SAMURAI
The samurai (侍) were members of the professional warrior class in pre-industrial Japan, who served as retainers to the lords. These men came from warrior families and trained from a young age in military arts through private instruction. Swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship were the primary martial skills; and often in Japanese history, only samurai had the right to even possess these weapons. These weapons required years of training to master, and this commitment made the samurai superior to conscripts and militia, the latter who were typically given only days of training. The samurai also studied literature, calligraphy, and Confucian philosophy, befitting their roles as bureaucrats under the shoguns.
The role of the samurai changed over time. In the medieval period, warriors were closely associated with military service, landholding, lord-vassal ties, and local authority. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, prolonged peace and domain government transformed the warrior estate into a hereditary status and administrative class. Many samurai served as officials, police, teachers, or domain administrators while retaining privileges such as stipends, status distinction, access to office, and the right to bear arms. After the Meiji Restoration, the abolition of the domains, conscription, the commutation and abolition of hereditary stipends, and the removal of privileges such as sword-wearing dismantled the institutional basis of samurai status; former samurai feudal lords were reorganized as kazoku (nobility) along with court nobles, while most former warriors became shizoku. These classes remained legally recognized until 1947; in the 1918 census, kazoku and shizoku accounted for approximately 0.01% and 4.06% of the population, respectively.
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