Samurai

The samurai have been extolled throughout history as brave warriors, and the code of
morals they lived their life by has been glorified in books, movies and Japanese stories. 
People of modern Japan still exemplify the traits which are so often associated with
samurai.  I’m going to give a brief history of these warriors and discuss the characteristics
they are identified with today.

The samurai class existed as a power from the end of the 12th century through more
than half of the 19th century.¹ The samurai’s importance in society grew earlier than that,
during the Heian period, when the upper-class began enlisting the services of samurai to
protect their vast estates.  This means of making a living earned the samurai their name. 
Originally called bushi, appropriately enough these estate guards eventually became
known as samurai.² The word “samurai” derives from the verb saburau meaning “to
gaurd.” 

Many people have paralleled samurai to the medieval knights of Europe.  As knights
pledged fealty to their king, so the samurai gave their services to the Emperor of Japan. 
Although answering ultimately to the Emperor, the samurai were not next in the chain of
command.  The samurai served under a Daimyo, who in turn answered to the Shogunate.

Numerous clans of samurai existed.  Over the course of the Heian period (794-1185)
two of these clans, the Minamoto and Taira, became most powerful and took over Japan,
fighting several wars between themselves.  The Minamoto emerged victorious in 1185
and established a new government where the Emperor served as a figurehead and
ultimate power lay with the shogun.  

The samurai rose to fame (or infamy in some cases) during Japan’s Era of Warring
States, the sengoku no jidai.  Many of the stories about samurai, such as Kurosawa’s
movies, and even some anime, are set in this period.  The sengoku jidai, lasting over a
hundred years, was rife with battles between the different samurai clans.  Clans would
form alliances with each other, break them, then make new alliances.  Many aspects that
today are associated with samurai were begun or improved in this period.  Japanese
sword-making became an important art, exemplified by Miyamoto Musashi.  The laws of
bushido became the dictator of how a samurai should live and die.