Samurai

For other uses, see Samurai (disambiguation).

A samurai in his armour in the 1860s. Hand-colored photograph by Felice Beato

Samurai (侍) or bushi (武士, [bɯ.ɕi]) were members of the warrior class who served as retainers to lords (including daimyo) in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who served the Kuge and imperial court in the late 12th century, and eventually came to play a major political role until their abolition in the late 1870s during the Meiji era.[1][2]

Although they had predecessors in earlier military and administrative officers, the bushi truly emerged during the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from c.1185 to 1333. They became the ruling political class, with significant power but also significant responsibility. During the 13th century, the bushi proved themselves as adept warriors against the invading Mongols. During the Sengoku Period, the term was vague and some samurai owned land, others were retainers or mercenaries.[3] Many served as retainers to lords (including daimyo). There was a great increase in the number of men who styled themselves samurai by virtue of bearing arms.[4] During the Edo period, 1603 to 1868, they were mainly the stewards and chamberlains of the daimyo estates, roles they had also filled in the past. During the Edo period, they came to represent a hereditary class.[5] On the other hand, from the mid-Edo period, chōnin (townsman) and farmers could be promoted to the samurai class by being adopted into gokenin families or by serving in daikan offices, and low-ranking samurai could be transferred to lower social classes, such as chōnin, by changing jobs.[6][7]

In the 1870s, samurai families comprised 5% of the population.[citation needed] As modern militaries emerged in the 19th century, the samurai were rendered increasingly obsolete and very expensive to maintain compared to the average conscript soldier. The Meiji Restoration formally abolished the status, and most former samurai became Shizoku. This allowed them to move into professional and entrepreneurial roles.

  1. ^ Vaporis, Constantine Nomikos (14 March 2019). Samurai An Encyclopedia of Japan's Cultured Warriors. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9798216141518.
  2. ^ Samurai: The Story of a Warrior Tradition, Harry Cook, Blandford Press 1993, ISBN 0713724323
  3. ^ Cummins, Anthony (2012). In Search of the Ninja. History Press. ISBN 9780752483559.
  4. ^ Birt, Michael P. (2017) [1st pub. 1985]. "Samurai in Passage: The Transformation of the Sixteenth-Century Kanto". In Kleinschmidt, Harald (ed.). Warfare in Japan. Routledge. p. 338. ISBN 9780754625179.
  5. ^ Howland, Douglas R. (May 2001). "Samurai Status, Class, and Bureaucracy: A Historiographical Essay". The Journal of Asian Studies. 60 (2): 353–380. doi:10.2307/2659697. ISSN 0021-9118. JSTOR 2659697.
  6. ^ 武士（ぶし）／侍（さむらい） (in Japanese). Shūeisha. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference ocha was invoked but never defined (see the help page).