BushidoThe Way Of The Samurai Essay Research

Bushido-The Way Of The Samurai Essay, Research Paper

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“Bushido – The Way of the Samurai”

For over 1,000 years Japan warrior class, the Samurai, were considered the finest of Japanese. Understanding the values and beliefs of the Bushido warrioirs living in a feudal society can be difficult. Their absolute belief in duty and honor seem mystical and even impossible to modern society. maybe is the mystery of the samurai that makes it so fascinating. The history of the Samurai is important to understand the history of Japan.

For centuries the samurai dominated Japan. Samurai were commonly reffered to as “retainers” (monofu) or “men of war” (bushi). They are now referred to as the Chinese-derived name samurai, which means “to serve” (Ratti & Westbrook, p.83) The samurai was in control of economic, religious, social and artistic aspect of Japan. It was the samurai government fo Tokugawa family thet effectively isolated Japan from foreign influence for two and a half centuries (Cook 6). The feudal system that create the samurai class collapse in the nineteenth century and the need for armoured knights dissapear. Alot of the following changes and modernation came from the young samurai class of people.

Japan has become modern at a very astonish rate. The warrior class became civil service or bussiness men. The values that was special to the samurai were still respect by the Japanese. The Bushido, the warrior code, became an expression of national morality (Cook 9).

The Samurai had strong skills and was willing to die for their lords made the samurai very good warrior. They had a very strong discipline, and dedicated their entire lives to their lord and to martial arts. They were required to have style and finesse in every aspects of life. The samurai was not only trained in fighting, but they were many kinds artist, including painters and woodcarvers.

Samurai history is very complex. There is stories of bravery, cruelty and self sacrifice. The samurai preserved a way of life that vanished in the west. To understand the samurai and the bushido people first need to look at the social and political history of Japan.

Most historians agree that the population of Japan was from waves of immigration at different times after the 6th or 7th cebtury. People migrated from noth and south Asia. Also another group believe to be the ancestors of the Ainu, a caucasian people, was also there from a very early period (Cook 18). Conflict between Ainu and the other people from Japan make up a lot of Japanese history.

Evidence of early culture being disrupted by the Yayoi in western Japan. They were a more advanced people, and had strong ties with China. They probably came from the Korean penninsula. It seem clear that before the time of the earliest written records, the people in Japan were clearly distinct from the neighbors on the continent, and even had cultural traits, such as ritual purification and extreme respect for social superiors, that would become characteristic of later Japanese culture (Cook 22).

Because of not many written records of early Japan it is difficult to give exact dates of the history. There were many myths and legends that can help us to see a growing culture and it seem to be usually at war with others around them. By the 3rd century the center of Japanese people was establish in the Yamato region. That regions people were divide into extended family groups known as uji. The groups were lead be cheifs, but the Yamato state was a group of these extended families under the overall leadership of the Yamato clan (Cook 23).

There was a prince name Yamato who could be consider the role model for the samurai. The samurai did not exist at that time but he exhibit so many features of that the samurai now has. The warriors of that time were from the clans. The early men of the clans were fishermen, farmers and metal workers, but they were also warriors. The weapons and armour of the early warriors is important to understand the evolution of these things into the later period of the samurai. Besides the physical and mental abilities, perhaps armour was one of the most important means of defense for Samurai.

The armour of the early Japanese warriors resembled the Chinese style.

As the Yamato state grew they adopt more Chinese forms of government. The Yamato sovereigns began to use the title of ‘emporor’ (Cook 34). To keep control over the many clans the Yamato court also tried to become more centralized state under the control of the imperial family. The people trying to reform the system learn a lot from the Soga clan. During 6th century the Soga were very powerful and had strong connection to the imperial family. After about 587 the Soga clan was the most powerful in the Yamato court (Cook 40). In 592 the head of the clan put Prince Shotoku in charge of the throne.

Shotoku was made a series of reforms that tried to replace the system of government with more Chinese style of centralised government. As the Yamato state got bigger the local clan leaders set up their own domains, in theory as officials of the court. but if things got weak in the central government they usually looked out for their own interest, and sometimes had to be brought under control by the force of the centralised government. so to enforce the authority of the court the