Although samurai no longer exist in modern times, Japanese samurai armor and teachings are still alive today in the martial art of kendo. The term samurai roughly translates to “those who serve in close attendance to the nobility”, and refer to the warrior class of pre-industrial Japan. Samurai are followers of Bushido or “Way of the the Samurai Warrior”. They have always felt that their way was one of honor, with emphasis on duty to one’s master and loyalty until the end.
Kamakura period (1185-1333)
Japanese samurai were initially employed by the emperor and aristocracy. Eventually, adequate manpower, resources and political support allowed them to establish the first government led by samurai.
Samurai became a force in the politics of the court due to their increasing economic and military strength. In the Genpei War (1180-1185), the rival Taira and Minamoto clans clashed. Minamoto no Yoritomo was able to overthrow the Taira clan, and he established the dominance of the samurai over the aristocracy. In 1192 he became the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate.
Later, authoritative samurai clans became buke (warrior nobility) who were only under the court aristocracy nominally. Samurai began to take up aristocratic hobbies such as calligraphy, poetry and music, and some court nobles began to adopt samurai practices. Despite short periods of governance by emperors, true power now belonged to the shogun and samurai.
During the 13th century, Zen Buddhism helped shape the samurai’s criteria of conduct, specifically overcoming the fear of death and killing. But in general, Pure Land Buddhism was preferred.
Muromachi/Ashikaga period (1336-1573)
Primogeniture became common, as opposed to the division of succession assigned by law prior to the 14th century. Issues of inheritance caused family conflict. To avoid internal strife, invasions of adjacent samurai territories became widespread and bickering among samurai was common during the Kamakura and Ashikaga eras.
In the 14th century, Masamune, Japan’s greatest swordsmith, developed a two-layer construction of soft and hard steel for swords, which greatly enhanced endurance and cutting power. As a result, Japanese samurai swords became recognized as some of the most effective hand weapons of pre-industrial East Asia.
During the Sengoku jidai or Warring States period (1467-1573), samurai culture became lax as individuals from other social classes sometimes made names for themselves as warriors and therefore became de facto samurai. Bushido played an important role in controlling and preserving public order in this time.
Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1603)
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a daimyo who became a grand minister in 1586, created a law that made the samurai caste become codified as hereditary and permanent. He also banned farmers from owning weapons to prevent peasant revolts. Confiscated swords were melted down to make a statue of the Buddha.
It must be noted that during the 16th century, the distinction between samurai and non-samurai was so unclear that most male adults in any social class belonged to at least one military association of their own and served in wars before and during Hideyoshi’s rule.
After the 17th century, the official Japanese samurai families were those that supported the daimyo Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. There were conflicts between the changes in regimes, and several defeated samurai were obliterated, became ronin, or were absorbed into the general public.
Edo/Tokugawa period (1603-1868)
More and more samurai of the Edo or Tokugawa period became noblemen, civil servants, and administrators instead of japanese samurai warriors. Since there were no wars beginning in the early 17th century, samurai slowly lost their military role.
By the end of the era, samurai were bureaucrats for the daimyo. Their daisho became more of symbols of power rather than weapons. They retained their legal right to execute commoners who disrespected them, though the extent of this right is unclear. Unemployed ronin became a public problem when the central government forced daimyo to reduce the size of their armies.
Beginning in 1854, the samurai army and the navy underwent modernization. The Nagasaki Naval Training Center was established the following year, and for many years, naval students were sent to study in western naval schools. At the end of the Tokugawa period, the navy of the shogun already had eight western style steam warships.
The final showing of the original Japanese samurai was in the year 1867 when samurai from the provinces of Choshu and Satsuma defeated the shogunate in favor of the emperor’s reign during the Boshin War.
Meiji period (1868-1912) and onward
In 1873, Emperor Meiji abolished the samurai’s right to be the only armed force for a more modern, western style, conscripted army. Samurai became shizoku and kept some of their salaries. However, their right to execute commoners who did not pay them proper respect and their right to wear daisho in public were taken away.
The Meiji reforms in the late 19th century brought about the abolishment of the samurai class and the establishment of a western style national army. While the Imperial Japanese Armies were conscripted, several samurai volunteered to be soldiers, and others became officers. Many of the officers in the Imperial Army were of samurai origin, and they were greatly motivated, much disciplined and well trained.
A lot of the first exchange students were Japanese samurai, not because they were samurai, but because several samurai were educated and knowledgeable. Many samurai became writers and reporters, establishing newspaper companies, while others went into governmental service. Only the name shizoku existed after that, and following Japan’s loss in World War II, it disappeared under the law on January 1, 1948.
