Samurai

 The samurai (also bushi) were a class of warriors that arose in the 10th century in Japan and which performed military service until the 19th century. Elite and highly-trained soldiers adept at using both the bow and sword, the samurai were an essential component of Japanese armies in the medieval period.

Samurai and samurai culture may have been excessively romanticised since the 18th century as the epitome of chivalıy and honour but there are many examples of them displaying great courage and loyalty to their masters, in particular, even committing ritual suicide in the event of the defeat or death of their lord.  Warfare in medieval Japan was, though, as bloody and as uncompromising as it was in any other region and money was often the prime motive for any samurai to participate in battle.

From the 17th century, and no longer needed in a military capacity, samurai often became important moral teachers and advisors within tlie community. Development & Status The government system of conscription in Japan was ended in 792, and so in the following Heian Period (794-1185), private armies were formed in order to protect the landed interests (shown) of nobles who spent most of their time away at the imperial court.

This was the beginning of the samurai, a name meaning ‘attendant’ while the verb samurai means to serve and so the term was originally one of class rather than the military profession it later came to signify.  There were other classes of warriors, too, but the samurai class was the only one with a connotation of serving the imperial court.

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