The Origin of
the Samurai:
The samurai, a class of highly skilled warriors,
gradually developed in Japan
after the Taika reforms of 646 A.D. The reforms included land redistribution
and heavy new taxes, meant to support an elaborate Chinese-style empire. As a
result, many small farmers had to sell their land and work as tenant farmers.
Meanwhile, a few large landholders amassed power
and wealth, creating a feudal system similar to medieval Europe's. This
top-heavy system proved unwieldy, and crumbled within a few centuries.
As in Europe, the new feudal lords needed warriors
to defend their riches. Thus, the samurai warrior (or "bushi") was
born.
Early Feudal
Era Samurai:
Some samurai were relatives of the landowners,
while others were simply hired swords. The samurai code emphasized loyalty to
one's master, even over family loyalty. History shows that the most loyal
samurai were usually family members or financial dependents of their lords.
In the 900s, the weak emperors of the Heian Dynasty
(794-1185) lost control of rural Japan. The country was riven by revolt; the
emperor soon wielded power only within the capital. Across the country, the
warrior class moved in to fill the power vacuum.
By 1100, the samurai effectively held both military
and political power over much of Japan.
End of the
Heian Era / Rise of Samurai Rule:
The weak imperial line received a fatal blow to its
power in 1156, when Emperor Toba died without a clear successor. His sons,
Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa, fought for control in a civil war called the Hogen
Rebellion.
In the end, both would-be emperors lost; the
imperial office lost all its remaining power.
During this civil war, the Minamoto and Taira
samurai clans rose to prominence. They fought one another in the Heiji
Rebellion of 1160. After their victory, the Taira established the first
samurai-led government, or shogunate, with the emperor as a figurehead.
The defeated Minamoto were banished from the
capital at Kyoto.
Kamakura
Period:
The two clans fought once more in the Genpei War
(1180-1185), which ended in victory for the Minamoto.
Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura
Shogunate, which ruled much of Japan until 1333. While the Kamakura were
powerful, they never conquered northern and western areas of the country. The shoguns
also faced periodic resistance from other samurai clans.
In 1268, an external threat appeared. Kublai
Khan, the Mongol ruler of Yuan China,
demanded tribute from Japan. Kyoto refused. The Mongols invaded in 1274 with 600 ships, but a typhoon
destroyed their armada. A second invasion fleet in 1281 met the same fate.
Fall of the
Kamakura / Early Muromachi (Ashikaga) Period:
Despite such incredible help from nature, the
Mongol attacks cost the Kamakura dearly.
Unable to offer land or riches to the samurai
leaders who rallied to Japan's defense, the weakened shogun faced a challenge
from Emperor Go-Daigo in 1318. The emperor was exiled in 1331, but returned and
overthrew the Shogunate in 1333.
This Kemmu Restoration of imperial power lasted
only three years.
In 1336, the Ashikaga Shogunate under Ashikaga
Takauji reasserted samurai rule, but it was weaker than the Kamakura had been.
Regional constables called "daimyo"
developed considerable power, meddling in the shogunate's succession.
Later Muromachi
Period:
By 1460, the daimyo were ignoring orders from the
shogun, and backing different successors to the imperial throne. When the
shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, resigned in 1464, a dispute between backers of his
younger brother and his son ignited even more intense bickering among the
daimyo.
In 1467, this squabbling erupted into the
decade-long Onin War. Thousands died, and Kyoto was burned to the ground.
The Onin War led directly to Japan's "Warring
States Period," or Sengoku.
Between 1467 and 1573, various daimyo led their clans in a fight for national
dominance. Nearly all of the provinces were engulfed in the fighting.
Azuchi-Momoyama
Period / Restoration of Order:
The Warring States Period began to draw to a close
in 1568, when the warlord Oda Nobunaga defeated three other powerful daimyo,
marched into Kyoto, and had his favorite, Yoshiaki, installed as shogun.
Nobunaga spent the next 14 years subduing other
rival daimyo, and quelling rebellions by fractious Buddhist monks.
His grand Azuchi Castle, constructed between 1576
and 1579, became of symbol of Japanese reunification.
In 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated by one of his
generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. Hideyoshi,
another general, finished the unification and ruled as kampaku (regent).
Hideyoshi invaded Korea
in 1592 and 1597.
Tokugawa Shogunate
(Edo Period):
Hideyoshi had exiled the large Tokugawa clan from
the area around Kyoto to the Kanto region in western Japan. The Taiko died in
1598, and by 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu had conquered the other western daimyo from
his castle stronghold at Edo (the future Tokyo).
Ieyasu's son, Hidetada, became shogun of the
unified country in 1605, ushering in about 250 years of relative peace and
stability for Japan.
The strong Tokugawa
shoguns domesticated the samurai, forcing them to either serve their lords
in the cities, or give up their swords and farm. This transformed the warriors
into a hereditary class of cultured bureaucrats.
Meiji
Restoration and the Decline of the Samurai:
In 1868, the Meiji
Restoration signaled the beginning of the end for the samurai.
The Meiji system of constitutional monarchy
included such democratic reforms as term limits for public office and popular
balloting. With public support, the Meiji Emperor did away with the samurai,
reduced the power of the daimyo, and moved the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo.
The new government created a conscripted army in
1873; many of the officers were drawn from the ranks of former samurai.
In 1877, angry ex-samurai revolted against the
Meiji in the Satsuma Rebellion; they lost the Battle of Shiroyama, and the era
of the samurai was over.
The Culture and
Myth of the Samurai:
Samurai Culture
The culture of the samurai was grounded in the
concept of bushido
- "the way of the warrior." The central tenets of bushido are honor
and freedom from the fear of death. A samurai was legally entitled to cut down
any commoner who failed to honor him (or her) properly. A warrior imbued with
bushido spirit would fight fearlessly for his master, and die honorably rather
than surrender in defeat.
Out of this disregard for death, the Japanese
tradition of seppuku
evolved: defeated warriors (and disgraced government officials) would commit
suicide with honor by ritually disemboweling themselves with a short sword.
Samurai Weapons
Early samurai were archers, fighting on foot or
horseback with extremely long bows (yumi). They used swords mainly for finishing
off wounded enemies.
After the Mongol invasions of 1272 and 1281, the
samurai began to make more use of swords, as well as poles topped by curved
blades called naginata, and spears.
Samurai warriors wore two swords, together called daisho
- "long and short." The katana, a curved blade over 24 inches
long, was suitable for slashing, while the wakizashi, at 12-24 inches,
was used for stabbing. In the late 16th century, non-samurai were forbidden to
wear the daisho.
Samurai wore full body-armor in battle, often
including a horned helmet.
The Samurai Myth
Modern Japanese honor the memory of the samurai, and bushido still infuses
the culture. Today, however, the samurai code is invoked in corporate
boardrooms rather than on the battlefield.
Even now, everyone knows the story of the 47 Ronin,
Japan's "national legend."
In 1701, the daimyo Asano Naganori drew a dagger in
the shogun's palace and tried to kill Kira, a government official. Asano was
arrested, and forced to commit seppuku. Two years later, forty-seven of his
samurai hunted down Kira and killed him, without knowing Asano's reasons for
attacking the official. It was enough that he wanted Kira dead.
Since the ronin
had followed bushido, the shogun allowed them to commit seppuku instead of
being executed.
People still offer incense at the graves of the
ronin, and the story has been made into a number of plays and films.
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