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| Primer on the Samurai class and "Bushido" (Way of the Warrior) |
Samurai Primer -- definitions
Japan (n.) from "Dai" (Japanese, "great") and "Nihon" or "Nippon" (Japanese, "origin of the sun"): "Land of the Rising Sun"
Samurai (n.) (Japanese, "to serve"): warrior class of Japan or a member of that class; originally this term applied to the entire military system, both nobles and vassals, but by the beginning of the feudal system in the 12th century, denoted military retainers of a daimyo...these warriors wore 2 swords as a symbol of their caste
Daimyo (n.): feudal baron under the Shogun of Japan; Diamyo's were given control of vast amounts of land and left their administration to their top Samurai retainers
Shogun (n.): the military governor of Japan; Shoguns ruled from 1192-1867 A.D., when the last Shogun resigned and the feudal system was abolished; during the long, relatively peaceful feudal period, the Emperor was mainly a figurehead and was no longer seen in public
Bushido (n.) (Japanese, "Way of the Warrior"): a system of behavior and ethics which the Samurai followed; one of the central tenets of Bushido was that the warrior was resigned to death and prepared to die at any time, so that he would not value his own life above service to his Daimyo or the Emperor; it was fluid and changed over the centruies until it was actually written down in various writings to his students and other aquaintances by the famous Samurai Tsunetomo Yamamoto
Ninja (n.): a caste of highly-trained, deadly spies and assasins, often experts in poison; it is thought there may have been an assasination attempt on Saigo Takomori's life by Ninja during his rebellion against the Meiji Restoration
Shinto (n.): prehistoric religion based on ancestor- and nature-worship; after the Meiji Restoration, when the feudal system was abolished and power was returned to the Emperor, it became the official religion of Japan and everyone was forced to practice it; worship of the Emperor as a divinity and the racial superiority of the Japanese was stressed; a very minority Christian population was persecuted; the majority of Shintoists were also Buddhists
Buddhism (n.): a religion imported from overseas, probably Korea or China, which stressed non-violence and the Zen practice of meditation; ironically, many Samurai practiced Buddhism
Meiji Restoration (n.): the so-called "Enlightened Rule" of Emperor Meiji, who ruled from 1867-1912, during which the feudal system was abolished, Japan opened its doors to the outside world, and the country absorbed outside influences at a breathtaking rate; as part of the change, Daimyos were granted a pension, but had to give up their land to the Emperor; a bi-cameral legislative system was established, but the Emperor could disband the legislature and order new elections at any time
Bushido: The Way of the Samurai -- Tsunetomo Yamamoto
a book put together in modern times, containing the writings of the famous Samurai Tsunetomo Yamamoto, which mostly consisted of letters to his students; he was famous because by the time he rose through the ranks of Samurai, the feudal system had been abolished, and he never got a chance to fight in an actual battle; however, Samurai subsituted duels-to-the-death for battles to keep their skills sharp, and this man's claim to fame is that he never lost a duel
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