Compare And Contrast Samurai And Knights

Hard and soft, day and night, girl and boy. These are all differences but one that is not mentioned is samurai and knights. Japanese emperors and the imperial court was challenged by the rise of clans. Like Europe, Japan found itself in pieces. In turn, nobles trained warriors who, in exchange for farmland or food and lodging, swore to be loyal to the nobles and to defend them. The warriors from Europe were called knights. The warriors from Japan were called samurai. From 1000 to 1600 CE in Japan and Europe, samurai and knights were the muscle and the soul of the warrior class. Critics may argue samurai and knights are very similar but in reality, they have more differences. They different because of their loyalty and honor, and their training

and armor.
The first reason is that they are both different in their loyalty and honor. “This arrangement in Japan was a voluntary one, in that there was no legal binding agreement between the two parties… The European feudal contract, which was a legal document spelling out the obligations of the lord and vassal respectively, never existed in Japan” (Blomberg 1) This evidence supports my claim because in Japan the samurai and daimyos never had a legal binding so the samurai could leave at any time. But in Europe, the knights had a legal binding between them and their lords that they had to follow and stay with the lord. “The business of a samurai consists in discharging loyal service to his master if he has one., in deepening his fidelity in associations with friends, and in devoting himself to duty above all… With great ceremony each knight took the vows of true knighthood, solemnly promising to do no wicked deed, to be loyal to the king, to give mercy to those asking it, always to be courteous and helpful to ladies, and to fight in no wrongful quarrel for worldly gain upon pain of death or forfeiture of knighthood and King Arthur’s favour.” This 2nd piece of evidence shows a difference because the knights had to take a vow into knighthood. The knight's code states to be loyal to the king but for samurai, they did not have a king. The code for samurai says nothing about being nice to ladies or doing no wicked deed so they could do these things and still be a samurai.
Secondly, they are different by the way they train and their armor.

“In samurai armor, small iron plates were tied together, lacquered, and then bound into armor plates with silk or leather cord. Samurai did not wear armor on their right arm so they could draw their bow… In response, knights began to wear complete suits of plate armor, constructed from metal. Not only was the entire body covered but knights also wore helmets, gloves, and shoes of steel.” This shows a huge difference in the samurai and knights by showing us that samurai left their right arm exposed so that they could draw a bow and hit long range targets while knight had to battle in close sword battles. The samurai armor was bound together with leather cords while the knight's armor was made of plates of iron. “The rigorous training of samurai began in childhood… At about age 14 the trainees officially became samurai… A prospective knight training began at age 4 or 5… By age 14, pages were eligible to become a squire. He would usually become a knight around age 21.” This is a pretty big difference because this means the knight had to train longer and serve another family member before becoming a knight. Samurai became a samurai at age 14 when a knight would usually become a squire.

Critics may argue samurai and knights are very similar but in reality, they have more differences. Even though critics argue that samurai and knights are more similar you can easily see they have more differences. If you went to a museum and saw knight and samurai armor you would easily be able to see the differences. They both write poetry but you can see a clear difference in the way they are both written. Although the other side believes they are more similar they are truly

not.
So throughout the essay, you can see that the differences are greater than similarities. They have way different armor and they train differently. They are also different in their loyalty and honor. Although critics may argue that they are more similar you can see from this essay the differences outweigh the similarities. So as you can see differences are greater and that is what makes them so interesting that they are not the same they are different.