History
The samurai's importance and influence grew during the shinot Period,
when powerful landowners hired private warriors for the protection of their
properties. Towards the end of the Edo Period, two military clans, the Minamoto
and Taira, had grown so powerful that they took control over the country and
fought wars against each other as each one tried to be more powerful.
In 1185, the Minamoto defeated the Taira, and Minamoto Yoritomo started a new military government in Kamakura in 1192. As shogun, the highest military officer, he became the ruler of Japan.During the chaotic Era of Warring States (sengoku jidai, 1467-1573), Japan consisted of dozens of independent states which were constantly fighting each other. This is why the country needed lots of samurai. Between the wars, many samurai were working on farms. Many of the famous samurai movies by Akira Kurosawa take place during this era.When Toyotomi Hideyoshi reunited Japan, he started a very strict social caste system which was later completed by Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors. Hideyoshi forced all samurai to decide between a life on the farm and a warrior life in castle towns. Furthermore, he made it a law that the samurai were the only people who were allowed to arm themselves with a sword.According to the Edo Period's official hierarchy of social castes, the samurai were the most important, followed by the farmers, artisans and merchants. Each caste was then divided into different groups according to importance.
All samurai were forced to live in castle
towns and received income from their lords in form of rice. Samurai without
masters were called ronin and caused minor troubles during the early Edo Period.With
the fall of Osaka Castle in 1615, the Tokugawa had lost his last possible
rival, and it was much more peaceful in Japan for about 250 years. As a result,
martial skills became less important, and most samurai became bureaucrats,
teachers or artists.In 1868, Japan's feudal era came to an end, and the samurai
class was abolished.
As de facto aristocrats for centuries, samurai developed their own cultures that influenced Japanese culture as a whole. To know more about Samurai Culture Click Here
Samurai around the 1860s