answersLogoWhite

0

Samurai were soldiers for their Shoguns (lords of the Japanese feudal period). But, they did not fight 24/7/365. They obviously trained between combat or conflicts, but they were also husbands and fathers, teachers and craftsmen, artists, writers, and poets. The Samurai epitomized single combat with the ubiquitous katana (or nihontō, the older form and name given to exclusively Japanese blades to discriminate them from western swords), and typically two other blades, the tanto (a dagger), and the wakisachi or kodachi (a short sword or long dagger similar in length to the Highland dirk).

Samurai trained with masters as apprentices, and during the period between when they had finished training to when they were accepted into a lord's house, they carried the designation Ronin. Ronin were also masterless Samurai who had been de-privileged by their Shogun, or one whose Shogun had fallen in battle or lost his position due to a defeat in combat. Ronin often became wanderers, working as migrants or traveling craftsmen, but also hired out for personal security sometimes for traveling merchants.

The Samurai culture was dominated by Bushido, a chivalrous system of honor and integrity. Bushido carried nearly the weight of law in most of life, and in some ways more closely resembled a religion or philosophy.

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago

What else can I help you with?