History+of+the+Samurai

The samurai were highly trained warriors of Asia. They have a very strict code that is called the Bushido Code. Bushido code means; The way of the warrior (for the samurai) the code had several standards which were: Loyalty, devotion, obedience, duty, filial piety (respect ancestors), respect, self sacrifice, and honor to the death. If a samurai didn't follow this code, and uphold his honor, he would have to do seppuku (cut your guts out. Also known as suicide) to regain his honor. There are also virtues for the Bushido code. they are: Rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, and loyalty. Now that you know some things about the Samurai, here is a brief summary of their history. They started to develop after the Taika reforms of 646 A.D. Some of the reforms were land redistribution and heavy taxes. That made pour farmers have to sell there land and start working as tenant farmers. That made some people owns the land. They needed to protect there riches so that's how the samurai were made. In the 900's in the Heian dynasty (794-1185) fell apart and couldn't control rural Japan so the Samurai filled that gap. So by the 1100's, the samurai had lots of political and military power. Then in 1156 emperor Toba died with no one to take his place. His sons fought in a civil war to control power but both failed. During the civil war the samurai clans Minamoto and Taira also fought for power. The Taira eventually won and they made a Samurai led gov. (shogunate). The defeated Minamoto were banished from the capital. The Minamoto and Taira fought again in the Genpie war (1180-1185), and this time the Minamoto won. There empire was also a shogunate empire called the Kamakura Shogunate. But even with there immense power, they couldn't capture northern and western Japan (mostly due to other samurai clans). There were other threats to the empire, like the Mongols. In 1268, the demanded tribute from Japan but they refused. So the Mongols sent 2 huge fleets to invade Japan, but both times a typhoon destroyed most the fleets. But the rest of the fleets crippled the Kamakura Empire greatly. Because of a crippled empire they couldn't pay of the samurai clans that helped them so, they exiled the emperor Go-Daigo to fix it in 1331. But 2 years later, he over threw the Kamakura. But imperial power lasted only 3 years. In 1336, Ashikaga Shogunate under Ashikaga Takauji returned samurai rule, even though it was weaker than the Kamakura. In the 1460's the regional constables, Daimyo, were ignoring orders from the shogun by wanting different successors for the imperial throne. Then, in 1464 Ashikaga Yoshimasa, resigned in 1464, there was a choice of who should be the emperor. It was either his younger brother or his son. That riled the Daimyo even more, to the point where a decade long Onin War broke out. Even during the Onin War, almost all Daimyo fought to control Japan. This time was called Warring States Period. It lasted from 1467 to 1573. The Warring States Period started to close when the warlord Oda Nobunaga beat three powerful Daimyo. He then took the capital and put Yoshiaki in the position as shogun. For the next 14 years, they repelled other daimyo and rebellious Buddhist monks. But in 1582, Nobunaga was killed by Akechi Mitsuhide, one of his own generals. Another general, Hideyoshi took up the roll as Emperor. Hideyoshi decided to invade Korea in 1592. But when Taiko died in 1592, a huge clan called the Tokugawa taken over most of Japan by 1600, and so for 250 years, there was over all peace. Because the Tokugawa had immense power, they forced the Samurai into being like cultured bureaucrats. Then in 1868 the start of the decline of the Samurai began. They did this with the Meiji Restoration. What the Meiji Restoration did was, with the publics help, get rid of the Samurai, diminish the power of the Daimyo, and move the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo. Though they did give the former Samurai an option to join The new government created a conscripted army made in 1873. Some did join, but the few enraged ex-samurai resisted in 1877. They lost the Battle of Shiroyama, and that was the end of the Samurai.
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