The samurai of feudal Japan and the knights of medieval Europe are two of history's most iconic warrior classes. While they lived in different parts of the world and followed distinct codes of honor, there are striking similarities that suggest commonalities in their roles, values,...
The Knights of Medieval Europe and Samurai of Shogunate Japan shared a number of similar characteristics such as a strict code of behaviour which emphasised honour and loyalty, and both were mounted warriors that relied heavily on their swords. However, the Samurai also had the...
One may have heard the word samurai, one thinks of a skillful warrior dressed in heavy armour and fighting their battles with the famous Katana or possibly the ultimate battle of skill between the samurai and his brother-in-arms the ninja or simply the warrior one...
Prior to the development and establishment of feudalism in Medieval Europe and Japan from 600 – 1450 CE, both civilizations were fragmented. The collapse of the Roman Empire left Europe open to invaders from all fronts, and Japan had long been a land of clans....
We examine three characteristics of Seven Samurai, the magnum opus of Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Kurosawa’s works are foundational to a wide variety of film techniques and tropes. While Kurosawa himself considered Ran to be his best film, Seven...
Musui’s Story is the autobiography of Katsu Kokichi, a low-ranking samurai who lived from 1802 to 1850, during the Tokugawa Period. He was from Edo, modern day Tokyo, and spent most his life there, except for excursions across the country. Musui’s Story is an interesting...
Japan’s first capital city, Nara, was directly modeled after the Tang capital city, Chang’an. Out of the total Japanese population of about 5-6 million residents, Nara constituted for some 20,000 of them. Within that time period (710-784 C.E.), land was nationalized in the name of...
Sachi’s Stages of Grief In The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, Stephen, the main character, contracts tuberculosis and recovers in a remote area, which is his enemy’s country, before World War 2 starts. Sachi goes through several stages of grief in the book. Through the...
Culture plays a large role in everyone’s day to day lives, even if it not easily recognized. Julia Wood defines culture in her book Communication in Our Lives as a coherent system of understandings, traditions, values, communication practices and ways of living (189). The film...
Medieval Europe shared some similarities with medieval Japan, yet they also shared conflicts. One including their soldier or their warriors, those who struggled for their land. In medieval Europe they took horses and in Japan they took samurais, they fought in different ways. They were...
The concept of writing and designing a cinematic production that is even loosely based on a real-life period in history can be an extremely difficult task. This kind of production comes with the expectations and responsibility that history should be retold in a respectful manner,...
As one of the few surviving autobiographical writings from early Japan, in Musui’s Story, Katsu Kokichi narrates his life as a late Tokugawa-period samurai. Amid the Tokugawa period, also known as the Edo period, grand wars and conflicts slowly dwindled in number and size. The...
Hagakure Hagakure, also known as the samurai bible, is a book that represents the attitude that goes beyond the modern pragmatism or the love for materialism to the overall spiritual development of individuals. Despite the interpretations that people have had on this book, Hagakure applies...
The term samurai was originally used to denote Japan’s aristocratic warriors (bushi). The word samurai has origins in the pre-Heian period. Samurai were the hereditary military nobility of Japan from the late 12th century to their abolition in 1876.
History
During the Heian period, the samurai came from guards of the imperial palace and private guards clans employed. After seting up a new military government in 1192, led by the shogun, the samurai ruled over Japan for most of the next 700 years. During the Edo Period the samurai were at the top of a social caste system.
Philosophy
Philosophies of Buddhism and Zen influenced the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching, in purpose to calm warrior's mind. The concepts of reincarnation and rebirth which were used in Buddhism, led samurai to abandon torture and needless killing.
Culture
Samurai developed their own cultures that changed and influeced Japanese culture. The practicies as the tea ceremony, monochrome ink painting, rock gardens and poetry were a part of samurai culture, which were adapted from the Chinese arts. In general, samurai had a very high literacy rate in kanji (Logographic script).
Weapons
The samurai used various weapons. Japanese swords became to be synonymous with the samurai, especially the katana. One of the biggest controversies surrounding the weapons of the samurai is whether samurai ever charged on horseback. The first types of samurai armor were known as ō-yoroi and dō-maru. Also, the samurai were practicing different martial arts.
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