SAMURAI

“those who serve”

PROIECT REALIZAT DE:

BELDIANU ANDREI-COSMIN
Grupa: Geografie
 SAMURAI
“those who serve”
 Brief Background
Samurai is defined as the word for a
Japanese warrior class.

Started to come into existence in the

12th Century

Around 1185 the shogun rose to power

and removed power from emperor.
Shogunate History
 First shogun was Minamoto
Yoritomo.
 Military governments of the
shoguns called
SHOGUNATES.
 First = Kamakura Shogunate
(1192-1333).
 Second = Muromachi
Shogunate (1333-1573).
 Third = Tokugawa Shogunate
(1603-1867).
 Samurai’s Tale takes place
towards the end of Muromachi
blending into Tokugawa.
 Shogunate finally came to an
end in 1868 and the emperor
gained full power again.
 The emperor
reigned, but did
not always rule! Feudal
Society
 Samurai means
“those who serve.”
 Samurai must be
born to samurai
parents or be
adopted by them.
 Most importantly,
samurai boys were
taught two basic
skills-how to
survive and how to
kill.
Samurai Training
 Training started between
ages of 3-5.
 Training included being
taught sword fighting,
wrestling, ju-jitsu, and
archery.
 However, they also
learned reading, writing,
the proper way to walk,
bow, and hold chopsticks.
 During peaceful times,
samurai wrote poetry and
practiced flower arranging
and calligraphy.
Samurai Code-Bushido
 Bushido is the
samurai code.
 Samurai’s honor or
code is more
important than their
religion or life.
 A samurai who lost
his honor was
expected to kill
himself in the ritual of
seppuku or hara-kiri.
Samurai Code-Bushido
The bushidō code is typified
by eight virtues:
1. LOYALTY(忠義 chūgi)be loyal to
master at all costs.
2. COURAGE(勇 yū): never retreat
3. HONESTY:(義 gi) never lie.
4. JUSTICE: always act in a just and fair
way toward others.
5. BENEVOLENCE仁 jin): show
sympathy toward others, but no
weakness.
6. POLITENESS: always treat people in a
proper manner
Religion
The Samurai had started practicing three
different religions in their lifes which were
Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism.
Each of the religions had a different role:

Buddhism dealt with war and death,

Shintoism with inherited ambience

Confucianism dealt with ethics.

Samurai Arms
 Samurai fought with swords,
lances, knives and bows plus
arrows.
 Long sword = katana.
 Short sword = wakizashi
 Small knife=Tanto
 A good sword took a long time to
create and would be decorated.
 Some swords were thought to
have super-human powers and
Samurai named their swords as
they belived the swords carried
their warrior spirit.
Katana
Wakizashi
Yumi
Tanto
Marriage
 The marriage of samurai was done by
having a marriage arranged by someone
with the same or higher rank than those
being married.
Downfall of the Samurai
 In the late 1800’s the last shogun resigned and the
emperor was reinstalled as the formal leader of
Japan and the old feudal system and the privileges
of the Japanese samurai class were officially
abolished.
 The Samurai had open field battles with the Imperial
Army who started to develop upgrades in military
and technological warfare such as rifles, pistols, and
cannons.
 Battle of Shiroyama
The Battle of Shiroyama took place on 24 September
1877 and it was the final battle of the Satsuma
Rebellion, where the heavily outnumbered samurai
under Saigō Takamori made their last stand against
Imperial Japanese Army.

The battle culminated in the annihilation of Saigō's

army as well as his death, marking the end of the
Satsuma Rebellion.
“By the Way of the warrior is meant death. The Way
of the warrior is death. This means choosing death
whenever there is a choice between life and death.
It means nothing more than this. It means to see
things through, being resolved.”

“Yamamoto Tsunetomo