Yamauchi Kazutoyo and a group of samurai
The samurai (侍) was the class of military nobles of feudal Japan. They were the prestigious retainers of land-owning lords known as daimyō although there were also masterless samurai known as rōnin. From the late 12th century to the 19th century, these lords and their samurai ruled over Japan through a form of military government known as the shōgunate despite the nominal sovereignty of the Emperor of Japan and the Imperial Court.[1]
The most well-known samurai in history was Miyamoto Musashi, a rōnin who founded the Niten Ichi-ryū style of swordsmanship and authored the The Book of Five Rings and Dokkodo. [2] Other notable samurai included the three great unifiers of Japan: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.[3]
Yasuke, a former African slave who briefly entered Nobunaga's service, was notably the first non-Japanese samurai in history, and became a rōnin following his lord's death in 1582.[4] Female samurai were also rare, with the 18th-century Japanese Templar Shimazu Saito being one of the few known examples. Because of her mixed heritage, Saito was eventually disowned by the Shimazu clan and branded a traitor, though she continued to consider herself a samurai.[5]
The age of the samurai came to an end with dissolution of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War and the subsequent Meiji Restoration, which abolished the caste system and created a Westernized empire akin to Britain and Prussia.[2]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed: Memories (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Blade of Aizu
- Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows – Tales of Iga
References[]
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