Word Origins

The term Samurai is of Chinese origin and translates in both Chinese and Japanese as "those who serve in close attendance to nobility". In Japanese, it was originally pronounced in the pre-Heian period as saburau and later to saburai. In Japanese literature, there is an early reference to samurai in the Kokinshu:

Attendant to your nobility
Ask for your master's umbrella
The dews 'neath the trees of Miyagino
Are thicker than rain
(poem 1091)

The word bushi literally "warrior or armsman") first appears in a early history of Japan called Shoku Nihongi. In a portion of the book covering the year 723 A.D., Shoku Nihongi states: "Literary men and Warriors are they whom the nation values". The term bushi is of Chinese origin and adds to the indigenous Japanese words for warrior: Tsuwamono and Mononofu. The terms bushi and samurai became synonymous near the end of the 12th century, according to William Scott Wilson in his book Ideals of the Samurai--Writings of Japanese Warriors. Wilson's book thoroughly explores the origins of the word warrior in Japanese history as well as the Kanji (Chinese symbols) used to represent the word. Wilson states that Bushi actually translates as "a man who has the ability to keep the peace, either by literary or military means, but predominantly by the latter".

It was not until the early modern period, namely the Azuchi-Momoyama period and early Edo period of the late 16th and early 17th centuries that the word saburai became replaced with samurai. However, the meaning had changed long before.

During the era of the rule of the samurai, the earlier term yumitori ("bowman") was also used as an honorary title of an accomplished warrior even when swordsmanship had become more important. Japanese archery (kyujutsu), is still strongly associated with the war god Hachiman.

A samurai with no attachment to a clan or daimyo was called a ronin. In Japanese, the word ronin means "wave man", a person destined to wander aimlessly forever, like the waves in the sea. The word came to mean a samurai who was no longer in the service of a lord because his lord had died, being banished, or simply choosing to become a ronin.

While by some it was considered undesirable to be a ronin, as it meant being without a stipend from a lord, it was also considered necessary to the life experience of any true samurai. There was once the expression, "Seven times down, eight times up," which signified that a samurai would be dispatched on a year-long wandering mission seven times over his career, each time returning to the service of his lord.

Also, it is worth considering that the undesirability of ronin status was mainly a discrimination imposed by other samurai. As thoroughly bound (though unusually literate) men, most samurai resented the personal freedom enjoyed by wandering ronin. There are many tales of the just ronin, defending poor villagers against haughty, arrogant samurai who would kill anyone unlucky enough to offend.

On the other hand, there are also stories of the lordless, undisciplined, unemployed, and bitter ex-samurai, left over prior to the 1868 Meiji Restoration. These de facto ronin were little more than urban troublemakers, who were in desparate need of a new cause.

This threat of obsolescence led to the subsequent coining of the phrase, "Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians!" This of course harkened to the influx of foreign trade, religion, and technology (in this case, Western) which has so often been absorbed and rejected in alternating waves throughout Japanese history. As the master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi observed, there is a rhythm to all things. To survive one must see, appreciate, and move with this rhythm.

The pay of Samurai was measured in koku of rice (180 liters; enough to feed a man for one year). Samurai in the service of the han are called hanshi.

The following terms are related to samurai or the samurai tradition:

• Uruwashii

a cultured warrior symbolized by the kanji for "bun" (literary study) and "bu" (military study or arts)

• Buke

A martial house or a member of such a house

• Mononofu

An ancient term meaning a warrior.

• Musha

A shortened form of Bugeisha, lit. martial art man.

• Shi

A word roughly meaning "gentleman," it is sometimes used for samurai, in particular in words such as bushi (meaning warrior or samurai).

• Tsuwamono

An old term for a soldier popularized by Matsuo Basho in his famous haiku. Literally meaning a strong person.