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 Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:23 pm
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 abattle for land. Only 20% of Japan's rugged and mountainous area can be used for agriculture.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:28 pm
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.
After a defeat, some samurai chose to commit ritual suicide (seppuku) by cutting their abdomen rather than being captured or dying a dishonorable death.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:28 pm
Heian Period (794-1185)
The samurai's importance and influence grew during the Heian Period, when powerful landowners hired private warriors for the protection of their properties. Towards the end of the Heian Period, two military clans, the Minamoto and Taira, had grown so powerful that they seized control over the country and fought wars for supremacy against each other.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:29 pm
Kamakura Period (1192-1333)
In 1185, the Minamoto defeated the Taira, and Minamoto Yoritomo established a new military government in Kamakura in 1192. As shogun, the highest military officer, he became the ruler of Japan.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:30 pm
Muromachi Period (1333 - 1573)
During the chaotic Era of Warring States (sengoku jidai, 1467-1573), Japan consisted of dozens of independent states which were constantly fighting each other. Consequently, the demand for samurai was very high. Between the wars, many samurai were working on farms. Many of the famous samurai movies by Kurosawa take place during this era.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:31 pm
Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573 - 1603)
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi reunited Japan, he started to introduce a rigid social caste system which was later completed by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors. Hideyoshi forced all samurai to decide between a life on the farm and a warrior life in castle towns. Furthermore, he forbade anyone but the samurai to arm themselves with a sword.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:33 pm
Edo Period (1603 - 186 cool
According to the Edo Period's official hierarchy of social castes, the samurai stood at the top, followed by the farmers, artisans and merchants. Furthermore, there were hierarchies within each caste. All samurai were forced to live in castle towns and received income from their lords in form of rice. Masterless samurai were called ronin and caused minor troubles during the early Edo Period.
With the fall of Osaka Castle in 1615, the Tokugawa's last potential rival was eliminated, and relative peace prevailed in Japan for about 250 years. As a result, the importance of martial skills declined, and most samurai became bureaucrats, teachers or artists.
In 1868, Japan's feudal era came to an end, and the samurai class was abolished.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:36 pm
Attributes and Privileges
Samurai warriors had several privileges. They were allowed to wear two swords - a long one and a short one. Commoners were not allowed to wear any weapons at all. At a certain period samurai warriors were even allowed to behead a commoner who had offended them.
The Japanese samurai caste itself had different ranks with different privileges. A basic ranking system from the twelfth century distinguished three major ranks:
* kenin - meaning "housemen". They were the administrators or vassals.
* mounted samurai - Only high-ranking samurai warriors were allowed to fight on horse-back.
* foot soldiers
During the end of the 15th century, the Ashikaga shogunate had lost control over the country. Powerful feudal lords had ravaged Japan in a series of civil wars lasting for roughly 100 years. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi could finally unify Japan, he introduced a series of reforms thus changing the life of the samurai class. He made the samurai live permanently in castles. Until then they were farming their own land during peacetime. It was like the change from an army of draftees to an army of professionals. To finance the system, Toyotomi Hideyoshi introduced a rice taxation system under which every samurai warrior received a certain amount of rice depending on his rank.
The samurai warriors had an ethic code of behavior called bushido, meaning "way of the warrior". The central point of the bushido was complete loyalty towards the lord, the daimyo.
Belonging to the Japanese samurai class was a hereditary membership.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:37 pm
Seppuku
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.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:39 pm
Decline and End of the Samurai History
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.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:40 pm
The Satsuma Rebellion 1876-1877
But Samurai history had not yet ended. Many samurai were desperate with their situation and the loss of their former status. They gathered under Takamori Saigo, a samurai and statesman who had worked for the local clan leader of Satsuma in the southern region on the island of Kyushu. Saigo had served the new Meiji government well in leading positions and had carried many of the Meiji reforms. But after several years he became dissatisfied with the directions the Meiji government took. Major issues of disagreement were the far-reaching measures to abolish the old samurai privileges and the refusal to invade and occupy Korea as proposed by Saigo Takamori. He quit and gathered around his Kyushu residence an army of samurai warriors hostile towards the central imperial government.
In 1877 it came to open military conflicts. The rebels were lead by Saigo Takamori. It was a clash of brave fighters equipped with inferior weapons against a modern army with Western technology and trained in modern Western warfare. 60,000 government troops faced 20,000 rebels. After several lost battles Saigo and 300 die-hard samurai had retreated to the hills of Shiroyama near their hometown of Kagoshima. Exhausted and without ammunition and food, the last samurai knew that they had no chance. In the morning hours of September 24, 1877 the artillery shelling by the government forces began. Saigo Takamori was wounded and committed suicide in samurai tradition - the last samurai beheaded each other.
Saigo Takamori became a hero for the Japanese. The victorious government made a clever move many years later. They pardoned Saigo posthumously and honored him as a national hero.
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:28 pm
your welcome for translating! blaugh
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:20 am
Wow.....you must have studied a lot.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:00 am
wow... this is really interesting
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:26 pm
my username says it all, my brother/cousin (what ever is less awkward)
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