The Role Of The Samurai In The Tale Of Heike

Tokugawa shogunate, following the warring period of Japan, became the last era of samurai’s ruling and the final feudal military government. During this period, the statues of different class and groups began to slightly change, and also, the roles of samurais were different from the earlier periods including late Heian period, Kamaruka and Muromachi eras. In the Tale of Heike, the samurais emphasized the bravery and loyalty of samurais, showing us that samurais played important roles at that times, and how honorable being a samurai; on the contrary, Musui’s Story, the autobiography of a lower-ranking samurai in Tokugawa era named Katsu Kokichi, revealed that samurais did not really share high positions, and compared to the early samurais, they cared more about material things, being more aggressive which made them frequently got into fights. But Kokichi also exposed virtues that samurais still had, for example, being brave, warm-hearted, and reliable. I will show that the samurais and their values, such as honor, family-cherished, courage and appreciation of the culture, described in the literature like Tale of Heike could not be definitely true, and the samurais that were revealed by Kokichi in the autobiography, Musui’s Story, somehow reflected the real life of samurais during the …show more content…
This was because samurai first were used as warriors to defend the rich. Some samurai were relatives of the rich, some of whom were hired to work for them. However, either of them was extremely loyal to the masters, which sometimes could even be beyond anything. As time changed, samurais gradually started to fight for their owners, becoming the signatures of warriors and soldiers (bushi). There were many principals and rules that a samurai should obey, and Tale of Heike provided much information about that, showing a vivid image of samurai during the Genpei War at the last phase of Heian