Which date back further in Japan - Ninja or Samurai?

Answer 1

Some of you people are complete and TOTAL IDIOTS. Every time I read a question related to Japanese history of any period, I run across you morons whose knowledge of anything Japanese stems from watching movies like "The Challenge" or "American Ninja". Watching you idiots butcher my heritage is both unpleasant and disgusting.

Here's the answer:

Samurai were a professional military caste that reached the pinnacle of their form from the 10th through the 19th centuries A.D. - they are also known more properly as "Bushi" or "Mononofu" in older times.

The word "Samurai" wasn't even in use until the 16th century. During the Nara Period of the 8th century A.D., it was "Samoraf", during the Kamakura Shogunate of the 12th through 14th centuries A.D., it was "Saburai". Many variations exist; the etymological root is said to actually be Korean, and means "fighting man". "Bushi" on the other hand is more akin to "Military Official" or "Armed Nobility".

The origin of the Samurai caste is from the Heian period of the 8th through 9th centuries. Government mismanagement and the ensuing peasant rebellions required the existing landowner families to retain large numbers or experienced fighting men who kept order. Eventually, these fighting men surpassed the old aristocracies, gradually supplanting them through marriage or taking over titles outright. Once this happened, the samurai gradually developed both a comprehensive military training system and became cultured and literate (previous to this, they were little more than illiterate armed thugs). By the 11th century, the Samurai assumed the form most commonly seen in period dramas and literature, when they became a true professional and scholarly military caste, trained from infancy in the fine arts and martial virtues both.

Ninja, on the other hand (the name means “Patient Ones”, and the English Wikipedia page is, once again, WRONG) originated from the Kamakura Period referenced earlier (12th – 14th centuries A.D.) through to the 19th century. There were two types, loosely translated: “Shadow” Ninja whose tasks were infiltration for the purposes of gathering information and engaging in sabotage; and “Day” Ninja whose tasks were to remain in public view and engage in propaganda and psychological operations. Hollywood and the West only seem to recognize one kind.

Ninja are also known by a wide variety of regional names, such as “Rappa”, “Suppa”, and by clan names. The need for Ninja emerged under the Kamakura Shogunate because under a strong central military dictatorship, fighting between regional lords for advantage became both difficult and invited the wrath of the Shogun. The regional lords then developed a need for covert action along a full spectrum, from spreading disinformation about military and economic capabilities, to espionage on rival troop and economic strengths, to sabotage and very rarely, assassination.

The Samurai and Ninja, are thus contemporaries of one another. The Samurai cannot be called such without their training in literacy and fine arts which only truly reached noticeable proportions during the Kamakura Shogunate and its enforced period of peace (since that selfsame literacy and appreciation of fine arts enables the Samurai to write tactical treatises and hone their mind for calm focus in battle) and the Ninja would not have been necessary without the Kamakura Shogunate enforcing limits on combat between rival lords.

The rest of you with your answers ... how you think you’re qualified to even comment with such garbage is beyond reason.

Answer 2

Hi. Esoteric question, but I think I can help. Technically, the samurai. The warrior caste goes back to the earliest parts of Japanese society. That professional class of warrior began as a rough group of bodyguards for a village warlord. Only later did it merge in all of its complexity. The ninja, as a trained assassin, came later as a technical development. Therefore, the samurai predated the ninja.

Answer 3

Samurai, there were too many samurai and not enough employment. Some became hired assassins, they became known as Ninja. They portray themselves as everyday workers or everyday people, they fit into the background so that they will not be notice. Objective, get close to the victim for the kill.

Answer 4

in Ancient china, long before the Ninja, there was a secret society of assassin/spies called, if memory serves me right, Lei Han... the Green Leaf Society... they are believed to be the precursors of the Ninja.. They were called Green Leaves due to their wearing green as camouflage due to the forests of China.. They were used much as the Ninja... You have more than likely heard of Nin-jitsu but the Ninja had a Nin-po which means Shadow Hand and has evidence to have been derived from Chuan Fa a Chinese system which means Fist Law

Answer 5

Samuri,later a branch of Samuris divided to form the Ninjas who were considered weaker.

Answer 6

Samuri

Answer 7

samurai, according to historical facts

Answer 8

easy....samurai......the ninja were peasants who were tired of being under the rule of the shogunate.

Answer 9

samurai

Answer 10

samurai