ronin: Information from Answers.com Mobile

ronin

Japanese masterless samurai. Because samurai received their livelihood from their lord in return for service, a masterless samurai was essentially a vagabond unless he could enter the service of another lord. Ronin could be disruptive to society; at the beginning of the Tokugawa period (the early 17th century), ronin led unsuccessful revolts against the shogunate. The most famous ronin were the 47 whose actions were celebrated in the kabuki play Chushingura. By avenging their lord's death in defiance of a shogunal order forbidding the vendetta, the 47 ronin, who were subsequently forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide), came to be seen as embodiments of the ideals of bushido, the warrior's code.

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