[Debi]

That is an interesting debate.

If you don't care, I'd like to give my own insight on the topic.


About samurai.

There seems to be a lot of stereotypes and misconception about what is really a samurai.

First, samurai are an hereditary class. You don't become samurai, you are born samurai. So it mean there was all kind of samurais. That also mean there was also some very weak samurai.

The vision of the fearless and virtuous samurai who would commit seppuku after a defeat is pretty much the supreme ideal of what a samurai should be.
In fact, only a minority of samurai would be like that.

Whoever said samurai were praised is wrong. They were feared and respected because of they power and their superior social class
Of course, some were praised for their righteous virtue, but in overall they were considered as arrogants by the lower classes and not so very liked.

The Samurai code, the Bushido, was part of the samurai education. They were told all the virtues they had to follow; loyalty, honor, courage, ect.

It doesn't mean they were all following that code perfectly.
For exemple, while loyalty is the most important of the bushido virtue, there were lots of betrayal and side switching during the Warring states period.
Also, the bushido was saying that if a samurai became lordless, he should immediately commit seppuku. But after major battles where a clan was destroyed, most of the samurai who fought for that clan in fact turned Ronin.

Hara kiri was more a way to preserve oneself honor when he failed or did a mistake. In a situation where there was no other choice, a samurai would prefer to kill himself than to live in the disgrace of everyone. It was also a way to preserve the name of the family.

Of course some were more virtuous than others but in overall, the code was more like a line of conduct than established rules to follow.

Some people think that samurai were fighting only with swords.
The fact is that every samurai had to wear the 2 swords (Daisho) but they fought with a lot of different weapons in battle.
Spear, Pike, Naginata, Bo, Bow, Flail, even Musquet. And a lots more.
Of course a lot of them were fighting with their swords but not all of them.

I could say a lot more but i guess that's enough.


As for the ninja, I'll leave the topic to someone else

Jaa !