Samuri

Samuri Samurai and Bushido: What You Didn’t Know It is fairly common for people to have heard of samurai. It goes along with a lot of ideas associated with Japan and their culture. People think of majestic warriors from long ago. However, a lot of people, like myself, are not familiar with the word bushido. There is a huge association between samurai and bushido. Bushido was the way by which samurai were guided in life. Samurai were a huge part of the Japanese civilization for several hundred years. In this paper, I will cover the history of the samurai and the principles by which they lived their lives. Although a warrior class had existed for hundreds of years in Japanese society, the samurai did not emerge until the twelfth century C.E. (Hall, 8). The word samurai was derived from the word saburai, meaning “to serve. “ The first mention of the term was seen sometime in the eighth century, but in reference to servants (Turnbull, 16). Although royalty lived lavishly, there were warlords and rebels always challenging their authority and causing a concern for their safety. Unable to rely on their royal samurai, bushido, hall, warriors, lord, very, society, seppuku, one’s, japanese, honor, way, warrior, people, life, however, expected, class, zen, word, until, shogun, several, seen, part, lives, known, each, death, century, buddhism, body, always, weapons