Samurai
Samurai (侍) or bushi (武士, [bɯ.ɕi]) were members of the warrior class in Japan. Originally provincial warriors who served the kuge and imperial court in the late 12th century, they eventually came to play a major political role until their abolition in the late 1870s during the Meiji era.
Samurai originally referred to civilian public servants under the Taihō Code of 702. In the Heian period, powerful regional clans were relied on to put down rebellions. After power struggles, the Taira clan defeated the Minamoto clan in 1160. After the Minamoto defeated the Taira in 1185, Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate, a parallel government that did not surplant the imperial court. The warriors who served the Shogunate were called gokenin, landowning warriors whose retainers were called samurai. During the 13th century, the samurai proved themselves adept warriors against the invading Mongols. During the Sengoku period, the term was vague and anyone who distinguished themselves in war could become samurai. There was a great increase of the number of men styling themselves samurai, by virtue of bearing arms. During the peaceful Edo period, 1603 to 1868, they were mainly the stewards and chamberlains of the daimyo estates, roles they had also filled in the past. During the Edo period, they came to represent a hereditary class. On the other hand, from the mid-Edo period, chōnin (townsman) and farmers could be promoted to the samurai class by being adopted into gokenin families or by serving in daikan offices, and low-ranking samurai could be transferred to lower social classes, such as chōnin, by changing jobs.
In the 1870s, samurai families comprised 5% of the population. As modern militaries emerged in the 19th century, the samurai were rendered increasingly obsolete and very expensive to maintain compared to the average conscript soldier. The Meiji Restoration formally abolished the status, and most former samurai became Shizoku. This allowed them to move into professional and entrepreneurial roles. Their memory and weaponry remain prominent in contemporary Japanese popular culture.
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