The Japanese samurai were the main part of Japanese warfare. They handled all the weapons and did whatever the government asked. They followed a specific code called bushido which means “Way of the warrior.” Samurai used many weapons and tactics to fight wars. The samurai were very interesting in there ways of fighting.
The Japanese samurai have been around since the 12th century when small Japanese clans were fighting wars against each other. According to some historians, the reason for fighting wars was mostly for land.
The main clans fighting were the Taira, the Minamoto, and the Fujiwara. These three clans used the samurai to fight their battles for land. Eventually, the samurai came into their own class between the 9th and 12th century.
The samurai went by two names, Bushi, or Samurai. Samurai is the word that stands for knight and Bushi means warrior. Over time, the samurai became experts at fight on horseback or on the ground. The samurai have been around for almost 10,000.
The Japanese samurai were ranked. The highest ranked samurai got to be the administrators. The middle ranked samurai get the privilege of fighting on horseback, and the lowest ranked samurai were foot soldiers or they had to fight on foot.
The samurai trained with armed combat such as a katana in hand, and trained with no weapons at all. The earlier samurai even used bows and arrows. Samurai were masters at fighting. They mostly used swords for close combat fighting. In the 13th century, they started moving more toward swords and started making spears. They then continued from mostly fighting on horseback, to fighting on foot.
As this change occurred, their code changed from kyuba no michi, “Way of the horse and bow” to bushido, “Way of the warrior.” Another change occurred in the 15th century when guns were introduced to battle. Because of this, armor also changed. The samurai battle gear and code changed entirely throughout 3 centuries. Samurai are great fighters and were great contributors to medieval Japanese warfare.
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