The Samurai

Samurai, meaning "to serve", were the warrior caste of Ancient Japan. Samurai were trained from their young years in the ways of both fighting with the sword and bow, as well as fighting with the bare hands. Samurai were deadly warriors on foot, on horseback, or almost anywhere else a daimyo warlord saw fit to deploy the warriors.

Bushido

The honor code of Samurai, Bushido was a strict code of rules that all samurai followed in every aspect of their lives. Bushido held benevolence, justice, honesty, and self control to be highly important. Samurai warriors were so bound to their code, that asking for a written pledge was an insult, as breaking one's word was unthinkable. Samurai showed no pain or joy under Bushido, enduring external and internal pain without any sign of discomfort.

Samurai Culture

Although the samurai were warriors, they were expected to be able to read, write, and have an appreciation for the arts. A samurai, on top of his combat studies, might also study dance, poetry, or other forms of literature. Samurai also engaged in marriage, though perhaps not as much as the rest of Japanese society. A marriage between a samurai and a woman would have to be arranged by another samurai of equal or higher rank, and their new life would be paid for by a dowry from the family of the woman. Higher ranked samurai would marry into noble or other samurai families, but it was considered acceptable for lower ranked samurai to marry into families of commoners.

Weaponry

The most famous and important weapon to the samurai way of life was, of course, the katana. The katana was a single-edged curved sword that, according to Bushido, was the home of the Samurai warrior's soul. The katana was usually worn as part of a pair of blades called a "daisho", a term that translates literally from Japanese as "big and small". The katana was the 'big' of the daisho, and the wakizashi was the "small". The wakizashi was taken everywhere by the samurai, even to his bedside or within houses where his main weapon had to be left out-doors. A boy was given his wakizashi when he came of age at 13, at the same time as he took on his adult name and became samurai. Other weapons the samurai used include the tanto, a small dagger that could be used in place of the wakizashi, longbows, spears, an assortment of staves, and various siege weapons.