How Did The Samurai's Impact On Japanese Culture

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was the eldest child of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1633, after his sibling's passing, he released the Daimyo his pre-disessor had left in control and supplanted them with his youth companions. This made him disagreeable with numerous daimyo, yet Iemitsu essentially uprooted his rivals. He is credited with setting up the other participation framework which constrained daimyo to live in Edo (medieval Tokyo) in rotating grouping, investing a sure measure of energy in Edo, and a sure measure of time in their home territories. It is said that one of the key objectives of this approach was to keep the daimyo from picking up an excessive amount of riches or influence by forcing so as to isolate them from their homes, and them to consistently commit a vast entirety to financing the enormous travel costs to and from Edo. The framework likewise included the daimyo's wives and beneficiaries staying in Edo, detached from their master and from their home region, serving basically as prisoners who may be hurt or slaughtered if the daimyo were to plot defiance to the shogunate.

Ronins were simply those samurais who did not belong to any masters, daimyo. There could have been a number of different reasons to how these soldiers became ronins, for example, due to the death of their previous daimyo from losing a battle. Freelance workers in today’s society are often compared to ronins who worked for multiple employers.

Have you ever wondered if there was really a difference between the Samurai and a Knight and if not what are the similarities? Some people may think there are more differences than similarities but the reality is they are more of the same than different. They are actually very alike. These two places Japan and Europe are going through very similar problems.They are fighting each other because neither of them were very stable in the medieval times. The warriors in Japan are called the ‘’Samurai’’ and in Europe the warriors are called ‘’Knights’’. They may seem different at first but they have way more similarities than differences. The similarities are much greater than the amount of differences. I learned this by studying these main areas; Social positions, Training and armor, and Life/honor and death.

Some of these are the roles of the military leaders and that women were not allowed to be involved in any sort of combat in Medieval Europe. Conversely, in Tokugawa Japan women were able to train to become a Samurai and would still be a regular wife. Also, in Medieval Europe women were much lower in society, but in Tokugawa Japan, women were almost equal to men at the time. This is one of the many differences between Tokugawa Japan’s social system and Medieval Europe's social system. Medieval Europe also had a slightly different warrior system. Examples of these are that lances were longer than the Japanese Naginata, and swords were much bigger than the Japanese Katana. In Medieval Europe, lords were the military leaders, while in Tokugawa Japan, Shoguns and Daimyos lead the military system. Samurai and knights had different approaches to death, as knights were bound by Catholic law, while Samurai were not religious. Tokugawa Japan had many cultural and traditional differences from Medieval

I will be explaining the social position of Samurai, and Knights from Document A. According to Document A the SAmurai were the 4th highest on the social pyramid. They were above peasant farmers, but

Japan’s Tokugawa (or Edo) period, lasted from 1603 to 1867. This was the final era of the traditional Japanese government before the modern era. The Qin dynasty lasted from 221-206BC. Thought it was brief, it was very important in Chinese history. The main weakness of the Tokugawa was an internal crisis and Western intrusion. However, the Tokugawa had a great economy, commerce and manufacturing industry. The strengths of the Qing Dynasty were the ability to improve methods of irrigation, which increased farm production. However, the military was still not strong enough to protect against few invasions. In addition, the population was increasing rapidly, and the government was too weak to police and protect all of the people.

As mentioned previously, one of the ways that samurais have an advantage over the knight is through their weapons and armor. In Document D written by the DBQ project it is stated that, “Samurai did not wear armor on their right arm so they could easily draw their bow.” Samurai had multiple weapons at their disposal in battle while the knights were very limited since all they had was a sword. This means that the only way a knight can even land a hit on the samurai is by attacking him at a close range.

Feudalism was a key component of life for those in both Western Europe and Japan. The two systems developed independently from each other yet still held a multitude of similarities. However, their many differences out shadow the unique parallels they shared. The major discrepancies between the two are found in each’s code, structure and regulations.

The societies of Tokugawa Japan (c.1603-1867C.E.) and medieval Europe (c.1000-1500C.E.) had two things in common; a feudal system. A feudal system is something that features hierarchies or social structures. The feudal system normally starts with a religion, which is at the very top of the social pyramid, then it’s the King or monarch for Europe and the shogun for Japan, then there are the nobles for Europe and the daimyos for Japan. As we go down the pyramid there are the warriors, like the knight in Europe and the samurai in Japan, then there are the peasants. The peasants were included in both eras and are at the lowest part of the pyramid.

According to charts from various sources, samurai and knights are around the same rankings in a social pyramid (Doc. A). Both the samurai and knight are lower in the social pyramids at the time. They were both paid for their service with land from the lord he was working for. Another similarity is said in “The Heart of a Warrior: Origins and Religious Background of the Samurai System in Feudal Japan,” by Catharina Blomberg. The samurai follows his feudal lord’s orders and never disobeys him, along with knights. However, the samurai shared a greater bond between his feudal lord than a knight

The first area of important differences was social status different it was that because there was a social pyramid were the samurai class was divided up, and the knight was divided up. For the order in japan there was emperor, the shogun, daimyo, the samurai

For many years, the legendary Japanese samurai warriors showed that they are the most well known class of ancient Japan and also known with their supremacy of honor, service, and duty which the Japanese society still have today. The samurai helped lay the foundations of Japan 's culture. They held values and morals that have held up for so many years; it is wonderful that they have held on to them for so long. If it were not for the samurai influence Japan may not have the same exact views on how to live there life. Samurai 's are a very important part of Japanese’s culture. Japanese samurai were warriors of the shogun rulers amid

During the 18th and early 19th century the world experienced new changes in world powers with imperialist countries and countries who experienced imperialism. One example of this would be Japanese imperialism in Korea during 1910-1945, a 35 year harsh change in Korea’s culture, impacting both countries in negative and positive ways in the years to come. Everything started during the Meiji period, a period where Japan saw change within its government creating a centralized bureaucracy. But also change within the military occurred with the replacement of Samurai authority. Trying to be equal competitors in world power as their Western neighbors. Japan had gotten imperialist ideas from 1853 when the U.S. black ships steamed

Japan’s rich history of power, wealth, and influence had many remarkable eras. One of the more notable periods in Japanese history was that of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868). The Tokugawa Period was talked about in Musui’s Story, an autobiographical book, written by Kokichi Katsu. (Katsu ix) Katsu wrote Musui’s Story for three main reasons: to share how he had transformed from a low-ranking samurai to a well-known hero, to show his sense of self, and to serve as a cautionary tale for his descendants. He showed his sense of self when he became his own person with spirits, shrewdness, and imagination. (xviii) His transformation was proven in his journey of risk taking, danger, family, and friendships that can be told the next generation as well

From the Kamakura Period of the late twelfth century to the Meiji Restoration in the nineteenth century, the samurai have held prominent positions as noble warriors in Japanese society. They have come to be famous in modern, Western pop culture as the fierce, stoic guards of feudal Japan, but their practices and rituals extended beyond wielding katanas and donning impressive armor. Samurai practices were rich and complex, with strict codes, ritual suicide, and a history of influencing culture and politics (“Samurai”).