Life Among The Samurai By Eleanor Hall

Relationships are important. Whether in real life or in a story, they shape everyone and everything. This is the case in The Samurai’s Tale by Eric Haugaard, when the relationships that Murakami makes over his life influence him and shape him into the person he became. For example, two of his friends; Togan and Yoshitoki.

Many people always wonder who would win in a one on one battle. A samurai or a knight? Although many people support the samurai’s side, I support the knight side for various reasons. While knights and samurai have many similarities, in a one on one battle, the advantage would go to the knights and this can be seen through weapons, armor, and training. The most significant way a knight has an advantage is through armor.

Giving up the Gun tells the story of Japan, a highly civilized country, who possessed a highly developed technology in firearms and voluntarily chose to give up these weapons to return to a more primitive style culture. There was no real forceful abolition of firearms, but instead a slow voluntary effort and shift of mindset. Further than the story though, Giving up the Gun makes the claim that progress is not inevitable, and that we are able to control and guide its direction. Firearms were brought into Japan in the mid-1500s and actually took a while to catch on and be mass-produced.

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.

In the book Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, many diseases present themselves and show the reader how they affect each character. Tuberculosis, leprosy, and many mental diseases take a toll on almost every character. One of the main characters, Stephen, suffers from tuberculosis and another main character, Sachi, suffers from leprosy. Along with leprosy, she suffers from depression and self-confidence issues. When one suffers from any outward image altering disease, suicide often offers itself as honorable or a way of freeing their family of the disease or other sins.

Saigō is the “last samurai” in both Ravina’s book and in Zwick’s movie. The main question remains “was Saigō the last samurai “or is it simply a good title for his deep attentiveness to the “way of the warrior”? Algren acts as if he is the last Samurai, in the movie with the Saigō. Based on historical events there was no Algren and there was a deeper reflection on how Saigō became such a charismatic warrior. This paper will make comparisons from the book and the movie to decipher accurate characteristics and parallels from both the film and the book.

This means that the samurai would also have the knight beat from a physical

paper will discuss the period they existed in (the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries), their battle tactics, and weapons, as well as some interesting facts about each. The samurai existed as warriors through the twelfth century and died out during the seventeenth century. They lived by a strict honor code up until the very end of their days. Like all the warriors discussed in this paper, they were most prevalent during the age of warring states (the fifteenth through sixteenth centuries).

here are many similarities between the Samurai of medieval japan and the knights of medieval europe, especially considering their training, armor, and codes. For example, Documents A and B discuss how they both started training during childhood, how at age 14 they both progressed to the next level, and that the Samurai and Knights trained with some type of stick. However, the Samurai used bamboo sticks to train when the Knights used wooden sticks, and the Samurai were trained to fight on their feet but the Knights were trained to learn to fight and ride on a pony, and the Samurai were influenced by Zen Buddhism but the Knights were influenced by Christianity. According to Doucement A, “ At about 14 the trainees officially became samurai in

Although fighting men played an important role in Japanese history from the nations beginning the class of warriors known as samurai did not emerge until the twelfth century AD By that time many small chiefdoms were unified into a central state that was headed by an emperor or empress who was believed to be a godly figure In his study of early Japan Jonathan Norton Leonard writes: When landholders found they could no longer depend on royal officials for protection against outlaws or predatory neighbors they armed their sons and retainers[servants] and put themselves under the leadership of chiefs renowned for fighting ability…To gain additional strength for defense or offense the warrior-chiefs of each small region banded together and offered

In the film, samurai were depicted as men dedicated to the art of swordsmanship through vigorous training and discipline (The Last Samurai). The reality was that the

what really fascinates me is that the samurai weren’t a rare elite force; however, they were an entire social class and they were about 10 percent of Japan’s population at that time. What really grabbed my attention is the way the dress up, they were stylish and at their time they were rock stars in their style of clothing. The samurai dressed up to move with speed, to have freedom of movement and travel. The weapons were unique

Who were the samurai and what was so significant about them? They were low in the social class, but they were still feared by the strict shoguns and the daring daimyos. The samurai were fierce warriors in premodern Japan ready to fight in battle at any time. Japan’s warriors were not just protectors, they played a big role in the start of the feudal order. In Japan, invaders would rarely attack, and the ocean was a huge protection.

Thought Japanese castles were used more for beauty than defence. The defences it did had were moats to slow down attackers,walls to block projectiles and spikes on the windows to stop ninjas from sneaking in. Sometimes the castles had natural defences such as mountains and rivers. Some strongholds still remain because the castles that were

29 Mark Bishop, Okinawan Karate: Teachers, Styles, and Secret Techniques (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1999), 92. 30 Patrick McCarthy, Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts: Koryu Uchinadi Volume Two (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1999), 32. 31 Patrick McCarthy, Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts: Koryu Uchinadi Volume One (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1999), 7. 32 Christopher Clarke, Okinawan Karate: A History of Styles and Masters: Volume 1: Shuri-te and Shorin-Ryu (Huntingtown: Clarke’s Canyon Press, 2012), 185. 33 Ibid., 185. regardless, believing in continuous practice until the end and that there was always room to grow.