Samurai

In 1336, the emperor lost his power, when a civil war broke out. He sent armies of samurais out to fight the war for him. When they returned he gave the title Shogun to the leader of the army, so that they would not over throw him as emperor. With this there began a new from of control, with multiple armies controlling smaller lands. During…

An Unexpected Endemic Disease: The Internal Modernity Crisis of Samurai in Modern Japan If a survey were conducted across the globe that asked participants to describe what they felt was the defining characteristic of Japanese culture, the Japanese samurai would most likely be the top response. In modern Japan, the legacy of the medieval samurai is at the heart of the Japanese culture. Depictions of samurai’s absolute loyalty, high regard for honor, and continual analysis of shame, can be…

Zoughari, Kacem. The Ninja: Ancient Shadow Warriors of Japan (The Secret History of Ninjutsu). 1 ed., Vermont, Tuttle Publishing, 2013, pp. 28-88. The Ninja: Ancient Shadow Warriors of Japan (The Secret History of Ninjutsu), is a book about the art of ninjitsu, including its various forms, how it is practiced and the history of ninjitsu. However, for doing research on historical ninja, its second and third chapters, “The Public Record of Ninjitsu”, and “The Private History of Ninjitsu,” proved…

“The Samurai is a term for the military nobility of pre-industrial and agrarian Japan. From the Samurai, the warrior class (known as “bushi”, hence “bushido”), one learns the art of being disciplined in growing or perfecting oneself. One learns to outthink, outmaneuver and out-win ones enemies or rivals (Low 183).” The Samurai class called for a life of duty and discipline both on and off the battlefield. The loyalty and bravery to the daimyo far surpassed friends and even family which played a…

They were all treated with much respect, except for the Ronin (Articles, 2014). The Shogun had the most power, and just below the Shoguns, were the Daimyos, and then the Samurais, and below the Samurais were the Ronin. They all had different amounts of power, and different degrees of respect given to each (Feudal Japan, 2014). Shogun – The Shogun was a political and military leader, and the most powerful of the system throughout the…

the way they battle, and ways to gain and overpower the government and their ruler. While seeing how the era for Samurai and knights had some common interest, but also not even some common interest. Samurai’s were Japanese warriors that were known for their skills and fashion style. In the eighth century c.e., Samurai made their first appearance in Japan. C.E. stands for common era or current era.…

conduct in social life to appropriate conduct of the government. (Tipton 5) Furthermore, it rationalized that in order to have peace in the society, everyone has to commit to his responsibilities. (Tipton 5) This rationalized the fact that since the samurais have to be obliged to become a civilized bureaucratic in order to have peace in the…

In previous centuries Japan was ruled by the emperor and his imperial court, but during the late twelfth century the court began to lose their power to that of clans. Minamoto no Yoritomo, the leader of his clan and victor of the Genpei War, decided to locate his capital in Kamakura, while governing the sharing power of Japan with the Emperor Go-Toba, who gave him the title shogun, which resided in Kyoto. Thus, establishing the first warrior government with a new notion, as stated by Jeffrey P…

Tokugawa family in social class ranking. Normally, a family with full samurai protection would not worry about a bunch of rich proprietors, but in the case of the daimyos, they were much more than just aristocrats. The daimyos were very close with Europeans, and that meant that they were close to having the European military technology . Guns and other powerful projectile weapons could prove troublesome for sword wielding samurais. In order for the Tokugawa family to stay in power, they had to…

During the Meiji Restoration era, Japan underwent many political, social and economic changes. These changes were truly revolutionary and occurred throughout the decade following the year 1868. These changes occurred in the same time period as many other countries all over the world. However, in Japan’s case, rather the commoners taking power from the monarchy, aristocracy was the one that initiated the changes which led to this time period in Japan being called “aristocratic revolution” (Grant…