samurai

The samurai (or bushi) were the members of the military class, the Japanese warriors.

Samurai employed a range of weapons such as bows and arrows, spears and guns; but their most famous weapon and their symbol was the sword.

Samurai were supposed to lead their lives according to the ethic code of bushido ("the way of the warrior"). Strongly Confucian in nature, Bushido stressed concepts such as loyalty to one's master, self discipline and respectful, ethical behavior.

The Origins of Japanese Samurai

The Japanese samurai warriors came into existence in the 12th century when two powerful Japanese clans fought bitter wars against each other - the Taira and the Minamato. At that time the Japanese shogunate, a system of a military ruler, called the shogun was formed. Under the shogun the next hierarchy were the daimyo, local rulers comparable to dukes in Europe. The Japanese samurai were the military retainers of a daimyo. And finally you may have heard of ronin. Ronin are samurai without a master. This is what happened to the 47 Ronin in the famous story of Chushingura after their lord was forced to commit suicide.

According to historians the fierce fights between hostile clans and war lords was mainly a battle for land. Only 20 percent of Japan's rugged and mountainous area can be used for agriculture.

Seppuku

Samurai Warrior in Full Armor by Yoshitoshi Taiso 1839-1892

Seppuku is a ritual suicide and considered as an honorable death. Seppuku was part of bushido. Hara-kiri means literally "stomach-cutting" and was the practised form of seppuku. When done outside a battle, it was performed in a formal ceremony. Spectators attended the event. The act was a painful one. The person doing hara-kiri had to slice up his abdomen. When finished he stretched out his neck. An assistant was waiting behind him and had to behead the suicide with one stroke of his sword.

Reasons for committing seppuku were connected to honor and disgrace. One occasion for committing seppuku was the death of the lord. It was an expression of grief at one's master's death and was the utmost form of loyalty to the lord. Other reasons were punishment. Seppuku could also be a way of showing a disagreement with one's master. A frequent reason for committing hara-kiri was in a lost battle to avoid the disgrace of falling into the hands of an enemy.

The ritual suicide was actually not supported by all high-ranking Japanese. In 1603 and again in 1663 the practise was largly forbidden. But it continued nevertheless.

The idea that an honorable death is better than a life of disgrace continues in modern Japan. Japan has the highest rate of suicides in the world. Japanese kill themselves for failing in business or for not passing an exam.

Decline and End of the Samurai History

Dancing Samurai by Sadahide Utagawa 1807-1873

During the Tokugawa shogunate from 1603 to 1867 (the Edo period) the country lived in peace. The samurai warrior class had basically nothing to do. Now they took other tasks, in the bureaucracy for instance.

In 1867 the last shogun resigned and the emperor was reinstalled as the formal leader of Japan. In 1871 the old feudal system and the privileges of the Japanese samurai class were officially abolished. The daimyo had to return the land to the emperor for which they received pensions by the Japanese state.

Historians estimate the percentage that belonged to the samurai class at 8 percent of the overall population of Japan. The abolishment of the samurai class caused severe social problems. Many samurai did not know how to make a living and survive. There were cases of samurai wives who sold themselves to brothels to support the family.