The Cultural Impact of the Samurai: Honor and Leadership in Feudal Japan

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THE RISE OF THE SAMURAI

Samurai may very well be the most iconic and vivid symbols of Japanese culture. The notion of the noble warrior dedicated to honor, loyalty, and discipline transcends its time and has shaped not only the history of Japan but has also affected the world's vision of what being a warrior means. The genesis of Samurai, however, does not lie in any one event or personality but grows out of an elaborate cluster of social, political, and military changes that slowly gave rise to the class of warriors. To appreciate the cultural significance of the Samurai, the assessment begins with understanding how they came into being, and how they evolved and became one of the most prestigious and powerful classes in the feudal society of Japan.

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Origins of the Samurai Class in Early Japanese History

Finding the roots of the Samurai goes back to the earliest centuries of Japan's history, long before the word Samurai came to be. Indeed, the most basic sense of what Samurai means derives from the Japanese verb saburau, which means to serve. This represents the origins of the Samurai as a group of professional warriors serving powerful lords or daimyos, to help maintain order in a society increasingly embroiled in military conflict.

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In the time of ancient Japan, society was structured in rigid divisions according to class, the Emperor sitting on the apex followed by the aristocratic nobles and Buddhist monks. However, as the country’s feudal system began to take shape, a new class emerged: the bushi, or warrior class. This class was initially composed of local military leaders, small landowners, and skilled fighters who were employed by the aristocracy and the growing number of provincial lords.

It is quite clear that the warrior class started to emerge around two major events, which were called the Nara and Heian periods (710-1185), when it deviated from the central control, leading provincial lords to enter realistic power assertions. During that time, there was a slow breakdown of the old aristocratic order, and above these new power changes, the emerging regional lords, called shōen (land estates), called for soldiers and protectors of their land. These soldiers of these shōen would eventually become the early precedents of the Samurai without being counted as a class yet.

The Heian period, which stretched between the years of 794 and 1185, is the time popularly referred to as the golden age in Japan because it was the mark of an age of cultural flourishing and the establishment of a fine courtly society in the capital of Heian-kyo (now known as Kyoto). The Imperial family and its court dominated politics in this period, under which the nobility led a life centered around the arts, poetry, and manners. Beauty notwithstanding, the era also bore the marks of the internal strife and instability that afflicted it.

Indeed, as imperial power waned and dependence on provincial lords increased, private military forces appeared in the Heian period to protect the land and suppress opposition in the countryside. These early warriors were generally from the bushi class, which by this time