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WEll I have been making a series of stories Entitled "Tales of..." and I have made one just recently about Samurai, and feudal japan.
I know It's not realy Anime, and Kaciyome has already okay'd it, but would anyone like to Join?

I thought this would be helpful.
History of Samurai:
Iron helmet and armour with gilt bronze decoration, Kofun era, 5th century. Tokyo National Museum. Before the Heian period the army in Japan was modeled after the Chinese army and was under the direct command of the emperor. With the exception of slaves, every able-bodied man had to enlist in the army. These men had to supply themselves, and many gave up returning and settled down on their way home. This was treated as a part of taxation and it could be substituted with other forms of tax such as bolts of cloth. These men were called Sakimori ("defenders"), but they are not related to samurai.

In the early Heian period, the late 8th and early 9th centuries, Emperor Kammu sought to consolidate and expand his rule in northern Honshu. but the armies he sent to conquer the rebellious Emishi lacked motivation and discipline and were unable to prevail. Emporer Kammu introduced the title of Seiitaishogun or shogun and began to rely on the powerful regional clans to conquer the Emishi. Skilled in mounted combat and archery (kyudo), these clan warriors became the emperor's preferred tool for putting down rebellions. Even though they may have been educated, the Imperial court officials considered 7th to 9th century warriors to be crude and barbaric.

During the Heian period, the emperor's army was disbanded and the emperor's power gradually declined. While the emperor was still the ruler, powerful clans around Kyoto assumed positions as ministers and their relatives bought positions as magistrates to collect taxes. To repay their debts and amass wealth they often imposed heavy taxes and many farmers were forced to leave their lands. Regional clans grew powerful by offering lower taxes to their subjects as well as freedom from conscription. These clans armed themselves to repel other clans and magistrates from collecting taxes and they eventually formed themselves into armed parties and become samurai.

The samurai came from guards of the imperial palace and from private guards that the clans employed and acted as a police force in and around Kyoto. These forerunners of what we now know as samurai had ruler-sponsored equipment and were required to hone their martial skills. They were saburai, servants, yet their advantage of being the sole armed party increasingly became apparent. By promising protection and gaining political clout through political marriages they amassed power, eventually surpassing the ruling aristocrats.

Some clans were originally farmers that had been driven to arms to protect themselves from the imperially appointed magistrates sent to govern their lands and collect taxes. These clans formed alliances to protect themselves against more powerful clans and by the mid-Heian period, they had adopted Japanese-style armor and weapons and laid the foundation of bushido, their famous ethical code.

"Friends and foes alike wet their sleeves with tears and said, "What a pity! Tadanori was a great general, pre-eminent in the arts of both sword and poetry."
Education:

A samurai was expected to read and write, as well as to know some mathematics. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a great samurai yet originally a peasant, could only read and write in hiragana and this was a significant drawback for him. Samurai were expected, though not required, to have interests in other arts such as dancing, Go, literature, poetry, and tea. Ota Dokan who first ruled Edo wrote how he was shamed to realize that even a commoner had more knowledge of poetry than he, and this made him study harder

Lifestyles:

Samurai culture ranged from a spartan, Zen Buddhism influenced, culture to an extravagant Kano-style culture. Most samurai lived simply, not due to preference, but necessity. As commerce developed in the Edo period samurai who were supplied with rice as wages were faced with inflating prices of common goods, forcing some samurai to do crafts or farm to make ends meet. However, these poor samurai still found the money and time to teach their children to value education. By the middle of the period samurai had to be ordered to practice their martial art skills. There were stories of samurai being threatened and forced to run away against well muscled workers and some were even beaten in fights. As samurai were specialists in fighting, out of shame these troubles were never reported but were still documented. Those samurai that were wealthy were masters over farmers, artisans and merchants

Weapons:

The samurai used various weapons, but the katana is the weapon that is synonymous with samurai. Bushido taught that a samurai's soul is in their katana and sometimes a samurai is pictured as entirely dependent on the katana for fighting. The katana was a symbol of being a samurai and in that role was of much greater importance than the katana as a weapon. This contrasted with the crossbows of Europe or the swords of knights which were, principally, weapons for combat.

Upon reaching the age of thirteen, in a ceremony called Genpuku, a male child was given a wakizashi, an adult name and became a samurai. This also gave him the right to wear a katana though it was usually sealed to prevent its accidental drawing. A katana and a wakizashi together are called a daisho ("big and small").

The wakizashi itself was a samurai's "honour blade" and purportedly never left the samurai's side. He would sleep with it under his pillow and it would be taken with him when he entered a house and had to leave his main weapons outside.

The Tanto was a small dagger sometimes worn in place of the Wakizashi in a daisho. The tanto was used to commit seppuku.

The samurai's weapon of choice was the yumi (bow) and it was unchanged for centuries until the introduction of gunpowder and the rifle in the 16th century. The Japanese style compound bow was not as powerful as the Eurasian reflex composite bow, having an effective range of 50 metres or less (100 metres if accuracy was not an issue). It was usually used on foot behind a tedate, a large and mobile bamboo wall, but it could also be used from horseback. The practice of shooting from horseback became a Shinto ceremony of Yabusame.

In the 15th century, the yari (spear) also became a popular weapon, displacing the naginata from the battlefield as personal bravery became less of a factor and battles became more organized. A charge, mounted or dismounted, was more effective when using a spear than a katana and it offered better than even odds against a samurai using a tachi, a katana adapted for mounted combat. In the Battle of Shizugatake where Shibata Katsuie was defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, then known as Hashiba Hideyoshi, the Seven Spearmen of Shizugatake played a crucial role in the victory.

One of the biggest controversies surrounding the weapons of the samurai is whether samurai ever charged on horseback. Horses of that time, although strong, were smaller and it was questionable how well they would perform carrying a heavily armored samurai. A traditional belief held that samurai mainly fought on horseback acting as heavy cavalry and charged through hapless foot soldiers. It is currently believed that samurai mainly fought on foot and used horses for transportation and only occasionally charged on disarrayed and retreating enemies. The Battle of Nagashino was one such battle where samurai supposedly charged on horseback.

After the matchlock rifle was introduced from Europe, samurai started practicing with that weapon. It became the favored weapon of some samurai for sniping on the battle field as samurai were rewarded for every enemy he took down himself, though commanding was an important aspect of a samurai's warrior abilities. Conscripted soldiers also used matchlock rifles, but rather than sniping, fired in volleys to break up enemy ranks. Toward the end of the feudal period, some samurai organized dragoons as part of their troops and some were reportedly used in the Battle of Sekigahara and later battles.

Some samurai went unarmed onto the battle fields, apart from their katana (for example Takeda Shingen). This did not mean that they fought using their katana, but rather they focused on commanding and were confident that they could trust those they commanded for protection. In the Battle of Kawanakajima, Shingen was almost killed when a plan went wrong and troops of Uesugi Kenshin charged Shingen's lines. Shingen's troops were unaware that his entrapment plan had been detected and with only half of his troops and completely surprised, Shingen himself had to defend his life with the wooden stick that he used to order attacks. The rest of his soldiers barely returned in time to save Shingen and the rest of his force from being completely wiped out. Legend says that it was Uesugi Kenshin who personally rode up and attacked Takeda Shingen with his sword.

Some other weapons used by samurai were jo, bo, grenade, catapult and cannon. In battles during the Meiji restoration, more modern weapons such as the Gatling gun and rifles were used.

Profiles

Name: Tachiko Sasuke (( emo Pandas are [super cute ))
Age: 17
Gender Unknown
Race Uknown
Religion: none
Class: Samurai, Information station, assassin
Likes: Dressing up, Disguises, Wearing make-up, Fighting, Snow, writing Poetry, Gathering Informtion.
Dislikes: Fat men, Men who mistake him for a girl/geisha, False information, bad poets, Hot days, boreing cities.
History: Tachiko has an interesting History, Because He's known as so many people he can never be notice walking around regularly. So people always try to find him for jobs, although he's not very good at assassination attempts. He loves to hear about people trying to find him for info, escpecialy when They have no idea Their talking straight to him.
Bio: A very Feminine Boy, He trys his best to play both sexs. ALthought he's usally seen as a woman.
When Tachiko was only a little boy he was dragged away by a strong current, durring a flood in his small Village near a river that flooded.
He wasn't found untill Several hours later, bearly alive. He, older is very Frightened of water. even the smallest of ponds open a fear deep inside him.
His many Disguises:
Suziko Takahashi
Kaze-no-Maru

______________________

Name: Memaruko Takanashiro (( Zahth ))
[pictures: 1, 2, 3 <---Zomg he shaved in this one scream ]
Age: 27

Gender: Male

Race: Japanese

Religion: None

Class: Ronin {or so he claims though he has no papers}

Likes: Women, sake, swords, himself, sparring/fighting, oddly enoguh reading any book he can get his hands on.

Dislikes: Pointless chatter, side-talking politicians, loopholes.

Bio:
His mannerism seems almost harsh in comparison to the politeness of many in the capital states of Japan. His skills in combat are a mix of swordsmanship and martial arts, making him something of an oddity to see in battle. His fighting style appears more of a berserk dance, throwing his life away with every swing, yet clinging to those same threads with his every duck and dodge. He sports a set of finely crafted blades which he claims came from his father, a great war-hero.
__________________________
Name: Senzobu Nobuna (( Kaciyome ))
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Race: Japanese
Religion: None
Class:Ninja
Likes:Strawberries, rice, flowers, Styling hair, and training.
Dislikes: Smelly men, dry rice, blue flowers, hair ornaments, And scars.
Bio: A ninja from the Nobuna-Kaze clan, Senzobu has proved her self as a true assassin and has been assigned to an important mission Seeking a certain man who is rather more known as a Demon.
Senzobu is known As "The Shadow Of the North's Cage."

___________
Name:Kenshin Outset (( CHaos_bunny ))
Alt 1 Uses this appearance when he likes to freak people out

Age: 29

Gender: Male

Race: Demon

Religion: Kenshin doesn't really have a "set" religion. The codes he follow are similar to the way of the samurai, but not totally. He has no value for life, but death is highly valued. He sees people as currupt and not to be trusted.

Class: Samurai/Assassin

Likes: Being left alone, killing things, having a good fight, pissing people off, darkness.

Dislikes: Everything, especially: People, cute things, kids, cats, onions,leeks,carrots.

History:

Kenshin wasn't always an assassin...Only because before he was he was too young to even hold a sword. He was about five when he first killed someone. That someone was actually a large group of shinobi. They killed the woman who called herself Kenshin's "mother". When they did that something inside of him woke up, and he grabbed his mothers sword. The shinobi had been ordered to kill the mother, and ignore the kid, they couldn't kill him. This was why he managed to kill them all. When Kenshin was about six he found the man who hired the shinobi. At first he wanted to kill the man, but then decided to work for him.

Kenshin was adopted into a family of samuari. His mother's swordsmenship was the best. He never knew his father and had no siblings. After having his only family killed Kenshin went into training. Not on purpose though, he was only trying to find the man who hired the shinobi. It took about a year. The man told him the truth about what had happend, and offered to train Kenshin to be the best killer. Kenshin did not know why he was chosen, but he had liked the feeling that came when he had killed, and he wanted to be the best.

Bio: Kenshin is super anti-social. He hates everyone he meets before he even meets them. When he does meet new people he makes sure they know that he doesn't like that. He is always insulting people and looking for ways to harm them emotionally.
------------------

Name Gin-"Silver" (( CHaos_bunny ))

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Religion: -

Class: Knight (-This class doesn't really fit for this roleplay but it was more of the ideas for what knights stand for, fighting evil, saving girls, that type of thing, can also be called he-who-is-most-annoying-and-wants-to-save-the-world)

Likes: People, helping others, smiling, animals, sweet smells

Dislikes: killing, night, darkness, dogs (deathly afraid of them), spiders

History: Gin never really knew his family. He grew up as an orphan in an Inn. The Innkeeper's treated him like their son, and he wanted to repay their kindness somehow. However, their time was cut short and he could not repay their kindness. The Inn was burned to the ground, and along with it, the people inside of it. Gin had been lucky, he had gotten lost and had a hard time getting home. When he made it, there was no home.

Ever since then Gin had trained in various fighting techniques. He vowed that since he couldn't repay that kindness, he would be kind to everyone he met. He would spread the family's kindness. Within him however, is a desire to hunt down the killer of his family. Someone had targeted that Inn and set it on fire.

Bio: Gin is very happy-go-lucky, but he has some serious issues. He is very good at getting into fights, and losing. Somehow he never dies, this seems to show that he has really good luck. He will do pretty much anything to help out someone, and thus, becomes a doormat. He seems to be unable to say no when someone asks him to help them with something.

{{ok I'm confused, you just made this whole massive post about he back story of the samurai, but I'm not clear what the current time period of this thing is. I vote the Warring states Period also know as the Sengoku era. Since it has some of the most famous points in Japanese history surrounding it.}}

The snow fell Gently In the night Bearly cold, But very pleasant for snow.
Tachiko Ran down a narrow alley from twellve gaurds behind him.
He jumped to a Roof top and raised himself atop it. Then running across it dropping downing running trought through the courtyard below.
Damn Gaurds just aren't what they use to, their faster. Tachiko thought rearing a corner running into the back of a squad.
he haulted to a stop making a few spears leaning against the Wall fall over.
"Shoot." He turned and runed around the same corner once again this time jumping and lifting himself atop the courtyard fence.
He peeked over staring as he saw The men rushing past him.
"They've seem ever more clever, also." Tachiko Walked casually crouching down hopeing not to be seen making his way To an openig he had made to the maid's Quarters.

He entered the quarters and perpared his make-up, and his new identity.
For the time being and for the night he'd be a geisha.
His mission: Acquire information on the whereabouts of a Samurai Of a high class a high Ranking to fight.
Identity: Fuin Takara.
Looks very much like Tachiko but Has make-up on and Geisha hair, With a distinct Golden ornament of a crane that holds the back of his Hair up The carnes eye has a jade jewel.

Stepping past The room Tachiko peeked in noticing the man.
He thought the man must of been alone and waiting for a geisha to join him. perfect time to obtain Information.
"Excuse me" He said in a womanly voice, sounding more like a woman of about 30 then his actual age.
He tilted his head and Examined the man.
"Are you occupied?"

Tachiko Sat down bowing his head. He only knew the act of a Geisha by watching them. He knew He'd have to work much better with his act then He usually did, in otherwords: He needed to get the man Drunk, Fast.
"would you like some Sake?"Tachiko Readied The pot but the man rejected with a simple, yet rude, hand jester.
Tachiko's attention soon left the man sitting near him, and was redirected to a conversation, a man and a Girl.
The man Scruff as could be, Tachiko Took a more clearer look As He heard The woman let out a scream.
He jumped from Where he was seated and Bursted the door open to the Man's room.
"Whats going on in here?" Tachiko noticed Three men on the floor blood scattered everywhere, And the man Tachiko had been Targeting missing.
Damn The woman Rushed Pass Tachiko, leaving the room.
He noticed the side window had been broken into.
"Oh so we have a Intruder do we?" Tachiko felt a hard Tug at his shoulder and In One Sweep:
Tachiko Opened up his kimono Revealing a diffrent Kimono underneith, and his sword. He unsheathed it and turned around Converting to A defensive stance.
The Man fell as Tachiko turned around.

Another Geisha Saw the incident and Rushed for the gaurds.
"Damn it." Tachiko Raced for the same escape route his target had left through, To the roof.
All the gaisha entered in to their Respected rooms and informed Their Patron's "no one was leaving for a short-time"

Memaroku heard the ruckus and made peaked his head out into the central hallway of the inn to see what was going on. He saw a few guards rush by one way or another until a pair skidded to a halt and turned pointing at him.

"Hey you, your the that took my........." The man started to shout but Takanashiro cut him off by slamming the door to his room and made for the window.

He heard whistles blowing and the door behind him was cut down as he hooked his fingers on the top of the frame. With a tuck and a pull upward he flipped up to the roof-top. As his feet hit the tiles he managed to catch a man stumbled toward him, the man shook him off and kept runnning for a moment before turning back and shouting about a demon. The ronin turned his head to the direction the man had come and spotted a thin form turning back toward them, an assassin's mask pulled over their face. He took not of a couple of guard climbing up the top of the roof behind the shadowed, figure. He also took not of the protests and shouting below as people seemed to start moving from all side below.

"Out of the pot....." He pulled free his blade and held it low, "......into the fire."

He took a step forward but changed his course quickly and caught the stumbling man. In an instant he was behind the man, Memaroku's shaped blade pressed lightly against the man's skin.

"Please, Please don't." He the man begged.

"Sorry my friend, but I think you might be my only way out of here." Memaroku explained queitly into the man's ear.