The samurai

The samurai were Japan's warrior class for seven centuries. Their name was derived from the Japanese word for service, saburau. The samurai were military retainers who emerged as military aristocrats and then as military rulers. Samurai involvement in government began in 1156, and from 1160 to 1185 the warrior Taira no Kiyomori dominated affairs at court. In the Gempei War (1180Ð85) the Taira family was displaced by the Minamoto clan. Yoritomo established the first of the military governments, or shogunates (see shogun), that dominated political life from 1185 until 1868. The Satsuma rebellion (1877) marked the last serious samurai threat to imperial power.

Medieval samurai were generally illiterate, rural landowners who farmed between battles. Some developed the necessary skills for bureaucratic service, but most did not. During the shogunate of the Tokugawa family (1600Ð1868) the samurai as a class were transformed into military bureaucrats and were required to master administrative skills as well as military arts. As hereditary warriors they were governed by a code of ethicsÑbushido, meaning "the way of the warrior"Ñthat defined service and conduct appropriate to their status as elite members of Japanese society.