2007-11-15 07:44:18 · 7 answers · asked by messedupvampire 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
The role is fairly analogous to the European Knight, except that it is more of a caste, than a rank. They are usually retainers/vassals of a Daiymo, a feudal lord.
2007-11-15 07:48:39 · answer #1 · answered by S P 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What WERE the role of the samurai, you mean... the samurai no longer exist, other than in memory and in the ethics and poetry of their way of life, currently immortalized in popularity. They were a class of warrior elite who served under a daimyo, or regional lord, which in turn answered to the shogun of the time (the shogun was something of a prince and a general, but not an emporer--the shogunate was determined by the royal family). The rank-and-file was similar to European feudalism, if you consider the shogun to be the king, the daimyo to be the dukes and higher nobility, and the samurai to be the lower nobility serving in the knighthood of their regional daimyo. The samurai occasionally organized against their daimyo or even their shogun, and were later stripped of many of their rights to prevent any uprisings against the shogunate, which led to a focus on the tenets of bushido, something which wasn't quite as strictly adhered to by the samurai in earlier times. The coming of Western culture and the embracing of it by the emporer was what finally brought an end to the samurai in functionality and as a class; but their descendants live on, and their ideals are very much alive and held cherished by the Japanese to this day (it was a resurgence of bushido and "samurai fanaticism" that helped get the Japanese to the point of the supreme imperialism they exhibited during World War II).
2007-11-15 17:08:34 · answer #2 · answered by ಠ__ಠ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The samurai were a warrior class that comprised the military nobility of Japan. They were at times quite wealthy, but served under a lord, called a daimyo, who served the Shogun.
2007-11-15 15:47:38 · answer #3 · answered by alaisin13 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Samurai were a social class of elite military forces in the Japanese middle ages. Initially, they protected powerful landowners. Later, they served to consolidate the many Japanese provences.
2007-11-15 15:52:08 · answer #4 · answered by pumpkin head 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Samurais were mercenaries. Hired by a Warlord to do his bidding. Under Shoguns they became part of a Shoguns army
2007-11-15 16:14:00 · answer #5 · answered by Roderick F 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
At this point in time they don't exist, in Japan.
Apart from a few "wanna be" modern day copies trying to imitate a forgotten and long out of use warrior "elite".
2007-11-15 16:23:36 · answer #6 · answered by conranger1 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
History of the samura...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai
2007-11-15 15:56:02 · answer #7 · answered by spartan 117 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋