Who-and what-were samurai? Today the word has become rather over-used. Not all of the warriors of historical Japan were samurai; so it is not surprising to find that not all of the samurai were warriors. They were the upper class in a society represented by the tetragram shi-no-ko-sho: warriors, farmers, artisans, and tradesmen.

They were undoubtedly a military class, but many samurai became renowned as men of letters and the arts. Most of what Europe would call 'Renaissance men' came from samurai families-those skilled with the brush as well as the sword, the flute as well as the bow. with the exception of the court aristocracy, few of those born outside the samurai class could ever aspire to achieve fame or recogniton in any area of endeavour.

The term samurai comes from the obsolete verb saburau, which means 'to serve'. Saburau could be taken to mean 'to serve' in the army, as well as in the more common sense of, e.g. a household srevant.

Bushi is a term virtually interchangeable with the word samurai; in fact, it is an older term, first appearing in the Nara Era (710-784), pre-dating the first usage of 'samurai' by several centuries. (An older, obsolete term, monofu , was used during the ancient period.) Bushi refers to those who fight: in fact the second character (shi) can be read 'samurai'.

Still another term was applied to the warrior caste in medieval Japan: ji-samurai. This referred strictly to those samurai from powerful families, usually those unallied or unconneted to the bakufu, the military government in Kamakura. This term was in widest use around the latter half of the Muromachi Period (125th-16th centuries).

Throughout this text, the terms 'bushi' and 'samurai' will be used interchangeabley. In writings of the period, the term bushi would appear to have been in more common use within the ranks in reference to their own class.

One note for the reading of this book: names have been left in Japanese order, surname first, given name last.

Excellent illustrations and photographs, many color plates.

Contents

Introduction (above)
Origins and Rise of the Warrior Class
The Genpei War (1180-85)
The Kamakura Bakufu and Regency
War of the Northern and Southern Courts
The Muromachi Period
Warfare in Muromachi and Momoyama Japan
Sengoku Japan
Hashiba Hideyoshi
The Return of the Shogun
Arms and Armour: Heian and Kamakura Japan
Arms and Armour: Muromachi and Momoyama Japan
The Plates (detailed descriptions of the color plates)