Samurai lived very honourable lives, they were loyal to their superiors, they would commit suicide if defeated in battle or humiliated. During the Edo period, the samurai managed to become the highest ranking social caste. When the Portuguese first arrived they introduced the samurai to an early gun called arquebus.

Samurai culture was not restricted to the art of war; it was influenced by a variety of sources and itself had a far-reaching impact on Japanese society at large. Buddhism, Zen, Confucianism and Shinto all made their mark on bushido, and helped lend meaning to the life of the warrior.

The samurai (or bushi) were the warriors of premodern Japan. They later made up the ruling military class that eventually became the highest ranking social caste of the Edo Period (1603-1867). Samurai employed a range of weapons such as bows and arrows, spears and guns, but their main weapon and symbol was the sword.

Samurai were expected to live according to Bushido (“The Way of the Warrior”), a strict ethical code influenced by Confucianism that stressed loyalty to one’s master, respect for one’s superior, ethical behavior in all aspects of life and complete self-discipline. Girls also received martial arts training.

After the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu succeeded in unifying Japan and started an era of two and a half centuries of peace known as the Edo period. During it, guns were still manufactured and used by the samurai, but primarily for hunting.

Bullet resistant armours were developed called tameshi gusoku (“bullet tested”), allowing samurai to continue wearing their armour despite the use of firearms.

Other historical texts point to the importance of tattoos to samurai in the sixteenth century as forms of identification. Even though tattooing was prohibited, many continued to tattoo in secret (5). Modern day Japanese tattooing rose in the Edo period (1600-1867) in cities such as Edo (modern day Tokyo) and Osaka.

By using foot soldiers, armed with 3000 guns and shooting in alternating rows of three, his army mowed down thousand of enemy samurai on horseback.

In the Chōshū clan, power had fallen to samurai who were dissatisfied with the Shogunate and sought its end. They were anti-foreigner, and thus pro-emperor. The soldiers were recruited from the fringes of the samurai class, and this weakened the traditional samurai hierarchy within the clan.

A combination of their honor code and its traditions – bushido – and the fact that they were hardly running over with firearms during most of the thing samurai were active. Because foreigners and their technology were not welcome in Japan when the Samurai were in power. They were unreliable.

Commerce was quite popular, and items such as eyeglasses, clocks, firearms, and artillery were in high demand. When the Sakoku Edict was introduced, however, it led to Japan closing its doors to all European powers (except the Dutch), and limiting the influence of other nations.

How did China and Korea still affect Japan? Japan was isolated from China and Korea because it was an island off the coast of Korea and China. Japanese leaders sent represoentatives to China and Korea to gather info and invited people to move to Japan to teach them new ways.

Hattori Hanzo, The Greatest Ninja (1542 ~ 1596)

• He was known as “Demon Shinobi Hanzo” because of his strategic thinking.
• There are many Hattori Hanzo because in the past it was common to use similar names for the same family members.
• Toward the end of his life he built a buddhist temple and became a monk.

Hatsumi Masaaki

Miyamoto Musashi

Hattori Hanzō

Japan’s era of shoguns and samurai is long over, but the country does have one, or maybe two, surviving ninjas. Experts in the dark arts of espionage and silent assassination, ninjas passed skills from father to son – but today’s say they will be the last. Ninjas were also famed swordsmen.

In fact, 97–98% of people worldwide know what are Ninja and Samurai, and surprisingly over 60% of them believe that they still exist in modern days in Japan.

kunoichi

Onna-Bugeisha

Kunoichi or Female Ninja in Japan’s History It is important to note that female ninjas are not a myth and they did exist in the old times. Their appearance can be found in the esoteric writing about Ninja called ” Bansen-shukai (萬川集海) ” , written in Edo-period (between 1603 and 1868).

Female ninjas, known as kunoichi, formed an important part of medieval shinobi clans. Like their male counterparts, kunoichi trained in combat, disguise, and stealth, though their missions and function differed from those of male shinobi in several important ways.