were made from small individual scales known as ''kozane''. The ''kozane'' were made from either iron or leather and were bound together into small strips, and the strips were coated with lacquer to protect the ''kozane'' from water. A series of strips of ''kozane'' were then laced together with silk or leather lace and formed into a complete chest armor Dō (armour), (''dou or dō''). A complete set of the ''yoroi'' weighed 66 lbs.
In the 16th century a new type of armor started to become popular after the advent of firearms, new fighting tactics by increasing the scale of battles and the need for additional protection and high productivity. The ''kozane dou'', which was made of small individual scales, was replaced by ''itazane'', which had larger iron plate or platy leather joined together. ''Itazane'' can also be said to replace a row of individual ''kozanes'' with a single steel plate or platy leather. This new armor, which used ''itazane'', was referred to as ''tosei-gusoku'' (''gusoku''), or modern armor.[日本の甲冑](_blank)
Costume Museum The ''gusoku'' armour added features and pieces of armor for the face, thigh, and back. The back piece had multiple uses, such as for a flag bearing. The style of gusoku, like the plate armour, in which the front and back ''dou'' are made from a single iron plate with a raised center and a V-shaped bottom, was specifically called ''nanban dou gusoku'' (Western style ''gusoku''). Various other components of armor protected the samurai's body. The helmet (''kabuto'') was an important part of the samurai's armor. It was paired with a ''shikoro'' and ''fukigaeshi'' for protection of the head and neck. The garment worn under all of the armor and clothing was called the ''fundoshi'', also known as a loincloth. Samurai armor changed and developed as the methods of samurai warfare changed over the centuries. The known last use of samurai armor occurring in 1877 during the satsuma rebellion, Satsuma Rebellion. As the last samurai rebellion was crushed, Japan modernized its defenses and turned to a national conscription army that used uniforms.
File:Armour red threads Kasuga shrine.jpg, ''Ō-yoroi'', Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...
, 13th–14th century, Kasuga-taisha, Kasuga Grand Shrine, National Treasure (Japan), National Treasure
File:Dōmaru with Black and White Lacing.jpg, ''Dō-maru'' with Black and White Lacing. Muromachi period, 15th century, Tokyo National Museum, Important Cultural Property (Japan), Important Cultural Property
File:朱漆塗矢筈札紺糸素懸威具足3.jpg, Toyotomi Hidetsugu's ''gusoku'' armour, Azuchi-Momoyama period, 16th-17th century, Suntory Museum of Art
File:Tatami gusoku Met 14.100.538 n2.jpg, Tatami (Japanese armour), Karuta tatami dō gusoku, Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
. A lightweight portable folding (tatami) armour made from small square or rectangle armor plates called karuta. The karuta are usually connected to each other by chainmail and sewn to a cloth backing.
File:Uma yoroi (bagai).jpg, A re-creation of an armored samurai riding a horse, showing horse armour (uma yoroi or bagai).
File:MAP Expo Oitaragainari kawari kabuto XVII 02 01 2012.jpg, Shell-shaped casque (Oitaragainari kawari kabuto), iron and papier-mâché for the shell, beginning of the Edo Period.
File:Face Guard (Shirohige Ressei-menpo).jpg, Face guard (''Menpō''). Edo period. Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.
Combat techniques
During the existence of the samurai, two opposite types of organization reigned. The first type were recruits-based armies: at the beginning, during the Nara period, samurai armies relied on armies of Chinese-type recruits and towards the end in infantry units composed of ''ashigaru''. The second type of organization was that of a samurai on horseback who fought individually or in small groups.[Turnbull, Stephen. Samurai The Story of Japan’s Great Warriors. London. Prc Publishing Ltd, 2004. p. 196.]
At the beginning of the contest, a series of bulbous-headed arrows were shot, which buzzed in the air. The purpose of these shots was to call the ''kami'' to witness the displays of courage that were about to unfold. After a brief exchange of arrows between the two sides, a contest called ''ikkiuchi'' (一 騎 討 ち) was developed, where great rivals on both sides faced each other. After these individual combats, the major combats were given way, usually sending infantry troops led by samurai on horseback. At the beginning of the samurai battles, it was an honor to be the first to enter battle. This changed in the Sengoku period with the introduction of the arquebus.[Turnbull, Stephen. Samurai The Story of Japan’s Great Warriors. London. Prc Publishing Ltd, 2004. p. 208.] At the beginning of the use of firearms, the combat methodology was as follows: at the beginning an exchange of arquebus shots was made at a distance of approximately 100 meters; when the time was right, the ''ashigaru'' spearmen were ordered to advance and finally the samurai would attack, either on foot or on horseback. The army chief would sit in a scissor chair inside a semi-open tent called ''maku'', which exhibited its respective Mon (emblem), ''mon'' and represented the ''bakufu'', "government from the ''maku''."
In the middle of the contest, some samurai decided to get off the horse and seek to cut off the head of a worthy rival. This act was considered an honor. In addition, through it they gained respect among the military class. After the battle, the high-ranking samurai normally celebrated the tea ceremony, and the victorious general reviewed the heads of the most important members of the enemy which had been cut.
Most of the battles were not resolved in the manner so idealist exposed above, but most wars were won through surprise attacks, such as night raids, fires, etc. The renowned samurai Minamoto no Tametomo said:
Head collection
Cutting off the head of a worthy rival on the battlefield was a source of great pride and recognition. There was a whole ritual to beautify the Headhunting, severed heads: first they were washed and combed,[Gaskin, Carol; Hawkins, Vince. ''Breve historia de los samuráis'' (Juan Antonio Cebrián, trad.). London. Nowtilus S.L., 2004. . p. 56.] and once this was done, the teeth were blackened by applying a dye called ''ohaguro''.[Turnbull, Stephen. Samurai The Story of Japan’s Great Warriors. London. Prc Publishing Ltd., 2004. p. 231.] The reason for blackening the teeth was that white teeth was a sign of distinction, so applying a dye to darken them was a desecration. The heads were carefully arranged on a table for exposure.
In 1600, Kani Saizō participated in the Battle of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...
as the forerunner of Fukushima Masanori's army. In the outpost battle of Gifu Castle, he took the heads of 17 enemy soldiers, and was greatly praised by Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
. He fought with a bamboo stalk on his back and would mark the heads of his defeated enemies by putting bamboo leaves in their cut necks or mouths, since he couldn't carry every head. Thus he gained the nickname ''Bamboo Saizo.''
During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea, the number of severed heads of the enemies to be sent to Japan was such that for logistical reasons only the nose was sent. These were covered with salt and shipped in wooden barrels. These barrels were buried in a burial mound near the "Great Buddha" of Hideyoshi, where they remain today under the wrong name of ''mimizuka'' or "ear mound."
Military formations
During the Azuchi-Momoyama period and thanks to the introduction of firearms, combat tactics changed dramatically. The military formations adopted had poetic names, among which are:
Martial arts
Each child who grew up in a samurai family was expected to be a warrior when he grew up, so much of his childhood was spent practicing different martial arts. A complete samurai should be skilled at least in the use of the sword (''kenjutsu''), the bow and arrow (''kyujutsu''), the spear (''sojutsu'', ''yarijutsu''), the halberd (''naginatajutsu'') and subsequently the use of firearms (Hōjutsu, houjutsu). Similarly, they were instructed in the use of these weapons while riding a horse. They were also expected to know how to swim and dive.
originates from the Sengoku period in the 15th century. The samurai developed which was useful in case they were thrown overboard during naval conflicts. The samurai practiced , and to board enemy vessels. Activities included strokes with swords, bows and firearms. Hands were kept dry above the water to write messages with an ink brush on a paper scroll. This skill was useful for muskets which require dry gunpowder. Nihon Eiho is practiced by 28 schools and recognized by the Japan Swimming Federation.
During the feudal era of Japan, various types of martial arts flourished, known in Japanese under the name of ''bujutsu'' (武術).[Ratti, Oscar; Westbrook, Adele (2001). ''Secrets of the Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan''. Tuttle Publishing. . p. 24.] The term ''jutsu'' can be translated as "method", "art" or "technique" and the name that each one has is indicative of the mode or weapon with which they are executed. The combat methods that were developed and perfected are very diverse, among which are:
Today martial arts are classified in Ko-ryū, ''koryū budō'' or classical martial arts, before the 19th century, and to the modernization of Japan. Modern traditional martial arts are called ''gendai budō''.
Myth and reality
Most samurai were bound by a code of honor and were expected to set an example for those below them. A notable part of their code is or ''hara kiri'', which allowed a disgraced samurai to regain his honor by passing into death, where samurai were still beholden to social rules. While there are many romanticized characterizations of samurai behavior such as the writing of ''Bushido: The Soul of Japan'' in 1899, studies of ''kobudō'' and traditional ''budō'' indicate that the samurai were as practical on the battlefield as were any other warriors.
Despite the rampant romanticism of the 20th century, samurai could be disloyal and treacherous (e.g., Akechi Mitsuhide
, first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...
), cowardly, brave, or overly loyal (e.g., Kusunoki Masashige). Samurai were usually loyal to their immediate superiors, who in turn allied themselves with higher lords. These loyalties to the higher lords often shifted; for example, the high lords allied under Toyotomi Hideyoshi were served by loyal samurai, but the feudal lords under them could shift their support to Tokugawa, taking their samurai with them. There were, however, also notable instances where samurai would be disloyal to their lord (''daimyō''), when loyalty to the emperor was seen to have supremacy.
In popular culture
Samurai figures have been the subject for legends, folk tales, dramatic stories (i.e. ''gunki monogatari''), theatre productions in kabuki and noh, in literature, movies, animated and anime films, television shows, manga, video games, and in various musical pieces in genre that range from ''enka'' to J-Pop songs.
''Jidaigeki'' (literally historical drama) has always been a staple program on Japanese movies and television. The programs typically feature a samurai. Samurai films and Western movie, westerns share a number of similarities, and the two have influenced each other over the years. One of Japan's most renowned directors, Akira Kurosawa, greatly influenced western film-making. George Lucas' ''Star Wars'' series incorporated many stylistic traits pioneered by Kurosawa, and ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars: A New Hope'' takes the core story of a rescued princess being transported to a secret base from Kurosawa's ''The Hidden Fortress''. Kurosawa was inspired by the works of director John Ford, and in turn Kurosawa's works have been remade into westerns such as ''Seven Samurai'' into ''The Magnificent Seven'' and ''Yojimbo (film), Yojimbo'' into ''A Fistful of Dollars''. There is also a 26 episode anime adaptation (''Samurai 7'') of ''Seven Samurai''. Along with film, literature containing samurai influences are seen as well. As well as influence from American Westerns, Kurosawa also adapted two of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's plays as sources for samurai movies: ''Throne of Blood'' was based on ''Macbeth,'' and ''Ran (film), Ran'' was based on ''King Lear''.
Most common are historical works where the protagonist is either a samurai or former samurai (or another rank or position) who possesses considerable martial skill. Eiji Yoshikawa is one of the most famous Japanese historical novelists. His retellings of popular works, including Taiko, Miyamoto Musashi, Musashi and ''The Tale of the Heike'', are popular among readers for their epic narratives and rich realism in depicting samurai and warrior culture. The samurai have also appeared frequently in Japanese comics (manga) and animation (anime). Examples are ''Samurai Champloo'', ''Shigurui'', ''Requiem from the Darkness'', ''Muramasa: The Demon Blade'', and ''Afro Samurai''. Samurai-like characters are not just restricted to historical settings, and a number of works set in the modern age, and even the future, include characters who live, train and fight like samurai. Some of these works have made their way to the west, where it has been increasing in popularity with America.
In the 21st century, samurai have become more popular in America. Through various media, producers and writers have been capitalizing on the notion that Americans admire the samurai lifestyle. The animated series, ''Afro Samurai'', became well-liked in American popular culture because of its blend of hack-and-slash animation and gritty urban music. Created by Takashi Okazaki, ''Afro Samurai'' was initially a ''dōjinshi'', or manga series, which was then made into an animated series by Studio Gonzo. In 2007, the animated series debuted on American cable television on the Spike TV channel. The series was produced for American viewers which "embodies the trend... comparing hip-hop artists to samurai warriors, an image some rappers claim for themselves". The story line keeps in tone with the perception of a samurai finding vengeance against someone who has wronged him. Because of its popularity, ''Afro Samurai'' was adopted into a full feature animated film and also became titles on gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox. Not only has the samurai culture been adopted into animation and video games, it can also be seen in comic books.
The television series ''Power Rangers Samurai'' (adapted from ''Samurai Sentai Shinkenger'') is inspired by the way of the samurai.
In the real-time strategy video game Age of Empires II, Players can create samurai units (a Japanese civilization unique unit in-game).
Festivals
There are a variety of festivals held in Japan. Some festivals are seasonal celebrations that were adopted from China and imbued with Japanese cultural values and stories. Other festivals in Japan are held where people celebrate historical heroes or commemorate historical events through parades with people dressed as samurai. Some examples of these festivals include the Hagi Jidai Festival, Matsue Warrior Procession, Kenshin Festival, Sendai Aoba Festival, Battle of Sekigahara Festival, and the Shingen-ko Festival.
The Hagi Jidai Festival takes place in the fall in Hagi, Yamaguchi, Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture. This festival started in the Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
as a way for the people of Hagi to show their appreciation to the God of Kanaya Tenmangu Shrine. The festival has over 200 people dress up in traditional samurai armor and the clothes of various people of the daimyō's court as they walk down the streets of the town. The festival is separated into two main events: the Hagi Daimyō Procession and the Hagi Jidai Parade. The Hagi Daimyō Procession begins in the morning at the Hagi Castle town area with a procession of samurai, servants, and palanquin bearers marching and performing traditional dances. In the afternoon, the Hagi Jidai Parade occurs, starting in the Central Park and go around the town until they reach the Kanaya Tenmangu Shrine.
The Matsue Warrior Procession is a festival in Matsue, Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. This festival reenacts the entrance of Daimyō Horio Yoshiharu and his troops into a newly built Matsue during the Edo Period. The event is held on the first Saturday of April. The event is made up of performers marching in a warrior parade at the Shirakata Tenmangu Shrine dressed in samurai armor and various clothing of the Edo period. Visitors are also have the opportunity to rent costumes and march in the parade, or to take pictures with the performers in the parade. Other events also take place throughout the day to celebrate the founding of the city.
The Kenshin Festival is a festival held in Jōetsu, Niigata, Jōetsu, Niigata Prefecture celebrating the life of Daimyō Uesugi Kenshin. The festival started during the Shōwa (1926–1989), Showa era in 1926 at Kasugayama Shrine. The festival holds various events such as the Signal Fire, the Butei Ceremony, and the Shutsujin Parade. Additionally, the battle of Kawanakajima is reenacted as a part of this festival. Throughout the festival people in samurai armor participate in each event. One unique event in particular is the reenactment of the battle of Kawanakajima where performers in the samurai armor portray the events with swords and spears.
The celebrates the legacy of daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
Takeda Shingen. The festival is 3 days long. It is held annually on the first or second weekend of April in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture. There are more than 100,000 visitors per festival. Usually a famous Japanese celebrity plays the part of Takeda Shingen. Ordinary people can participate too after applying. It is one of the biggest historical reenactments in Japan. In 2012 Guinness World Records certified it as the "largest gathering of samurai" in the world with 1,061 participants.
Famous samurai
These are some famous samurai with extraordinary achievements in history.
* Akechi Mitsuhide
, first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...
* Amakusa Shirō
* Date Masamune
* Hasekura Tsunenaga
* Hattori Hanzō
* Hōjō Ujimasa
* Honda Tadakatsu
* Kusunoki Masashige
* Minamoto no Yoshitsune
* Minamoto no Yoshiie
* Miyamoto Musashi
* Nakano Takeko
* Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
* Saigō Takamori
* Saitō Hajime
* Sakamoto Ryōma
* Sanada Yukimura
* Sasaki Kojirō
* Shimazu Takahisa
* Shimazu Yoshihiro
was the second son of Shimazu Takahisa and the younger brother of Shimazu Yoshihisa. Traditionally believed to be the 17th head of the Shimazu clan, he was a skilled general during the Sengoku period who greatly contributed to the unification o ...
* Dom Justo Takayama, Takayama Ukon
* Takeda Shingen
* Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...
* William Adams (pilot), William Adams
* Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
* Uesugi Kenshin
* Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi
* Yagyū Munenori
* Yamamoto Tsunetomo
* Yamaoka Tesshū
Samurai museums
* Matsumoto Castle – the second floor features a collection of feudal guns, armor, and other weapons.
* Japanese Sword Museum – dedicated to the art of Japanese swordmaking.
* Samurai Museum in Shinjuku, Tokyo – about the history of the samurai with armor, weapons etc.
* Ōyamazumi Shrine in Ōmishima Island, Ehime, Ōmishima Island – large collection of ancient samurai weaponry, armor and shrine statuary.
See also
* Kendo
* List of Japanese battles
* List of samurai
* Lone Wolf and Cub
* Musha shugyō
* Ninja
* Pechin
* Kabukimono
* Seiwa Genji
* Shudō
* Shi (class), Shi
* Hwarang
* Kheshig
References
Bibliography
* Absolon, Trevor. ''Samurai Armour: Volume I: The Japanese Cuirass'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017).
* Anderson, Patricia E. "Roles of Samurai Women: Social Norms and Inner Conflicts During Japan's Tokugawa Period, 1603–1868". ''New Views on Gender'' 15 (2015): 30–37
online
* Ansart, Olivier. "Lust, Commerce and Corruption: An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard by an Edo Samurai". ''Asian Studies Review'' 39.3 (2015): 529–530.
* Benesch, Oleg. ''Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan'' (Oxford UP, 2014).
* Benesch, Oleg. "Comparing Warrior Traditions: How the Janissaries and Samurai Maintained Their Status and Privileges During Centuries of Peace." ''Comparative Civilizations Review'' 55.55 (2006): 6:37–5
Online
* Clements, Jonathan. ''A Brief History of the Samurai'' (Running Press, 2010)
*
* Cummins, Antony, and Mieko Koizumi. ''The Lost Samurai School'' (North Atlantic Books, 2016) 17th century Samurai textbook on combat; heavily illustrated.
* Hubbard, Ben. ''The Samurai Warrior: The Golden Age of Japan's Elite Warriors 1560–1615'' (Amber Books, 2015).
* Jaundrill, D. Colin. ''Samurai to Soldier: Remaking Military Service in Nineteenth-Century Japan'' (Cornell UP, 2016).
* Kinmonth, Earl H. ''Self-Made Man in Meiji Japanese Thought: From Samurai to Salary Man'' (1981) 385pp.
* Ogata, Ken. "End of the Samurai: A Study of Deinstitutionalization Processes". ''Academy of Management Proceedings'' Vol. 2015. No. 1.
*
* Thorne, Roland. ''Samurai films'' (Oldcastle Books, 2010).
* Turnbull, Stephen. ''The Samurai: A Military History'' (1996).
* Kure, Mitsuo. ''Samurai: an illustrated history'' (2014).
*
Historiography
* Howland, Douglas R. "Samurai status, class, and bureaucracy: A historiographical essay." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 60.2 (2001): 353–380.
online
External links
*
The Samurai Archives Japanese History page
Samurai Swords and Samurai Culture
History of the Samurai
– Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire
Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
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