Origin of the Samurai

Origin

Nov 18, 646

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm After the Taika reforms in 646 A.D., a class of highly skilled warriors called the Samurai started to develop in Japan. The reforms supported an elaborate Chinese-style empire and resulted to small farmers selling their lands and work as tenant farmers. A few large landholders started gaining power and money and creating a feudal system. The system crumbled in only a few centuries. The new feudal lords needed warriors to protect their riches. This made the bushi (Samurai warrior) to be born.

Begining and end of the Samurai

Period: Nov 18, 646 to Nov 18, 1877

End of the Heian Era

Nov 21, 1156

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm When Emperor Toba died without no successor, the imperial line received a hard blow in its power in 1156. The Hogen Rebellion begins which is the Emperor’s sons, Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa, fought in a civil war for the title of Emperor. As a result they both would be emperors lost and the imperial office lost all the power it had left.

Rise of Samurai Rule

Nov 21, 1160

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm The Minamoto and Taira samurai clans rose to power during the civil war. They fought each other in the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. The Taira won and established the first samurai-led government (shogunate), with the emperor as a figurehead. The Minamoto were banished from Kyoto.

Kamakura Period

Nov 21, 1180

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm The two clans fought again in the Genpei War (1180-1185), which the Minamoto clan being the victor. Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate that ruled the land of Japan until 1333. Kamakura never conquered western and northern areas of Japan even though they are powerful.

Kamakura Period

Nov 21, 1281

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm Kublai Khan, the ruler of Yuan China, wanted tribute from Japan. Kyoto refused and the Mongols attacked in 1274 with 600 ships but were destroyed by a typhoon. In the second invasion in 1281 they had the same problem.

Fall of the Kamakura

Nov 21, 1333

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm The shogan faced challenges from Emperor Go-Daigo in 1318 since they were unable to offer land or money to the samurai leaders. The emperor was exiled in 1331, but came back and overthrew the Shogunate in 1333.

Early Muromachi (Ashikaga) Period

Nov 21, 1336

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm The Ashikaga Shogunate under Ashikaga Takauji in 1336, brought back samurai rule but it ended up being weaker than the Kamakura. Regional constables (daimyo) obtained a massive amount of power, messing with the shogunate's succession.

Later Muromachi Period

Nov 21, 1464

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htmThe daimyo were ignoring the shogun’s orders in 1460, and putting different successors to the imperial throne. When Ashikaga Yoshimasa(the shogun) had resigned in 1464, conflicts between his younger brother and his son which made even more conflict among the daimyo.

Later Muromachi Period

Nov 21, 1467

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm In 1467, the Onin War began. The war burned Kyoto to the ground. The war led directly to Japan's Sengoku (Warring States Period). Daimyo led their clans in a fight for national dominance between the years of daimyo led their clans in a fight for national dominance.

Azuchi-Momoyama Period

Nov 21, 1582

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm The Sengoku began to end in 1568, when Oda Nobunaga(the warlord) defeated three other daimyo, marched into Kyoto, and made Yoshiaki into a shogun. Nobunaga spent the next 14 years try to defeat the other rival daimyo and making rebellions by fractious Buddhist monks.

Restoration of Order

Nov 21, 1597

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm Nobunaga was assassinated by his general named Akechi Mitsuhide in 1582. His other general Hideyoshi ruled as kampaku (regent). In 1592 and 1597, Hideyoshi invaded Korea.

Edo Period

Nov 21, 1600

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm Hideyoshi had exiled the Tokugawa clan from Kyoto to the Kanto region in western Japan. In 1598 the Taiko died, and Tokugawa Ieyasu had conquered the other western daimyo from his castle at Edo(later to be called Tokyo) by 1600.

Edo Period

Nov 21, 1605

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm Hidetada(Ieyasu's son) became the shogun in 1605, giving 250 years of relative peace and stability for Japan. Tokugawa shoguns forcing the samurai to either serve their lords in the cities, or give up their swords and farm. This made samurais a hereditary class of cultured bureaucrats.

Meiji Restoration

Nov 21, 1868

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm Meiji Restoration in, 1868, signaled the beginning of the end for the samurai. The Meiji Emperor did away with the samurai thanks to public support, and moved the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo.

The Decline of the Samurai

Nov 21, 1877

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm The new government created a drafted army in 1873. Most of the officers were drawn from the ranks of former samurai. Angry ex-samurai revolted against the Meiji in the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877. They lost in the Battle of Shiroyama, and the samurai era came to an end.

Early Feudal Era

Mar 2, 2022

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm Some Samurai are hired warriors while the others are related to the landowners. Even over family loyalty, the Samurai code is to emphasized loyalty to one's master. Family members or financial dependents were the most loyal to their lords.

Early Feudal Era Samurai

Mar 2, 2022

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/SamuraiProfile.htm The weak emperors of the Heian Dynasty (794-1185), in the 900’s, lost control of Japan. The country was driven by revolt. The emperor soon only had power in the capital. The warriors then moved in to fill in the power. The Samurai held both military and political power over most of Japan.