The Meiji Era wanted the Samurai class to disband because it was a time of peace.
And it wanted to modernize its forces to compete or fight to equalize its force to the West countries.
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A samurai was exactly like a soldier. They were trained in many different weapons, and obeyed their daimyo (lord/commander), regardless of what the order was, so pretty much exactly like a modern-day soldier. I'm speaking of course about the samurai class in general, not individuals, as samurai were obviously very different people when compared to modern day soldiers.
Daimyo was the name for the class of people underneath the lords or emperors in Japanese feudalism. They owned land that they made farmers take care of and paid them with protection served by samurai. Samurai were paid for their services by either money or land.
A samurai's robe is called a kimono
The samurai were "hired" to defened Japan in antiant times.