INTRODUCTION For some seven hundred years from the twelfth to the nine teeth centuries warriors called samurai dominated the gov ernment of Japan Although the country also had emperors during this period real power was in the hands of the samurai The term samurai was originally used to denote aristocratic warriors bushi The word would later come to apply to all the members of the warrior class that rose to power in the twelfth cen tury and dominated the Japanese government for centuries after The first samurai protected the estates of Japanese aristocrats Gradually they gathered in or near the capital where they served both the military needs of the government against rebellions and also as bodyguards for the great noble houses The samurai grew increasingly powerful until in 1185 they gained military control of all Japan In 1192 a samurai warrior first took the title of shogun making the samurai the empire’s ruling class From then until 1868 the shoguns ruled Japan as a type of military government As all good warriors are the samurai were very disciplined They followed an unwritten code of conduct called Bushido which emphasized controlling one’s emotions and maintaining good moral character at all times Above all else the code valued loyal ty particularly with regard to the shogun whom the samurai had vowed to defend and protect In Japan traditionally a warrior’s training emphasized archery swordsmanship unarmed combat and swimming in armor Archers used a special type of bow known as yumi The samurai were perhaps best known for using a curved 6
Today they are mostly a symbol of days gone by but there was a time when the samurai were among the most powerful and respected members of Japanese society 7
SAMURAI 8 blade sword called a katana During unarmed fighting samurai warriors relied on their training in the martial arts which meant they engaged in hand-to-hand combat The word martial refers to something that is warlike or relates to soldiers Popular martial arts used in the heat of battle included kendo karate and jujitsu Known for their fighting strength and abilities the samurai as a class of people also had a softer side Influenced by the teachings of Zen Buddhism the samurai were responsible for certain classic Japanese cultural arts such as the tea ceremony and flower arrang ing Each of these customs relies heavily on discipline and order which are well-known traits of the samurai By the mid-nineteenth century lower-ranking samurai were eager for societal change and anxious to create a strong Japan in the face of encroachment by Western powers They took part in the movement that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868 The new government led by the emperor Meiji stripped the samurai of their privileged status Some samurai rose in rebellion but the revolts were suppressed The reign of the samurai had effectively ended
9 CHAPTER 1 TO BE A SAMURAI WARRIOR In ancient Japan an elaborate bureaucracy was established At the head of this bureau cracy was the emperor who acted as the head of state In theory all land belonged to the emperor Large landholdings were abolished some farmland was redistributed among the peasants The govern ment started collecting taxes on a regular basis However to encourage agricultural development the government did not make people pay taxes on newly cultivated land This practice actually stimulated the growth of Samurai warriors were skilled horsemen who could fight as well on horseback as they could with two feet on the ground
