Samurai Warriors

Samurai warriors were needed to defend feudal lords and their riches in Feudal Japan.In the early feudal era the samurai code emphasized loyalty to one's master over family. That changed in 1100 because by then the samurai held military power and political power due to the emperor losing power. In 1156 when Emperor Toba died his sons fought over the country in a cival war.In the end the imperial office lost the last of its remaining power. During this cival war two samurai clans rose to power,the taira clan and the minamoto clan. Both clans fought each other in a cival war in 1160.The taira clan won and established the first samurai based government or shogunate.The minamoto clan were banished from the capital.In the Kamakura period the two clans fought each other again in 1180.The minamoto clan won that war. The minamoto established the kamakura shogunate and ruled most of japan until 1333. Kublai Khan  the ruler of China, invaded in 1274. His 600 ships were destroyed because of a typhoon. The emperor was exiled in 1331and returned in 1333 and overthrew the shogunate.In 1336 Ashikaga Takauji reestablished samuraui rule. By 1460 the regional constables called daimyo ignored orders from the shogun and backed different successors to the imperial throne. In 1467 squabbling erupted between the younger brother of shogun ashikaga yoshimasa and his son. This caused the onin war and lasted 10 yrs.As a result of that war thousands died,the capital kyoto was burned to the ground and the warring states period came after. Between 1467 and 1573 all the provinces were fighting. The meiji restoration in 1868 was the beginning of the end for the samurai. The meiji emperor died away with the samurai and moved the capital from kyoto to tokyo. In 1877 ex samurai revolted against the new government,lost and the samurai era was over.

The samurai was legally entitled to cut down any commoner who failed to honor him properly. In the samurai culture was the concept called bushido. The core beliefs of bushido were honor and freedom from the fear of death. Bushido means the way of the warrior. Warriors with the bushido spirit would rather die honorably than surrender. Out of this disregard for death came the tradition called sepukku. In which defeated warriors and officials would commit suicide by disembowling themselves with a short sword.

Samurai used swords mainly to finish off wounded enemies. The early samurai were archers and fought on horses or on foot. They used long  bows. After the invasions of kubla khan,samurai started using swords more. Samurai then wore two swords called daisho. One long called the katana and the other short called wakizashi. Today japenese people honor the memory of the samurai. Nowadays the samurai code is used in boardrooms instead.