Introduction
Samurai warriors have been dubbed as individuals who are close to the nobility. During the medieval and early modern era in Japan, Samurais were referred to as people who belong to the society’s political and military nobility . They were also called Bushi which was a term used to address the middle and upper echelons of the country’s warrior class citizens.
The Samurais were deemed to be highly disciplined individuals who diligently followed principles and doctrines based on a set of standardized rules which they call the bushido . The population of the samurais was believed to be only 10 percent of Japan’s entire population during the medieval to early modern era. These elites and nobilities greatly shaped Japan’s medieval and early modern history. Their culture, in fact, is considered a symbol of Japanese culture.
The Effects of the Samurai on Japanese Culture over the Ages
Asuka and Nara Era
The first time that the word samurai was first used can bring us back to as early as the late 600 AD period, during which the Japanese government fought with the Chinese over long standing territorial disputes . After the said conflict, high Japanese officials underwent massive political reforms. One of the major reforms imposed was to remodel Japan’s political, military, bureaucracy, religion, cultural, and philosophical system after the Chinese.
A new code that requires 1 of every 3 to 4 males that are of age to be drafted to serve as a recruit for the imperial military was also ratified. These technically forced recruits would be required to fund for and supply their own weapons, armors, and military supplies in exchange of being exempted from imperial responsibilities such as taxes and duties. According to the remodeled political system, the empire would be comprised of people that would be classified and divided into 12 ranks. The first few ranks would be the ones who would work closest to the emperor and his ministers. Those who would fall into rank number six and below would be classified as samurais who back then could mean either a military or civil servants.
The Heian Period
During the Heian Period, chaos ravaged most of Japan. Rebel factions rose up against the emperors, a scenario which eventually caused the diminishing power of the emperor and his minions. Because of the frequency and the seriousness of the situation, the emperor was convinced to rely on the regional clan leaders’, which were called Shoguns, help. Because of their skills in mounted and unmounted combat, as well as in archery, the emperor and his new friends successfully quelled the rebellion, but not for long. Eventually, the then emperor disbanded his army, for some reason. He probably grew over reliant or confident with the loyalty and ability of the combined powers of the shogunates during the Heian period. However, it turned out that the then emperor’s move was wrong as the dissolution or at least, the significant weakening of his imperial military forces eventually led to the decrease of his influence and power. Clan leaders and lords began to take and buy power for themselves. As a result, the lowly people, who usually worked as farmers suffered. Some were enslaved while some who used to be wealthy lost their lands and properties. People from the lower echelons of the society began to scramble and of course, react to the sudden shifts on the balance of power. One moment, the power lies on the emperor, and then after a while, it lies on the hands of the land lords. In an effort to protect themselves from the marauding troops hungry for wealth and power, some farmers mobilized and organized groups bounded by a common goal—that is to protect themselves, their families, and properties from the oppressive imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands and oppressively collect taxes. These farmers formed groups which eventually turned into clans as a protection against other larger, more established, and considerably stronger clans. These new clans began to acquire tools, military skills and knowledge, weapons and armors, and develop discipline, all of which laid the foundation for the development of the Bushido, or the set of standardized rules that governed the samurais .
The Kamakura Period
Ages passed and the samurais, shoguns, who were practically regional clan leaders and members, continued to consolidate power and influence. The nobilities and the emperor continued to trust in the capabilities of these trained and highly disciplined warriors in quenching the numerous rebellions that bugged the Japanese empire. These events happened during the Kamakura shogunate era. The regional groups formed by the newly formed clans during the Heian era continued to receive political and military backing. Warrior roles were passed down from one generation to another until one samurai successfully made his way into becoming one of the emperor’s advisors. That warrior continuously expanded his power. He took control of the imperial central government until more and more samurais became part of the central government. The result was a samurai-dominated government. This of course put great stress on the imperial Japanese culture. The people’s belief and practices related to who they should follow drastically changed. Ever since the samurai clans dominated the Japanese government, their culture was passively imposed on the people. Of course, the stereotypical virtues of a samurai such as honor, and discipline would be automatically included. But samurai nobilities, and of course, the people soon began investing more and more time in the field of poetry, music, calligraphy, and other samurai customs .
The Ashikaga Period
The domination of the samurais and shoguns continued to prevail during the Ashikaga shogunate era. But nonetheless, the classic scenarios of wars as a result of struggle of power and other conflicts of interests still existed. During this period, the samurais began to be fascinated by foreign disciplines such as the Zen Buddhism. Samurais adopted these in their culture and of course, were eventually transferred to the masses. Because of the different engagements with other cultures, the Ashikaga era may well be identified as the most dynamic part of the Japanese samurai history. Most principles, disciplines, and standards of conduct that defined the way of the samurais were shaped during this period. Some great examples would be the process of overcoming the fear of death and being killed and various forms of religion, among which Buddhism was favored. Another major cultural effect during this period of samurai dominated society in Japan was the domination of the primogeniture custom. Traditionally, all assets such as lands and virtually every property of a wealthy individual in medieval Japan would be divided to his successors to inherit. However, during the late Kamakura period, which well lasted throughout the entire Ashikaga period and beyond, the primogeniture custom of inheritance became more common than the traditional one. To set an example, suppose a samurai had three sons and they came to the point wherein the father already had to pass down his assets for the benefit of his down-lines on the next generation. With the traditional way, all of the assets would be divided equally or unequally, depending on what the final agreement would be, among the three sons; but all three of them would certainly get a chunk of their ancestor’s assets. Now, with the primogeniture custom of inheritance which was believed to be popularized during the Ashikaga shogunate period, the assets would not be divided equally or unequally among the immediate successors of the person anymore. All the assets and properties would go to the hands of the firstborn son which also means to say that all succeeding sons and daughters (even firstborn daughters), were practically stripped away of their traditional inheritance rights. Naturally, this led to internal conflicts within the families of the most influential, powerful, and wealthy samurai families. Conflicts proliferated and to avoid internal conflicts which obviously harmed the reputation as well as the honor of the family, attacks and invasions of other samurai families, fueled by desire for more power, wealth, and perhaps influence, started. What happened during this period as a result of a major cultural shift was practically comparable to the feudal wars that bugged continental Europe during the medieval ages .
Conclusion
The periods characterized by the blossoming and the consolidation, the maintenance, and the decline of power of the samurai clans and other involved leaders marked Japan’s medieval up to the early modern history, both in terms of politics and culture. Samurais were practically elites or leaders in the medieval Japanese society and so it is logically possible that people from the lower echelons of the Japanese political system during that time also adapted their culture, practices, which were marked by inclination to Zen, Buddhist, and Shinto cultures. Other customs such as the primogeniture inheritance culture was also adopted during the long history of Samurai occupation in Japan. Nonetheless, samurai culture was and will always be a colorful part of Japanese history.
Annotated Bibliography
Adler, P. and R. Pouwels. "World Civilizations Since 1500." Cengage Learning (2011): 369.
This is basically a book about the different prominent world civilizations and societies that existed since 1500s, as the title implies. It included various cultures such as the American, various European, as well as Asian cultures, which well included Japan. In the chapter about Japan, this book provided rich insights on the basic foundations that formed japan politically and culturally. The information in the book is so far reliable and unbiased. By reviewing this source, the Japanese culture, particularly the part dominated by the Samurai, may well be compared with other cultures.
Day, S., K. Inokuchi and H. Kenkyukai. "The Wisdom of Hagakure: Way of the Samurai of Saga Domain." Hagakure Society (1994): 61.
This is a book specifically written to shed light on the various mysteries of the way of a Samurai during the Samurai-domination era in Japan. It focused on the Hagakure, a Japanese word that pertains to wisdom literature, emphasizing the historical and philosophical frameworks that characterized the samurais during their reign. Although this book presents with a certain level of subjectivity because of the significant number of recounts and author analysis, it is still reliable. Wisdom literature played a big part on samurai culture and studying this would make it understanding the contribution of the effects of samurais on Japanese culture easier.
farris, W. "The Evolution of Japan's Military." Harvard University Press (1995): 500-1300.
This is a journal article published by the Harvard University Press about the essentiality of military matters in managing a government, particularly the government of medieval Japan. It focused on the evolutionary development of horsemanship, weaponry, military tactics and reorganizations in Japan's early age as an empire until the samurai system blossomed and dominated its society and culture. It did not focus entirely on military history but also included information on political history. This is a very helpful and reliable source because it contains dates and would enable the author to create a working timeframe of the turn of events during the medieval Japanese culture and how the Japanese culture and politics evolved from a military perspective.
Mason, R. and J. Caiger. "A History of Japan." Tittle Publishing (1997): 152.
This encyclopedia entry presented a fascinating and interesting look at the early history of Japan up to the post-Cold-war period. It discussed matters related to the origins of the Japanese culture and its civilization as a whole, as well as other matters such as religion, culture, arts, and even demographics. This is an encyclopedia entry and it is based on various works reliable works about the history of Japan as well, making it equally or even more reliable. It befits the purpose of the topic which was to investigate on the effect of samurai culture on Japan's culture as a whole because this entry investigated on the history of Japan as a civilization.
Ratti, O. and A. Westbrook. "Secrets of the Samurai: A Survey of the Feudal Japan." Tuttle Publishing (1991): 171.
This journal tackled the struggles of the samurais who are technically feudal lords in issues related to politics, military and culture in their effort to gain power during the era of feudal Japan. Although it focused more on the technicalities of combats such as the martial arts used, the weapons, armors, and other battle paraphernalia, it did not fail on presenting a good overview of the state of Japan's political and military system during the reign of the samurai. It also presented tidbits of information on Japan's political and military traditions. This is a study that is somewhat of the descriptive type. It is still valid and reliable nonetheless because surveys can easily be replicated. Moreover, it is viable for this research because it tackled a certain aspect about the samurais--their secrets.
Suzuki, D. "Zen and Japanese Culture." Princeton University Press (1938).
This internet source, although practically an ebook, described the Zen and other related works under the context of Japanese art, life, and culture. The author successfully related his understanding of the Zen philisohpy and portraed the relationship between Japan’s samurai culture and Zen as projected in his examples suich as tea ceremonies, anecdotes, poetries, swordsmanship, caligraphy, architecture, and other prominent fields during the samurai eras. This is a more specific source because it delves on a specific discipline-Zen in relation to the Japanese culture. It is a less relaible source compared to the books and journal articles used in the research but it presents vital and useful information about the relationship between Zen and Japanese culture and how they were harmonized by the samurais during the medieval Japan.
