Samurai Warriors - Research Paper Example

Samurai Warriors Order No. 293987 No. of pages: 4 6530 The Samurai warriors of Japan are synonymous with loyalty, bravery and efficiency which resulted in their strong impact upon Japanese culture and society, even after they had been forced to give up their traditional task of being warriors, who protected the interests of their masters. Eiko Ikegami in his book “The Taming of the Samurai” asserts that “from the late 12th century, well into the 19th, the Samurai, or landed military class were the most important and powerful actors in Japanese society.” (pp16) It is a common fallacy to think of the Samurai as fierce warriors, since the best of them were great visionaries who pursued spiritual, artistic and cultural endeavors apart from their regular, prescribed duties. “The Samurai were… the ruling class of Japan, dominating the central stage of their political theatre for centuries.” (Ikegami ,pp 9) The samurai were people of the aristocratic warrior class, but after the 12th century, it referred to all the warriors who gained power in the 12th century and ruled national politics and society up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The transformation of the samurai from a purely warrior class began during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), when most of them had to take on administrative jobs as bureaucrats or else practice any kind of trade during these 250 years of relatively peaceful times. Times of peace bring about prosperity and this impacted the simple and stoical existence of the Samurai which was overtaken by the urban culture which was seeping into Japanese society. ("Samurai." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online) The shoguns of the Tokugawa, made the Samurai relinquish their farms and swords in exchange for running the bureaucracy and soon the administrative structure of Japanese polity and industry came into the efficient hands of the disciplined Samurai. Under their stewardship, the nation scaled new heights and Japan reached the zenith of its powers within a short span of 50 years and was soon seen as an equal to the nations it wished to emulate. The decline of the Samurai as warriors was completed during the Meiji period but they channeled their energies towards building a new Japan, in their capacity as “statesman, soldiers and businessmen…”(The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition) In the Meiji era, they took on positions in the military, holding some of the most important posts and the Meiji government itself accepted that the samurai were among the most intelligent as well as effective class in Japanese society. (Harootunian "The Progress" 259) With their background of martial skills, the Samurai became experts in the use of western modern arms and ammunition. By doing so the Samurai cemented their position as defenders of the nation while at the same time modernized themselves, enhancing their qualities of loyalty, honor and commitment. The government took further initiative in redefining the place of the Samurai in the modern society and went so far as to say that “Let those Samurai with ability be placed in charge of new enterprises... so that all Samurai now idle will be useful producers." (Iwakura, qtd in Smith 34) The samurai were guided by not only honor, but their agile and quick thinking warrior mindset, coupled with their inborn ideal of sacrificing their own selves for the greater good pushed them into the forefront of the modernization of Japan. “The remarkably swift and thorough program of nation-building in Meiji Japan (1868-1914) was carried out primarily by former samurai.” (Ikegami, pp 16) "Civilization and Enlightenment" was the clarion call given during the Meiji Restoration. Cultural and educational exchanges were initiated between Japan and the Western nations and some of those who went to study abroad were former Samurai, and they were chosen for this task since they were already equipped with primary education. Many of these Samurai started schools and created newspapers, and added to the literary wealth of the nation. The Samurai had their own code of conduct known as Bushido or the "The way of the Samurai", which promoted the concept of "freedom from fear". This brought in loyalty for the masters whom they served and later with the breakdown of the feudal system, this loyalty was transferred to the new masters, i.e. those in government and power. In modern days this is seen in the loyalty of workers towards their employers and of the ordinary citizen towards his country. Children are still brought up on stories of the legendary deeds of the Samurai, especially of the 47 ronin, who showed the loyalty towards the master by killing his murderer, even though the master of the Ronin was partly to be blamed for his own death. (http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm) A very important part of the Samurai life was to engage oneself in literary and artistic pursuits. Some of the finest gardens, buildings, poetry, landscapes, especially the rock gardens, and paintings are the handiwork of the Samurai and the renowned tea ceremony as well as the Kabuki and Noh theaters were part of the Samurai legacy in the Japanese society. It was one of the prescribed routes given to them to reach their full potential and ultimately acquire the Way. Musashi, one of the greatest Samurai is credited with creating some of the finest works in Japanese art involving paintings made with ink and brush as well as the beautiful calligraphy. He is the author of ‘The Book of Five Rings,’ which details the various ways of swordsmanship, and the strategies that he had outlined in this book were used by later 20th-century generations to fight boardroom wars in the corporate arena. He is also one of the greatest practitioners of Zen Buddhism, which is yet another remarkable legacy bequeathed not only to Japan, but to the world at large, by the Samurai. (Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi) The Samurai, in spite of being warriors had some of the finest qualities to be found in men and writing about them Xavier said that, “among barbarous nations there can be none that has more natural goodness than the Japanese… wonderfully desirous of honor and rank… however poor… receive the same honor from the rest as if they were rich" (Varley, H. Paul Japanese culture) References Eiko Ikegami. The taming of the Samurai. Lone Samurai http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Samurai-Life-Miyamoto-Musashi/dp/product-description/477002942X "samurai." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 26 Apr. 2009 . The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved. Harootunian, Harry D. "The Progress of Japan and the Samurai Class" The Pacific Historic Review 28 (1959): 255-266 Samurai History http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm Smith, Thomas C. Politcal Change and Industry Development in Japan: Government Enterprise. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1955. The Disappearance of the Role of Samurai During the Meiji Restoration http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/640603/the_disappearance_of_the_role_of_samurai_pg8.html?cat=37 William Scott Wilson. The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi (Hardcover) Editorial Reviews. Varley, H. Paul Japanese culture (University of Hawaii Press, 2000) ISBN 0824821521, 9780824821524 Read More