The History of~The Sengoku Jidai (Part 2: The Way of the Samurai)

The history of Japan is soaked in the blood of some of the most toughest and most daring warriors during it's over 100,000 year history, and that history is known as the "Sengoku Jidai" (period of Warring States).

This is part 2 of this 6-part wiki page series about the Sengoku Jidai. In this part, we will talk about the "Way of the Samurai" how a Samurai was trained, taught, their beliefs, and whatnot.

## History and training

Prior to the Sengoku Jidai, the Samurai existed for around a millennia. Though, they existed as like mercenaries at first, by the 12th Century and thanks to the powerful warlord "Yoritomo Minamoto" (who began the Kamakura Shogunate) the Samurai's role turned from mercenary to the nation's ruling class, having some kind of superiority over other Japanese people of other classes.

The Sengoku Jidai is when Japan will see the Samurai reach its apex as warlords across Japan are now competing for absolute superiority.

Samurai training began with boys (mostly boys) as young as 5 years old as the boy would be taken to the warlord that his family serves as a hostage.

Now, when this wiki page says "hostage" it doesn't mean the poor boy would be blindfolded, gagged, tied to a chair, and placed in the basement of the "bad guy's hideout". These "hostages" were taken to the warlords that the boy's family serves to make sure that the boy's family's loyalty to that warlord was absolute. It was the preparation for battle as trust among the other ruling warlords was almost non-existent.

As you may guess by the past wiki pages about the Samurai. They were trained in the ways of the sword, and taught the hardships of battle. They were trained rigorously in the Katana, the Yari, the Naginata, and other weapons as well as unarmed combat like the ancient art of Jujitsu. They were also given either a Buddhist or Confuscian education as they read many books of either Buddhist or Confuscian classics and lore (depending on what religion the warlord followed).

Eventually, Christianity would also play a role in the way of the Samurai as some Japanese warlords would convert to the said religion, more on that in the next page in this series.

## Suicide and Battle

No matter what they were taught religiously, the Samurai were taught that their sole purpose in life was death. Not just to kill their opponents in battle, but also believing to die with honor, even if it means to commit suicide.

Often times when a Samurai would fail in their duty, they would believe that they would have brought on shame, dishonor, and disgrace to their family and clan's names as well as their lord. In battle, the Samurai would just kill himself as they would rather die than flee the battle in disgrace. However there was also a famous (or infamous) ritual suicide called "Seppuku" (or sometimes called "Hara-Kiri") where the disgraced Samurai would sit on an elevated platform where an audience would watch him wrap a Tanto (a Japanese dagger) in paper, take off the top part of his white kimono, and disembowel himself (as in intentionally cutting his belly), the night before the ritual suicide, the Samurai would write out a "death poem" which is (in a form of a poem, a Japanese poem in this case) a final wish from the would be suicidal Samurai which his lord may or may not honor. A second would also accompany the Samurai as they would use a Katana to cut the head off of the Samurai, but \*not\* completely sever it as it was considered dishonorable (and very messy), they would leave a good layer of skin so the head would stay "somewhat" attached to the body.

A Samurai in battle goes in with a mentality of dying or killing. When they defeat an opponent in battle, they would cut the head off of their defeated opponent as a symbol that they have accomplished their main duty on the battlefield. Most of these heads were from foot soldiers, and these heads would either be placed in a pile and left to rot, or (sometimes) raised on sticks to show the victory of a certain force. But if the head belonged to a high-ranking officer, the head would be cleaned, cosmetics would be put on it and presented to the warlord of the Samurai who killed the officer.

Though most Samurai came from wealthy noble Japanese families, but there were times when peasants and noble people who weren't wealthy also trained to be Samurai. But Hideyoshi Toyotomi would change all of that, in the 1590s he would come up with what's called the "Separation Edict" where it tells everybody in Japan to........."stay in your class of wealth" meaning that Samurai couldn't change their lives and become a farmer, likewise farmers and other poor peasants in Japan couldn't train to become a Samurai. Hideyoshi was himself was a peasant due to his father (who was a peasant trained to be a Samurai, these were called "Ashigaru") and took away the very thing that helped him become one of Japan's greatest warlords.

Define Irony.

Yeah, not a good way to end a wiki page, but it has to. This series will continue (click here to continue reading) as we'll talk about the foreigners from Portugal and how they'll add to the turmoil that is already plaguing Japan. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.