what was the most important value in the life of a samurai?[gold or honor]?

Answer 1

Interestingly, homosexuality was a key value in the way of the samurai.

Read these for starters:

The Beautiful Way: The ever-so-slightly hidden history of Japan's gay samurai
http://www.seekjapan.jp/article-1/812/The+Beautiful+Way

Secrets of Japan
http://www.stthomasu.ca/~parkhill/cj01/irepam.htm

The Beautiful Way of the Samurai
http://www.androphile.org/preview/Culture/Japan/japan.htm

Homosexuality and the Samurai, all the proof you need that fags can kick ***
http://www.8bm.com/diatribes/volume02/034/692.htm

The Way of the Samurai
http://members.aol.com/matrixwerx/glbthistory/samarai.htm

Samurai were involved in plenty of other swordplay that these days seems conveniently forgotten in Japan. Gay warriors indeed.

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Answer 2

Honor, however toward the end of the Samurai era many samurai were so poor that they'd do anything for gold (though the majority of the samurai's most important value was honor)

Answer 3

Honor

Answer 4

Honor

Answer 5

Honor, loyalty, etc. The virtues were
* 義 – Gi – Rectitude
* 勇 – YÅ« – Courage
* 仁 – Jin – Benevolence
* 礼 – Rei – Respect
* 誠 – Makoto or ä¿¡ - Shin– Honesty
* 名誉 – Meiyo – Honor, Glory
* 忠義 – ChÅ«gi – Loyalty

Money does not enter the equation.
Honor has a slightly different connotation than it might have in the West, where upholding honor also involves being very sensitive to personal insult and taking revenge for it.

Samurai were a hereditary class, like Knights in medieval Europe.
They alone were allowed to ride horses (the higher samurais) and to carry two swords.

See articles on Bushido, as in my reference

Answer 6

samurai household finances were the affairs of the wife (much like today with a number of salarymen). A samurai was not suppose to think of trivial matters such as money.

Samurai subsisted on an income and were not expected to make money. During the Edo Period, the merchant classes rose in power due to their fortunes. Many samurai became in debt to merchants and some were force to sell their swords to cover those debts

Answer 7

Honor, or at least the appearance thereof. Have you seen the movie "Harakiri?"
I heard somewhere that samurai never carried money w them and did not have pockets. On the other hand, I've seen lots of movies where they pay for stuff just like anyone else.

Answer 8

Honor. I've never heard of them having anything to do with gold.

Answer 9

Apparently it was the honor, but I'm sure they loving the gold.