A samurai is who?

A samurai is a Japanese warrior. Even to this day there have been stories of the bravery and strength of the Samurai spirit . The estate of the samurai existed right up to the bourgeois revolution, and even after that some features in the society were preserved. Samurai - this is not just a warrior, initially they were only feudal lords. The lifestyle and virtues of medieval samurai have found wide reflection in art.

Such popularization led to a distortion of some facts about the soldiers of feudal Japan.

Origin

The meaning of the word samurai can be interpreted as "the person who carried the service." The first samurai appeared in the 7th century. During the reign of Taika, a number of different reforms were carried out. Thus, a privileged class of soldiers emerged. Initially, these were people who already occupied a high position in society and were landowners. Widespread distribution of samurai received in the 9th century, when the Japanese emperor Kammu waged war against the Ainu. Over the next centuries, there are clear dogmas that define the warrior. There is a set of rules "Bushido", which states that a samurai is a person who puts loyalty to his master above all else. This is the practical difference from European chivalry. "Bushido" also pointed to kindness, honesty, honesty, but the focus remained loyalty to the war and the gentleman.

Ideology

Among the samurai most venerated such virtues as courage, faithfulness, lack of fear of death and suffering. Such nihilism is due, not least, to the influence of Buddhism. The path of the warrior (the literal translation of "Bushido") also presupposed moral and psychological development. Many procedures, such as meditation, were designed to maintain the balance and spiritual calmness of a person. The main task of the "way of the spirit" was to purify oneself of the spiritual experiences and to become indifferent to the worldly vanity.

The absence of fear of death became a kind of cult. A striking example of such an ideology is hara-kiri. This is a ritual suicide with a special knife. Harakiri was considered a worthy death for any samurai. The person who decided to perform it, knelt and then ripped open his belly. Similar methods of suicide were observed even in the soldiers of ancient Rome. The belly was chosen as the target, because the Japanese believed that it was there that the soul of a person is located. With the hara-kiri, a friend of the samurai could be present, who decapitated him after ripping. Such execution was only allowed for petty crimes or derogations from the code.

Who is a samurai?

Modern art somewhat distorted the image of the samurai. In ancient Japan, a samurai is, above all, a feudal lord. Poor estates could not belong to this movement. In addition to social prejudices, this was also due to material problems. The ammunition and weapons of the samurai were very expensive, and the training lasted a lifetime. The soldiers were brought up from childhood. These were, above all, heavy physical training. The teenager had to constantly work and train. For this, he had a personal mentor, who was the ideal and spiritual image of courage for the disciple. Training mainly consisted in the endless repetition of the same fighting situations. This was done so that the fighter remembered actions under certain conditions at the reflex level.

Spiritual education

In addition to physical training, there were also moral ones. Father since childhood had to teach his son not to be afraid of pain and deprivation. To temper the spirit, a teenager could wake up at night and order to go to a place that was considered damned. Also in his youth, future warriors were led to watch the executions of criminals. At some stages it was forbidden to sleep or even eat. Such privations had to harden the body and spirit of the samurai. Home, family and children have never been in priority with the soldier according to "Bushido". Before going to war, he vowed to forget them and not remember before returning.

Among the samurai there was a special elite - Daimyo. It was believed that this is the most experienced and brave warriors. However, in reality they were just big feudal lords, who actually ruled certain regions. A samurai is not necessarily a man. History has preserved many memories of women warriors.

Armament

Samurai is, above all, a man in expensive armor. On the battlefield this is what distinguished them from the ashigar - the peasant militia. Armor samurai were difficult to manufacture and could cost more than the whole settlement. Unlike European armor, samurai consisted mainly of metal plates. Between them they were connected by silk threads and covered with skin. As a weapon, the samurai used swords - katana, something between the sword and the European sword of the knight. In addition to katana, the samurai wore a small dagger. Also used yari - spears with a long sting. Some samurai used bows.

With the advent of firearms, armor lost its practical advantage and was used only as an attribute of high status. Some elements of the armor were used as a manifestation of the military rank in capitalist Japan. In the Russian film "The Hierophant" a samurai is shown in modern society, which is not uncommon.