5 Incredible Facts About Japanese Samurai
Though aristocratic warriors known as bushi had long existed in Japanese society, in the late 12th century a new warrior class emerged: the samurai. The word “samurai” itself can be translated as “one who serves,” and these warriors served their masters — the feudal landholders, or daimyo, who ruled much of Japan — with discipline and loyalty. For their service, they were well paid and highly respected in society.
The elite samurai warriors were meticulously trained in martial arts and military strategy. Their skill with the sword — be it a curved katana or the shorter wakizashi — is legendary. (By the late 1600s, the samurai carried two swords, known as daishō, as a symbol of status.) They also fought using tanto daggers, the naginata polearm and the yumi longbow. Altogether, they were a fearsome sight indeed — even more so in their flexible and ornate armor, the sight of which could instill fear in the bravest of enemies.
The samurai were a fundamental part of Japanese society for centuries. But as Japan began to modernize and open its borders to foreign trade, the power of the clans diminished and the role of the samurai began to wane, especially with the rise of gunpowder weapons. Feudalism was officially abolished in 1871, and five years later the wearing of swords was outlawed for everyone except members of the national armed forces. The age of the samurai was over.
The legacy of the samurai, however, remains culturally significant throughout Japan, and has also achieved iconic status in the West, not only in martial arts but also more broadly in popular culture, seen in movies, literature, video games, and more. Here are five little-known facts about the fearsome samurai, from their somewhat terrifying social privileges to their first and only colony in the United States.
Samurai Had the Right to Kill Citizens for Being Disrespectful
The high prestige and special social privileges enjoyed by the samurai are amply demonstrated in the tradition of kiri-sute gomen, roughly translated as “permission to slay.” This gave a samurai the right to strike anyone of a lower class with their sword if they slandered the samurai’s honor. If, for example, a farmer or artisan refused to bow, the samurai could rightfully kill the offender on the spot. It’s not known how often kiri-sute gomen was used, but when it was, the samurai had to follow certain rules. The strike had to be carried out immediately following the offense, and the samurai had to later prove the correctness of their actions in court. Samurai could, potentially, be severely punished for wrongful executions, so they couldn’t walk around willfully killing the commonfolk.
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A Masterless Samurai Could Become a Wandering Rōnin
Both the status and salary of a samurai warrior came from the lord, or daimyo, they served. If their lord died, or if the samurai disgraced themselves and lost their patronage, they could find themselves masterless, at which point they became a rōnin. These rōnin often ended up traveling Japan, offering their services to anyone in need of a sword for hire. It was seen as a tragic position, and a far fall from grace for any former samurai. Rōnin were viewed as a problem. Highly trained, armed, and yet leaderless, they had a reputation for troublemaking, banditry, and mercenary activities — and there were a lot of them. At the time of the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, it’s estimated that there were some 400,000 rōnin in Japan.
Women Warriors Fought Alongside the Samurai
Within the traditional samurai class, women were typically charged with maintaining the household — as well as defending it. They were therefore trained to use the naginata and a dagger called the kaiken. Some of these women went a step further, receiving the same training in martial arts and strategy as male samurai. Known as onna-musha, female warriors engaged directly in offensive battles as the equals of their male counterparts. Arguably the most famous onna-musha in Japanese history was Tomoe Gozen, who came to prominence during the Genpei War in the late 12th century. Renowned for her bravery, horsemanship, and exceptional skill with a bow and arrow, she famously led 300 samurai against a force of 6,000 enemy fighters — and, according to legend, emerged victorious as one of only five survivors.
There Were Samurai From Africa, China, and Europe
The samurai were almost exclusively Japanese, but a handful of foreigners were accepted into their ranks. The first was Yasuke, a tall man of African origin (perhaps from Mozambique, according to historians) who arrived in Kyoto in 1579. He caused a sensation, initially due to his race and height — he was a foot taller than the average Japanese man. Under the rule of Oda Nobunaga, a powerful feudal lord, Yasuke was trained in martial arts and eventually became a fully fledged samurai warrior. After Yasuke came four samurai from Joseon (now South Korea), one from China, and four from Europe. This latter group included William Adams from England and Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn of the Netherlands, two navigators who were stranded in Japan together in 1600. When neither man was allowed to leave the country, they ended up serving the shogunate and rising to the rank of samurai.
There Was a Samurai Colony in California
The only settlement established by samurai outside of Japan — and the first Japanese colony in North America — was the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony in Gold Hill, California. Established on June 8, 1869, the settlement was comprised of 22 people from samurai families (they even brought their swords with them), including farmers and carpenters, who had fled the Boshin War, a civil war that was a precursor to the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 that effectively ended the samurai class. The colony got off to a bright start, with the planting of tea plants, mulberry trees, and bamboo, all in anticipation of the arrival of further colonists from Japan. But the influx of fresh settlers never came, and the farm soon began to fail. It’s unclear what happened to most of the settlers, but we do know that the historic site is home to the grave of Okei Ito, the first Japanese woman buried on American soil. The colony was also the birthplace of Mary Schnell (the daughter of the colony's founder, John Schnell), the first naturalized Japanese American citizen.
