Samurai and Japanese Weaponry

1064 Words3 Pages

Japanese History Major Task

The Samurai and Japanese Weaponry

The samurai were the warriors for the shogun in the feudal times of Japan. The samurai were one of the highest ranked class. The samurai’s from Japan used a variety of weapons. Some were quite different in design and size and some were very similar. The variety of weapons had a variety of purposes. Most people know of the samurai sword and the shuriken or more commonly known as the ninja or throwing star. What most people don’t know is that there were a lot more then just those weapons. Some of those being the Naginata, Tetsubo and the Kunai Knife. The Samurai

What Is The Samurai?

The samurai were the warriors of the Heian period. samurai means “a person who serves a noble” because the samurai weren’t related to the daimyo but they were payed by the daimyo to help them control their domains. Each samurai had to swear an oath of loyalty to his own daimyo. The samurai and the daimyo were a part of the warrior class along with the shogun (Military leader who ruled japan).

The Warrior Code

If you were a samurai you would have to follow the warrior code of bushido. A samurai would have to be loyal to his daimyo lord and fight to the death in honour of his family and daimyo. He would have to follow the the eight virtues of Bushido which tells the samurai how they should act in their professional and personal lives.

Rectitude or Justice

Courage

Benevolence or Mercy

Politeness

Honesty and Sincerity

Honour

Loyalty

Character and Self-Control

Samurai vs Ninja

The Samurai is often confused with the ninja but they are not the same thing. To be a samurai you had to be born into a Samurai family and were trained highly. The Samurai’s job was to serve the shog...

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...uld keep the attacker at a safer distance.

Bibliography

Skwirk, The Samurai - http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-177_t-516_c-1920/act/history/medieval-and-early-modern-societies-japan/life-in-feudal-japan/the-samurai

Judoinfo, Samurai - http://judoinfo.com/samurai.htm

Japan guide - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2127.html

Yahoo answers - https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081104113740AAS8t2l

The art of manliness, Bushido code - http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/14/the-bushido-code-the-eight-virtues-of-the-samurai/

Samurai weapons - http://www.samuraiweapons.com

Naruto, Shuriken - http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Shuriken

World traditional weapon, Japanese traditional weapon - http://worldtraditionalweapon.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/japanese-traditional-weapons.html

Southern California Naginata Federation - http://www.scnf.org/history2.html

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