The samurai (samurai = one who serves) were warriors in the Heian period. Samurai highly values honor above life. He is not a simple soldier. Samurai originally ranked beneath the nobility. However they gradually rose to power and established a military style government known as a shogunate. I have written about the first shogunate on this website in my article Kamakura Shogunate. The Kamakura period was the first period in Japanese history when non-aristocratic samurai class assumed political power over the realm.
The samurai held power during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods and imperial authority diminished considerably during these times.
It was very interesting for me to learn that the famous Japanese movie director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) was born into an old samurai family. It was clear to me why he would deal with samurai in his movies. Actually a film about them made him famous. It was Shichinin no Samurai, i.e. Seven Samurai, which he directed in 1954 and is nowadays considered a cult film. This movie even inspired making of The Magnificent Seven, a western where the action was shifted from Japan to the American West.
Yoroi – Samurai armor in a shopwindow in Kamakura Sword mounting – Tachi swords were hung from the waist by cords of chains with the cutting edge facing down. This style was used by aristocrats and high-ranking warriors, samurai, in the Heian and the Kamakura period. I have taken this photo in Tokyo National Museum. The right to carry a sword was a special privilege and it was not granted to everyone. Samurai only and just exceptionally other important personalities were entitled to carry two swords, usually a shorter and a longer one = daishó. Other strata of society could carry only one sword or a daggerThis Tachi sword which was made in the 12th Century in Heian Period by swordsmith in Yamato is known as Shishio sword and for its historic value ranks among Important Cultural Property in Japan. Swords should symbolize ideal moral and character features of samurai – purity, honour, justice and oppressing evil – not killing
Antique dó maru =body wrap – type samurai armor – in Tokyo National Museum Samurai armour used by successive heads of the Matsudaira family exhibited in Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokyo. Samurai Matsudaira Clan derived their descend from the Minamoto Clan. Matsudaira Motoyasu changed his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) and in 1603 became the 1st Tokugawa Shogun = Founder of the Tokugawa shogunate which existed until 1867. Tokugawa Ieaysu was one of the most illustrious men of Japan
