Discover the Samurai

The Samurai is a hereditary military class of Japan. From circa 1000 AD the Samurai dominated Japan, though after circa 1600 their activities were less military than cultural. Comprising 5% of Japanese, they exerted influence through Bushido, a code which demanded feudal loyalty and placed honour above life. The Samurai class lost its power in the reforms of 1868.

Most samurai were bound by a strict code of honour and were expected to set an example for those below them. A disgraced samurai could regain honour and respect by committing suicide by a gruesome and painful means: stabbing himself in the stomach with his own sword, an act called seppuku. When time was available, samurai would have a friend or student, called a kaishaku, decapitate them after the initial cut across the abdomen. Even in death, samurai were beholden to honour.

In practice, there were disloyal samurai. Japanese history is filled with examples of samurai that were treacherous (e.g., Akechi Mitsuhide), cowardly, brave, or overly loyal (e.g., Kusunoki Masashige). Samurai were usually loyal to their immediate superiors, who in turn allied themselves with higher lords. These alliances to higher lords often shifted, however. For example, the feudal lords allied under Toyotomi Hideyoshi enjoyed the loyalty of their men; however, the feudal lords themselves might shift their backing to Tokugawa. This did not mean that the lower-ranked samurai were disloyal, though. It was that their allegiance was to their immediate superior.