RSSRole of Samurai in Japanese History and Art
Mar 21
The Samurai is the name of a warrior class of people that developed many centuries ago in Japan. We find that the Samurai have been glorified via many silver screen flicks, comic books and theatre plays in recent years. The history of the Samurai seems to be equally as fascinating for children as well as adults.
In the 12th century, there were two strong clans in Japan, namely Minamoto and Taira. Japan was in sooth suppressed because of the endless wars between these group. In those times, a governing system called Shogunate was established and the official title of the ruler was Shogun.
Daimyo who were similar to the Dukes in Europe were the second powerful authority in the country. Samurai were the fighters of these dukes. There were Ronin among the Samurai tribe who became masterless as their masters had committed suicide.
The Samurai caste had many privileges which was not granted for the common people. They were licensed to carry two swords while the common people were restricted from carrying any. They were even allowed to kill any ordinary citizen who came to hurt them.
The Samurai tribe itself was categorized into three classes – the administrators who were known as housemen, soldiers who were allowed to fight on horse back named mounted Samurai and the foot soldiers.
Eventually this Samurai life underwent many changes and now most of their descendants are farmers living in castles. On the basis of their ranks, they were authorized for a certain percentage of the rice tax also. Samurai followed some moral doctrines which were mainly founded over the loyalty to the leader who was known as Daimyo. This code of Samurai life is known as Bushido, which means the way of warrior.
A strange custom of committing suicide named Suppuku existed among them. They considered it as a honourable way of death and was performed at the battle field or outside the battle as a formal function. Eventually, the era of battles came to an end and the Samurai class dissolved in the mainstream of the Japanese life.
The colourful history of the Samurai plus the reverence they accomplished through the film media and other such publications made them to be known on a global level. For many non-Japanese people the concept of a Samurai was very attractive. The sheer discipline and the code of ethics followed by the Samurai was something beyond belief for the rest of the world.
The Samurai life had a great influence on the Japanese art of those times because of the power and position they had in the society. Their life, history and culture had been depicted in the Japanese art works with all the fascination. These arts catch the attention of everyone including those who are not at all familiar with the Japanese way of life.
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categories: japan,samurai,martial arts,combat,sports,art,painting,culture,society,homes,family,kids
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