How Did The Bushido Code And Its Impact On Japanese Culture

Samurai are known to be fierce warriors of Japan, yet, not many knew what influenced them in everyday lives. Unbeknownst to many there was code that came about that had a major impact on the samurai, this code was known as the Bushido code. The Bushido code impacted samurai to the point that breaking the code could mean death. This code was something these samurai lived by, and were taught in their schools of martial arts. The Bushido code influenced not only the samurai but the code impacted the culture of modern Japan as well. In the following paragraphs, the history of samurai will be explained, along with what Bushido is, and how it impacts the lives of the samurai and modern japan. The noble knights of Japan were warriors of legendary

The Minamoto only lasted until the Hôjô overthrew them. The Hojo though did not take the shogun route they became regents and a regent is a person acting in place of the absence of the person of high standing such as the shogun. Furthermore, during Hojo regency the group faced an attempt at imperial restoration in 1221. In the thirteenth century though in Asia was the time of Mongols and the Hojo regency had to face that huge threat. Genghis Khan was the leader of the Mongols and he had Japan entered in his sights in 1274 when he raided the island of Kyushu. Following this was a serious attempt in 1281 and was fought off by the brave samurai and the weather. Yet, even more challenges faced the samurai after this point during the fourteenth century when another attempt at imperial restoration occurred. However, this only added more samurai to the list of heroes because of the Mongols and the Gempei War. Additionally, because of the attempt the Hojo regents were overthrown and the power was taken by the Ashikaga family. The Ashikaga reestablished the shoganate and ruled as the shoguns for the next two hundred years. It was in the fifteenth century though when minor clan squabbles caused a war called The Onin war which was fought from 1463-1476. After the fighting was done Kyoto was in shambles and the shogun was humiliated and civil war broke out

Nobunaga was later assassinated in 1582 and in a series of strategic moves one of his most trusted generals Hideyoshi asserted his authority. Hideyoshi in 1585 conquered the island of Shikoku and then Kyushu. Finally after so long in 1591 Hideyoshi in his strategic battles won over Japan. However, Hideyoshi became too confident in his maneuvers and tried to attack China and Korea. It was China though that rose to Hideyoshi’s challenge and attacked. Hideyoshi finally drove the Chinese out in 1598 and died during the Japanese evacuation leaving his five year old son Hideyori as the ruler Japan. Furthermore, because of this two factions emerged. One group who were loyal to Hideyori and the other is Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa was clever enough though to challenge and met in battle at Sekigahara in 1600. It was Tokugawa who came out victorious and ruled japan until the middle of the nineteenth century. It was not until westerners came to japan to open trade that Tokugawa had issues, other daimyo Mori and Choshu opposed Tokugawa when he wanted to open trade. A civil war followed and there were many attempts at imperial restoration and it finally