The historical evolution of the Samurai, Japan's elite warriors

The samurai were one of the four social classes in Japanese society. They were highly trained soldiers that were skilled in the use of both bows and swords.

The samurai were an essential part of Japanese armies during the feudal period.

The samurai first appeared in 10th century AD in the Heian Period. A new system of military service had created private armies who were paid for by local warlords, known as ‘daimyo’.

The original meaning of the word ‘samurai’ came from the verb "saburau," which meant ‘to serve’.

Theoretically, the samurai existed to serve the Japanese emperor.

However, in reality, they served an individual daimyo who was willing to pay for their help.

Although the daimyo controlled the lands of Japan, their power depended on the samurai under their control.

Samurai swore oaths of loyalty to their daimyo and protected his lands from robbers and rebels while he was travelling or away.

Most importantly, they fought for the daimyo when wars took place. Samurai, therefore, needed to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

Samurai were often housed in their lord's castle or in their own residences, not typically in specialized military barracks. 

The more rich and powerful a daimyo became, the more samurai he could pay for.

Ultimately, the most successful daimyo even used their samurai armies to seize ultimate control of Japan from the emperor himself.

The Japanese emperor was forced to create a new military position to recognise the most powerful daimyo: the shogun.

Samurai warriors were meant to follow a strict code of behaviour known as the ‘bushido’ code.

This code centred around the concepts of honesty and loyalty.

A samurai’s first responsibility was to faithfully serve his daimyo. This meant that they should be willing to die, if necessary, to do so.

It was common to die for your daimyo in battle, but samurai were also expected to fight duels if the mere honour of their lord was questioned.

Under bushido, a samurai was required to learn seven martial arts: archery (kyujutsu), swordsmanship (kenjutsu), the spear, fencing, horse riding, military strategy, and techniques of jujutsu.

During the Edo Period of Japanese period (1603-1868) different ranks of samurai warriors were developed:

• Gokenin: this was the lowest rank
• Goshi: this rank work as farmers as well, but had to give up some of their special privileges
• Hatamoto: this was the highest rank

Since ‘samurai’ was a social class, not a career, children were born as samurai. Young boys of this class began military training from an early age.

They were given lessons in how to use bows, ride horses, wrestle, and fight with the samurai sword (katana).

Many daimyo set up specialised schools for these lessons. Surprisingly, samurai warriors were also taught sophisticated reading and writing, particularly poetry.

There was an expectation that samurai were not only warriors, but also refined members of the nobility.

Since samurai culture was so heavily invested in the idea of loyalty to a daimyo lord, what happened if a daimyo died?

Some samurai would leave to find a new lord to serve. However, others took the opportunity to wander freely.

Samurai who had no master were called ‘ronin’. There was no set rule for what a ronin should do, because he was his own master.

Many ronin became ‘swords for hire’ and would fight for any daimyo who was willing to pay.

Other ronin became nothing more than robbers and thieves, using their military skills to intimidate peasants. 

During the two-century peace of the Tokugawa shogunate, there was little need for trained warriors.

As a result, many samurai families focused more on government jobs that involved administration duties or running businesses.

By the mid-19th century, when western nations introduced gunpowder weapons to Japan, there was no need for a samurai social class at all.

During the Meiji Period, the samurai class was disbanded forever.