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A samurai honor essay
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Bushido is Japanese for “Way of the Warrior.” It is predicated on the samurai moral code stressing frugality, martial arts mastery, loyalty, and honor unto death. If a samurai failed to keep his honor he could perform the ritual suicide to regain it. n Bushido traditions, seppuku was a traditional way of doing ritual suicide. It was a form of dying without bringing shame to their families and themselves. The process of seppuku was quite painful. It usually occurred in a garden or a Buddhist temple. The samurai first must cut his stomach open, and after, the best friend must decapitate him. It was a sign of grace and regaining their honor.
There are eight virtues of the Bushido.
I. Rectitude of Justice
The Bushido refers to both martial and
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VI. Honor
What characterized the samurai was the sense of honor. It was their personal dignity and worth.
VII. Loyalty
To whomever they were indebted to, the true samurai would remain loyal to the person.
VIII. Character and Self-Control
The Bushido has taught them what is good or bad and right from wrong. It was the samurai’s duty to teacher his children by modeling it themselves.
Training to be a samurai warrior usually started when they were children. The samurai schools were quite unique. It had a combination of Chinese studies, poetry and spiritual discipline, and physical training. They studied the way of the sword, or kendo, which was the moral code of the samurai. They were also expected to follow the Bushido. Women were also taught but most women did not fight on the
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In time the Imperial Court grew weaker resulting in the growth of power in the local governors.
The three main clans of the Samurai were: the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Taira. Between the 9th and 12th A.D. centuries, the samurai became a class of their own. Two names they were referred to was either Samurai, which is their most common name, or Bushi, meaning warriors. Some of them were hired men as to some being related to the ruling class. As stated in the Bushido they gave complete loyalty to their feudal landowners, or their Daimyo. They received land and position in return for their loyalty. The Samurais were used to protect their Daimyo’s land and help expand his power and rights.
Samurais were experts in fighting not only on the land, but also on horseback. In the beginning of the Samurai, they fought with bow and arrows, and occasionally swords only for close range fighting and beheading enemies. Later on during the 13th century battles with the Mongols, they began to use their swords more often though. It then led to their change in fighting style. Changes they made were using more swords, spears, and naginatas. It also included the change from fighting mainly on horseback to fighting on
In document B written by Catharina Blomberg, it says, “Loyalty toward the feudal lord in Japan was hereditary.” If becoming a samurai was hereditary, then some samurai weren’t chosen to be a samurai because of their abilities, but because they were the son of a samurai. That means that not all samurai are the best fighters. It also says in document E, written by the DBQ project, “To dishonour knighthood was the greatest disgrace.” Part of the code is to always obey your king, so a knight would want to fight harder and not back out.
In the ancient Japanese culture, one great aspect was on how they emphasized on the intrinsic themes of loyalty and honor. They had fierce warriors known as samurai’s. A samurai was a traditional warrior who would protect and be loyal to their masters no matter what. They were known to be skilled soldiers, benevolent men, self-sacrifice, sense of shame, along with other major characteristics that embodied them as a samurai. While this class of warrior no longer exist today, the remembrance of a samurai is present in the minds of the characters in the novel, The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama. Tsukiyama does a fascinating piece of work by really elaborating and describing the great attributes that Matsu possess of a true samurai. In the
Japanese Samurai-What did they wear? What weapon did they use? How were they physically and
According to Document C “Japan Memoirs of a Secret Empire”, talks about how the samurai and knights both started training at a young ages. The knights started training at ages 4-5 a little earlier than the Samurai who started training at 6-7. The Samurai training only lasted until they were 14 unlike the knights whose training lasted until they were 21. Although, the samurai training was shorter they still covered all the important areas. They also had similar armor and both consisted of metal. The samurai had a little bit more movement in their arms, but the armor was used for the same reasons, protection. Document D by Terry Bennett says, “Samurai did not wear armor on their right arm so they could easily draw their bow.” These similarities were significant because without these things both classes would lose the battle every time, and if they didn’t have armor they would get killed, and these similarities is one of the reasons the two groups are so alike. Both of the classes were so a like that’s it’s hard to acknowledge their
First of all, training methods of knights and samurais were different. Samurai had various training for personal toughness at the battlefield.
Japan lasted from 1185-1603. During that time Japan had emperors, shoguns, daimyos, samurai, and peasants who were all apart of a social class, and all together it was called the Samurai Society. The emperor was just a figurehead for the shogun. The shogun was a powerful military leader that ruled in the emperor’s name. Daimyo were powerful landlords. The daimyo often led armies of samurai. These samurai were trained professional warriors who served daimyo and shoguns. The samurai had to follow a certain code of rules for samurai called Bushido. One of their rules included to always have self-discipline to become a good samurai. The samurai warriors wore light armor, helmets (usually shaped like an animal), and had two swords around their waist. Their armor had a lot of detail and color to it, like their unique helmets. After the samurai comes the peasants, which included farmers and fishermen. They usually always work, then pay takes to the shogun. They usually gave the shogun what they earned from working like food or crops. What made their jobs a bit difficult was their topography. Japan’s topography included many mountains, undersea volcanoes, and barely any flat land to farm on. The Japanese didn’t only work they also practiced their religion. For example, they practiced Confucianism, Buddhism (...
Unlike the cultures of the west where religions generally view suicide as a negative sin, in Asia it has long been a way to preserve the families honor. Amongst many Asian cultures it is seen as means of atoning for a disgrace, defeat or any other dishonorable acts or events. The tradition of suicide instead of defeat, capture, or observed shame has been ingrained in the Japanese military. In deed since the time of the samurai who followed the Bushido code of loyalty and honor until death, was also known as the way of the warrior. Bushido was an ethical system rather than a religious belief, the ideal samurai was supposed to be immune from the fear of death, and only the fear of dishonor and loyalty to his daimyo, or lord.
Bushido - ???- the feudal-military Japanese code of behavior; the way of the warrior [samurai] Japanese chivalry [knighthood]
The top structure of the society includes the Shoguns, Daimyos and Samurais. ‘Shogun’ was the title granted by the Emperor to Japan’s top military commander (Web-japan.org, 2013). Initially Emperors controlled the country but over time Shoguns became more powerful than the Emperor and took over the whole government, the Shogun was generally the real ruler of the country until 1867 when feudalism was abolished (Web-japan.org, 2013). Daimyos were the lords and their roles were to manage and maintain the law, collect taxes and aiding in armed forces for the Shogun (Ask.com, 2013). Samurais were the members of the military class, they were the warriors of traditional Japan. The roles of the Samurais were to protect and serve their daimyos or lords usually in wars (Answers.yahoo.com, 2013).
When discussing the origin of the Samurai, an important time in history for their beginning can be seen in the formation of a Feudal System in early Japan. In 646 AD, Emperor Tenji enacted the Taika Reform. This reform allowed the aristocracy to adopt Chinese-Style political structures, bureaucracy, and culture (Farris). Basically, this allowed land to be redistributed among the people and while new taxes were formed. This was because more income was needed to support the newly adopted Chinese style empire. Due to these reforms, many peasants had to sell their land and work as farmers for other people while people who actually owned land were able to gain wealth and power. This resulted in the formation of a feudal system. This system was similar to that of medieval Europe and contributed to the rise of the Samurai social class.
One of the most fundamental philosophies of the samurai is that of detachment from the self. This detachment allows for a freedom from fear, which is essential to the samurai warriors. In the opening of Hagakure, Tsunetomo states that “the Way of the Samurai is found in death”. These rank among the greatest and most well known phrases in Japanese history, and in fact in the history of the world. Death is not to be feared by the samurai, it is to be embraced. The relationship between the samurai and his master is of the utmost importance, and only through detachment can the samurai fully and properly serve his master. These are two core, fundamental philosophies of bushido, and both can are reminiscent of similar ideologies in Buddhism, and Confucianism.
The samurai are a type of warrior class in Japan similar to the European knights. They were not only used as soldiers for combat in war but they also replaced the court government in terms of managing the local government. They pledged to keep the peace and stay loyal to their master. This is how they were used for most of history until the end of the Tokugawa period. Their rise all begins in the Kamakura period.
Confucius believed each individual had a specific place in society and duties to uphold. With setting 5 basic principle relationships, this would allow people to know what was expected of them and behave correctly. Confucius avoided speaking of the afterlife, death, and religion unlike Sun Tzu and Bushido. Sun Tzu’s guidance is Taoism: each individual must be aware what may happen in order to overcome the enemy. Allowing the response to triumph the attacker without having to delay. Bushido like Confucius believed family is upper most importance which is noted in the Code of the Samurai. Rather avoiding death one must keep the thought of death in the forefront of their mind. A samurai will always sharpen their skills through peace and war times.
I believe we can all agree that Japanese samurais and European knights are two of the most skilled and famous forms of warriors in history, right? Well both warriors began their trade at a very young age, and went through multiple stages of training throughout their lives. They both had a code of honor basically, but they differed from one another in quite a few ways. The big question is, “Were the similarities greater than the differences?”. Right off the bat I began to ponder the technicalities of the answer to this question. Before I get too scrambled up in the technicalities, let’s discuss some these differences and the similarities and figure out how this plays out. Before we conduct this discussion, let’s review our key terms. A clan is a group of close-knit and interrelated families. Feudalism was a political and economic system that flourished in Europe from the 9th to the 15th century, based on higher classes giving random services and items in exchange for something else. Knights were men who served their lord as a mounted soldier in armor. Samurai’s were members of a powerful military social class in feudal Japan. A shogun was a hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan. Chivalry was the medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code. Bushido was the code of honor and morals developed by the Japanese samurai.
There are many historical aspects of the Japanese, but the most interesting is the history of the Samurai. In Japans history war played a large role in the country. Controlling clans fought for parts of the land and overall control of the country. These clans were powerful families that resided in the country and who all wanted power and control of Japan for themselves. The families that would be in control were known as Shoguns. These shoguns would have warriors that fought for them if any of the other clan families would try to attack him in order to overthrow him and take his power from him. The Samurai followed a code that developed from Chinese beliefs when in battle. The Samurais code was known as the Bushido. This code was also known as “The Way of The Warrior” which was the main belief s...