Mythology And Realities Of The Samurai

Outline:

Samurai Origins

The history of the Samurai

Samurai Culture

Modern Cultural Perception of the Samurai

Conclusion

Samurai Origins

The Samurai were a military group in ancient Japan whose history can be traced back to the 646 A.D. The Samurai consisted of highly skilled warriors whose main work was to guard the community. This class of skilled warriors emerged in Japan during the Taika reforms that saw the introduction of land redistribution and imposition of heavy taxes. The reforms made small scale farmers to put their land up for sale which made them become tenant farmers in the estates of the wealthy landowners. The growth of power and wealth among the few landowners eventually led to a feudal system like in the medieval Europe. Just like the situation was in Europe these feudal lords required protection of their property. This led to the emergence of a warrior class in most parts of Japan that was called the Bushi or the samurai.

During the Heian era which lasted from 794 to 1185 BC, these warriors went by the Chinese name “bushi” and were mainly assigned protective duties. The name samurai rose from their duty of guarding the emperor and were initially referred to as saburo which translates to “one who waits on” or “serves” (Collcut, 1996). The name saburo was later to become saburai. All through the eighteenth century the hereditary warrior class served emperors, court ministers, and other officials. The name saburai was eventually changed to samurai for easy pronunciation. This class of warriors achieved official recognition after the establishment of Minamoto Yoritomo government in 1185.

The samurai class was further strengthened by the land battles among the Minamoto, Fujiwara, and the Taira clans (Weinberg, 2001). By the 9th through the 12th centuries, the samurai had become a class unto themselves and wielded great influence by instilling fear on anyone who dared to oppose them. In some cases the samurai were kinsmen of the ruling class but there were others who were hired men. In all cases they owed total loyalty and allegiance to the feudal landowner called ‘Daimyo’ and was given land and high position as payment (Ansart, 2007). The Daimyo in return employed the fighting expertise of the samurai to protect his property, wield more power, and in acquiring more land.

The warrior families eventually became stronger and more powerful than the feudal lords they served. For example most members of the warrior class established by Yoritomo who were called shugo descended from the noble families of Kyoto. The shugo lived by a code based on Confucian principles (Daisetz, 1971). The code, referred to as bushido, described the way of the warrior and controlled every aspect of a samurai’s life. It had a great influence in the Japanese culture and continues to do so up to today.

The decline of the samurai warrior class began with the restoration of the Meiji system of constitutional monarchy (Mitford, Algernon, & Redesdale, 1871). This new system introduced democratic reforms with practices like balloting for public office positions as well as defined term limits. It gained popularity among the people and significantly reduced the powers wielded by the Daimyo land lords.

The Meiji Emperor went a step further and abolished the samurai warrior class at the same time that he moved his capital from Kyoto to Tokyo. This new government, while doing away with the samurai warriors, established a conscripted army from former members of the samurai in 1873. The move was not easily accepted by the samurai who revolted against the Meiji in 1877. The revolt was called the Satsuma rebellion which ended with the defeat of the samurai in the battle of Shiroyama (Farris, 1992).

The Samurai Culture

Samurai’s culture was based on the concept of bushido, meaning the way of a warrior. The doctrine of bushido was centralized around fearless of death through honour and freedom. This made a samurai to be fully honoured in the community and to kill anyone who dishonoured him. A samurai warrior was to die honourable through fighting fearlessly than to give up in defeat. Defeat was to be unheard thing because defeated warriors were disregarded and expected to commit suicide by disembowelling themselves with a sword (Fromm, Richard, & Suzuki, 1972).

The samurai had sophisticated weapons that were used in war. Every weapon was well designed as samurais were known to be good in weaponry. In early times they used mainly long bows and only used swords to kill wounded enemies. It was after the Mongol invasion that samurai warriors began to use the sword more frequently. They always carried daisho which were two swords, one long and the other short. The other weapons they used were spears, katana; a 24 inch long curved blade, and wakizashi; a 12 inch long curved blade (Sugawara, 1986). They wore a full body armor and a horned helmet while in battle.

Modern Cultural Perception of the Samurai

Different modern cultures have different way that they perceive the ancient Samurai culture. In Japan, the Samurai are their ways of life are highly regarded. The culture and activities that the Samurai people used to practice are in cooperated in their modern culture. This includes the codes of the Samurai, the art of writing and martial art. This is evidently seen in all the Japanese schools and homes. The only difference is that the Samurai codes had a strict place to be implemented and this was at the battlefields. This is otherwise to the modern culture where the codes can be found in offices and comfortable zones.

The Samurai 47 Ronin myth has been the sole pride that the Japanese hold towards the Samurai (Allyn, 1981). The story of the 47 Ronin has been adopted in movies and it is still taught in schools. The Japanese has preserved the culture and they still honour the 47 Ronin by offering incense at their graves. This is the evidence that the modern Japanese culture has been well embraced the ancient culture of the Samurai.

Another aspect that has been misunderstood by the modern culture pertaining the Samurai way of life is the dignity they held towards their leaders or the lords (Sansom, 1987). According to the Samurai if a lord died his warrior would kill himself too. This was a loyalty that is seen as out of this world. To the Samurai this was a privilege as they were able to portray their loyalty and honour to their leaders. Despite of the misunderstandings by the Western culture, the martial arts commonly practiced by the Samurai is well adopted by majority of the Western modern culture.

Generally modern culture has held the Samurai in high esteem. Many western cultures have misunderstood the Bushido as a way of life full of cruelty and torture. They have been perceived as supernatural human beings due to the way they carried themselves and the way they imposed pain to their own bodies This is very incorrect as the Samurai’s way of life was one of sacrifice. Their willingness to be sacrificed for the sake of their community was inhuman. This concept is not very well embraced by the modern culture. It is perceived as an inhuman way of life with little regard to the humanity.

References

Allyn, J. (1981). The Forty-Seven Ronin Story. New York: Prentice Hall.

Ansart, O. (2007). “Loyalty in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century SamuraiDiscourse,”Japanese Studies, 27(2), 139-154.

Collcutt, M. (1996). “The ‘Emergence of the Samurai’ and The Military History ofEarlyJapan,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 56(1), 151-164.

Daisetz,T. (1971). Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture. New Jersey: Princeton UniversityPress.

Farris, W. (1992). Heavenly Warriors, the Evolution of Japan’s Military. Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press.

Fromm, E., Richard, M. & Suzuki, D. T. (1974) Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis.London: Souvenir Press.

Mitford, A., Algernon, B. & Redesdale, T. (1871). Tales of Old Japan. London: SouvenirPress.

Sansom, G. B. (1987). Japan. A Short Cultural History., Stanford, CA: StanfordUniversity Press.

Sugawara. (1986). The Ancient Samurai. Tokyo, Japan: The East PublicationsInc.

Weinberg, D. (2001). Kuniyoshi:The Faithful Samurai. London: Souvenir Press.