Shogun Assassin

During the Edo period in Japan, society was divided into 4 major classes consisting of Samurai, Farmer, Artisan and Merchant. There was the ideal version of social organization that we preferred by the Tokugawa Government however this format did not really match the reality of Edo period life. In the article, Tokugawa Period/Edo Period: Economy and Society, it says that, “the merchant class, officially at the bottom of the Tokugawa social structure, benefited greatly from the period’s economic…

A powerful noble from a warrior clan named Minamoto Yoritomo defeated several rivals and set up his power base on the Kamakura. To strengthen the state, he created a more centralized government under a powerful military leader known as the shogun. The shogun attempted to increase the powers of the central government while reducing rival aristocratic clans to vassals’ status. The shogunate system served as the political system in Japan until the second half of the nineteenth century. The system…

A major part of the history of Japan are the Samurai warriors. Samurai were Japanese warriors who were honored for their skills as a warrior and their distinct influence on Japanese fashion. One thing that was important to the Samurai were The Seven Virtues. The Seven Virtues of Bushido are: Justice, Courage, Benevolence or Mercy, Compassion, Honesty, Honor or Dignity, and Loyalty. The Virtues are important because it embodies a daily code of living for the Samurai. To become a Samurai, a…

lives as part of the peasant class. This time period was marked by “the powerful southwestern tozama domains of Chōshū and Satsuma exerted the greatest pressure on the Tokugawa government and brought about the overthrow of the last shogun.” (Encyclopedia Brittanica) A shogun was a military ruler. The government structure was “required the domainal lords, or Daimyo, to maintain households in the Tokugawa administrative capital of Edo.”(Encyclopedia Brittanica) The story of Momotaro is a folktale,…

Ray Bradbury wrote a short story called the “Small Assassin”. It is about a baby who has ill intentions towards the people around him. The “Small Assassin” was then created into TV Show adaptation on the Ray Bradbury Theater .Even though the short story and the TV Show adaptation were both written by Ray Bradbury, the “Small Assassin” shows different points. There is more mystery written in The Small Assassin and you have more empathy towards the characters. In spite that fact, the plot is…

The Blind Assassin is a layered, multi genre story created by Margaret Atwood set in Port Ticonderoga, Canada throughout the 20th century. The two main characters are Iris and Laura Chase, the daughter of a rich war veteran who owns a button factory. The story itself is broken up into four subplots, all from the point of view of Iris, the eldest sister. The outermost story is of 80 year old Iris, her daily life, as she tells the second story of her family’s past, which hit on many of Atwood’s…

Date: 1526 the Ming dynasty starts to crumble. Shao Jun, the last remaining Assassin of the Chinese Brotherhood, returning to her homeland with a vendetta of new assassins to join the new creed. This is how she took over the Ming dynasty and avenged her old creed... I run across the building and jump off the ledge into a haystack. A Shogun guard shouts "She's over there!" I whistle and my assassin's jump down from a building and kill the remaining guards with their hidden knifes in their sleeves…

civilizations in a series known as the asian saga. In his masterworks, James Clavell showed the conflicts and resolutions in western and eastern civilizations to the betterment of the world as seen through the novels Shogun, Tai-panpan, and Gai-Jin. The first book in the asian saga is Shogun also known as the Book of Japan, published in 1975. Starts off around the year 1600 with Europe just starting to explore Asia and other far off lands in exchange for power and wealth. “Beginning…

The History of Ninja and Samurai The history of Ninja and Samurai can be similar but can also be very different. Today when we think of ninja we think of a stealthy figure dressed in black or assassins or a mutant turtle. Samurai are ancient warriors who served their Japanese or Chinese lords or masters. Their services would include protection of the lord and his family but more importantly they were always prepared to fight in a war to defend what was ever asked of them. So some of these…