The samurai were, above all things, warriors. Their name comes from the Japanese word "to serve." Their loyal service, as armed supporters of an emperor, a shogun, or of a higher-ranking samurai, was the source of their livelihood, the anchor of their honor, and the outstanding guiding principle of their way of life.

The samurai service was a pyramid of loyalties: the emperor was defended by the highest-ranking, richest samurai, who commanded the service of the next rank down, and so forth for many levels. Japan endured many centuries of internal power struggle, and it was military strength more than anything else that determined who really ruled the country.

The first appearance in the Japanese historical record of some sort elite fighting force is in the NIHONGI, an early 8th century chronicle, which describes a battle in 672 where succession to the imperial throne was won because of mounted archers. The style of fighting was something that only the bravest and best-trained could accomplish.

The archer had to be able to shoot accurately while charging at full speed into the teeth of the enemy, then wheel his horse sharply and retreat to safety to prepare another charge. Obviously this required intense training (both in shooting and riding), well-designed weapons, equally well-designed armor to protect the shooter from being shot, and of course, a horse. This was a specialty. These archers became so highly valued that chronicles of the time record the strength of a fighting force not as the number of warriors overall, but in terms of how many bows there were.

The emperor rewarded those who fought for him: he gave them control of land and the rice it produced. Rice was money. This became the pattern for the next 1,000 years. The victor would redistribute the land of the vanquished, and those who were most important in battle got the most and best spoils.

Some families developed a reputation as warriors, and a style of fighting developed which leveraged that reputation. A samurai would ride forward and loudly shout out his name, his rank and his family's lineage, in an effort to find an opponent of high enough rank to fight. (Reward was based on the importance of the people you killed.) Sometimes he would shout a direct challenge to a specific foe. A samurai arriving at a batvtle would therefore try to find a place where his chances for glory were the greatest. This made strategic, centrally commanded warfare virtually impossible, but it is the stuff from which legends are built.

The obvious way to deal with a mounted archer is to try to get him off his horse and attack him hand-to-hand. Therefore an archer needed a hand-weapon, armor, and supporters to defend him if he was thrown from his horse or taken off it by the enemy. Each samurai went to battle with retainers who would run alongside his horse and do just that.

As the samurai gained in reputation and social stature, the prowess of the individual warrior became more and more important in receiving rewards. The samurai could make his claim for reward by showing his overlord proof of how many enemies he had killed, and what rank they held. His proof was their heads. A vanquished enemy's head was cut off and carried back, and presented after battle. Each head was neatly groomed in an approved manner, and a tag was attached to one ear stating the name and rank of its former owner. The overlord would then view the heads. This evolved into an elaborate ceremony.

The Legend
There is a legend told about one such trophy that has echoes in many other cultures. During the late 14th century, there was an imperial heir hiding out in the southern mountains, in possession of the imperial jewels, laying his own claim to the imperial throne. The shogun Yoshimasa ardently wished to have this "southern court" destroyed and to get back the imperial jewels. He sent members of a warrior clan, the Akamatsu, to the southern court where they put themselves forward as loyal to the pretender.

One night, they murdered their host and made their escape through the snow in two groups. One group carried the jewels, the second group carried their proof-of-success: the pretender's head. While traversing the mountain pass, the second group was attacked by southern court samurai. The Akamatsu quickly buried the head in the snow, intending to dig it up later when it was safe. But while the battle raged, the head revealed itself by sending up a fountain of blood, and the southern court samurai recaptured it. (The jewels got back to Kyoto, though, ending the southern court's last hopes.)

The sword and other hand-weapons soon superceded the bow and arrow as the preferred tools of individual combat. The Japanese sword, in particular, became associated with the samurai mystique. As the samurai was to the common warrior, his sword was to all other swords: the most refined possible example of its kind.

The sword became known as "the soul of the samurai". Samurai trained tirelessly in the use of the sword, beginning in childhood. Young samurai would improve their footwork and timing by hanging small objects at various levels from a tree-branch with string. Then using a wooden or bamboo sword (so as not to slice the strings), they would attempt to touch them all without losing balance.

The curved katana is a slashing weapon (rather than a stabbing weapon) and its classic use has five positions or stances. In the "upper" position, the samurai held the sword overhead, with the blade pointed toward the opponent's eyes, at the ready to deflect the opponent's blade. In the "middle" position, he again held his blade overhead with the intention of striking his opponent's body rather than his blade. In the "lower" position, he held his sword low, below the opponent's sword, prepared to strike the opponent's hands and arms. In the "left" position, the samurai held his sword horizontally to the left side, thus allowing him to deflect the attacking sword from below before slicing before slicing diagonally upward across the opponent's body. In the "right" position, he held his sword horizontally on the right side, with the intention of swinging it into the upper position before slicing downward across the opponent.

From these five stances, an infinite number of variations could be devised. One passage from the Heike Monogatari, the famous chronicle of the Gempei War, describes different sword-moves: zigzag style, interlacing, cross, reversed dragonfly, waterwheel, eight-sides-at-once. The swordsman's trick was to keep his opponent, who was standing a mere sword-length away, unaware of his position. Each fighter attempted to take the "stance of no stance" by moving casually and remaining calm. An expert swordsman might even leave his sword in its scabbard with the intention of using a "quick draw" technique known as iaijutsu, drawing it at the last moment, killing his opponent with a single blow and returning it smoothly to the scabbard.

Swords were prized possessions, and were handed down in families for centuries. The Japanese swordsmith's craft was so highly developed by the time of the Gempei War (late 12th century) that it was changed very little during the following 400 years.

Bow and arrow no longer held the spotlight, but it remained an element of samurai training and warfare. During a battle in the Gempei War, fought in shallow water off the island of Shikoku, one of the Taira tied a fan to the mast of their ship and challenged the Minamoto to shoot it down. His strategy was to goad them into wasting their arrows, but a young Minamoto samurai covered himself in glory by destroying it with his first shot.

 

Sword and bow were not the samurai's only weapons. A range of specialized arms were developed including pole-arms and even clubs. Many samurai of note gained their fame by employing unconventional means of fighting, too. Kusunoki Masashige is renowned for his innovative tactics in the Jokyu war (1531-33) - an approach we would now term guerrilla warfare. He used hit-and-run raids, laid booby traps down the sides of his mountain fortification, and even employed dummies to lure his enemies into danger where he could pick them off. Some might not have considered such tactics honorable, but Kusunoki was vastly outnumbered, and the cause he fought for - the emperor - mattered far more to him than personal honor.

It is from this period that we get the classic image of the samurai: the lone, proud sword-fighter. While everything else in Japanese life became more and more ordered and codified and regulated, the samurai on the battlefield was an individualist. He might lead a force of his own men in a strategically planned and controlled action, but overall battle-plans were rarely pursued. Loyalty was applied to one's lord. Discipline was applied to one's self. A perfect example of samurai valor is related from the First Battle of Uji during the Gempei War.

The forces under Minamoto Yorimasa, pursued by their arch-enemies, the Taira, fled across a bridge on the River Uji and tore up the bridge planking behind them. Then they turned to make a stand while they waited for reinforcements to join them from the other side. They fought on the open beams of the half-destroyed bridge, a fierce battle made all the more desperate by the balancing act they were forced to perform. Eventually, the Taira crossed the river and surrounded them. Minamoto Yorimasa committed suicide.

Suicide, controlling one's own death as one does one's life, was considered more honorable than being killed by even the most worthy opponent. The samurai, as a Buddhist, did not hold life too dear. His honor was far more sacred. The samurai's form of suicide was seppuku, using the short-sword to slit open one's own belly, the part of the body where the soul was believed to dwell. Seppuku was seen as a way of setting the soul free. It was employed on the battlefield in the face of defeat. It was also an act of contrition for failure or some serious offense against one's superiors (in this context, it may be considered the most sincere form of apology), or even a protest against injustice.

A condemned samurai was sometimes allowed to commit suicide to preserve at least one measure of his honor from total disgrace. Seppuku was considered an honor only suitable for a samurai, and certainly only a person of extraordinary bravery and determination would be capable of carrying it through. It is said that one of the conspirators in the affair of the 47 ronin survived because he was only a foot-soldier and could not be permitted to commit seppuku with the other 46.

During the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281, the samurai faced vast hordes of coordinated fighters, well drilled, strategically organized, centrally deployed with commands relayed by drum-beats. The Mongol armies ignored the samurai sense of honor and the challenges to individual combat. The samurai fought for their land and their lives,and it changed their style of fighting.

Many samurai were slow to take up the idea of formation fighting, but those who wielded the largest forces immediately saw its value - indeed, it became a necessity. After that, the high-ranking samurai were seldom found in the front lines. They were behind the action in positions of command, directing the deployment of large masses of troops by use of a "command fan" to pass signals.

The greatest change to samurai warfare began in 1543. Portuguese traders landed in Japan and brought with them matchlock-style firearms. The samurai took to them eagerly. Within six months, Japanese swordsmiths were making their own firearms in huge numbers. Guns are credited as one of the major factors in Oda Nobunaga's take-over of the country beginning in 1568.

The end result was that Japan was unified and pacified by Nobunaga and his successors, and war ceased almost entirely after about 1600. Hideoyoshi contrived to keep the land-holders too busy to plot revolution. He regulated every aspect of Japanese life, and required mountains of bureaucratic paperwork to record it and prove that the regulations were being followed.

The samurai, to continue serving their masters, were forced to contend with the paperwork instead of collecting heads on the battlefield. They functioned as bureaucrats. They were still required to be ready to fight at any time: they had to be fully armed and trained. But generations of samurai grew up without ever knowing genuine combat. That was, perhaps, what made the revenge of the 47 ronin such a startling event in 1702. It was virtually the first expression in 100 years of the true samurai spirit.

It is also what made the final stand of the samurai, 166 years later, such a remarkable act of courage and defiance.