Bushido: The Samurai Warrior Cult

In eleventh century Japan the Samurai, or proud warrior class came into being when groups of mercenaries who were hired by various feudal landowners combined to take control of Japan’s main island, Honsu.

The word Samuai means ‘those who serve’ and these warriors lived by the sword and worshipped bravery, althletic prowess and martial arts skills. They were fiercely loyal to their masters and made fearsome and highly skilled opponents. They wore very elaborate armour and carried huge double-edged swords with which they were more than capable of cutting a man clean in half.

Source:  Wikipedia.org

In the early 1300’s, Samurai Kusunoki killed himself rather than surrendering to his Emperor’s enemies and became a Japanese folk hero. He could not live with the shame of failing to defend the Emperor, Daigo II from the shogun rebels. So, the cult of hara-kiri was born. Death before dishonour was a custom among the Samurai and later extended to members of the Japanese imperial army who ritually killed themselves with a knife in the stomach rather than facing capture, or dishonour.

Zen Buddhism started to have an effect on the Samurai and its love of nature softened their thirst for blood. It soon became common for them to live quite frugal lives and during the Kamakura era (1192-1333) after the ruling Minamoto family moved to the city of Kamakura, Confucian thought, with its emphasis on loyalty, bravery and honesty, influenced the Samurai in a big way.

By the end of the 1500’s these things had amalgamated and Bushido, the way of the warrior, came into being. A Samuai’s first loyalty was to the Sumurai lord and to perfecting his own skill with the sword, but the Samurai warriors became a kind of Japanese version of the Christian Knights as they fought for duty, honour, and nobility of spirit.

In 1871, the last 400,000 Samurai were pensioned off and became known as ‘Shizoku’, Japanese gentry. Many were given positions in the civil service, or in the business world and within five years it was illegal for anyone who did not belong to the military to carry a sword.

The ideals of the Samurai were, however, kept as a standard for the nation to follow. The Emperor was the head and the ultimate object of loyalty, and this adherance to the way of the warrior was the main element that turned Japanese nationalism into such a strong united force.