Who is Samurai?
Samurai (侍、さむらい) were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of feudal and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in the late 1870s during the Meiji era. They were the well-paid retainers of the daimyo, the great feudal landholders. They had high prestige and special privileges. Following the passing of a law in 1629, samurai on official duty were required to practice daishō (wear two swords). Samurai were granted kiri-sute gomen: the right to kill anyone of a lower class in certain situations. Some important samurai and other figures in Japanese history wanted others to believe all of them engaged combatants using bushido codes of martial virtues and followed various cultural ideals about how a samurai should act. Although they had predecessors in earlier military and administrative officers, the samurai truly emerged during the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from c.1185 to 1333. They became the ruling political class, with significant...
