Logo

Samurai off the Battlefield

As evidenced in the NCMA’s eye-opening Samurai exhibition (closing February 2), these elite men were not simply warriors: as the ruling status group of Japan for centuries, samurai impacted Japanese history far beyond just martial matters. The participation of warrior clans in Japanese government increased around the 12th century, and different samurai families ruled the country in war and in peace during the Kamakura (1185–1333), Ashikaga (1336–1573), and Tokugawa (1603–1868) shogunates. During each of these periods, samurai were producers and patrons of developments in Japanese culture, including poetry, Buddhism, and the tea ceremony. The role of the samurai status group in Japanese history cannot be explained without reference to activities off the battlefield.
Food for thought. LEFT: Japanese, Brief explanation of the Amida Sutra (Amida kyō ryakkai zen), Edo period, 1657, paper, fiber thread, 10 5/8 × 7 1/2 in., Collection of Matthew Hayes; RIGHT: Japanese, Adapted Lay Ritual Protocols in the Shingon School (Shingonshū zaike gongyō hōsoku wage), Meiji period, 1881, paper and fiber thread, 8 7/8 × 5 15/16 in., Collection of Matthew Hayes; BOTTOM: Japanese, Lotus Sutra printing block [Chapters 21 and 22], Edo period, 1603–1868, wood, H. 33 7/8 × W. 5 1/2 × D. 13/16 in., Collection of Rubenstein Library, Duke University; Photo: Caroline Rocheleau

The Kamakura period saw samurai participation in the arts and the rise of peacetime warrior administration. In 1185, after an extended power struggle that involved both war and political maneuvering, the Minamoto samurai clan established the Kamakura shogunate, Japan’s first military government. The shogunates, so-called because of the warrior ruler’s title of shogun, sidelined the emperor into a figurehead role, with a samurai shogun ruling nationally. As the samurai took over politics, many of them played important roles in culture and religion: for example, warriors wrote poetry featured in major anthologies, such as the Shinkokinshū, compiled around 1205, and supported the development of branches of Buddhism, like Zen.

The political power of local samurai leaders was most prominent under the Ashikaga shoguns, and during this period samurai continued to heavily contribute to Japanese culture. The shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358–1408) became a Buddhist monk after his retirement and ordered the creation of the Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, one of Japan’s most famous religious sites. Underneath the shoguns, numerous local samurai lords wielded significant political power, especially during the chaotic Warring States period (much of the 15th and 16th centuries), when shogunal rule broke down and local lords violently vied for power. However, a warlike period did not mean samurai were exclusively focused on the battlefield: for example, two of Japan’s “Great Unifiers,” Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, both patronized the influential tea ceremony master Sen no Rikyū.

Tea for two. Japanese, Kettle for tea ceremony (chanoyu), Edo period, circa 1800–68, iron, 12 × 9 in., Collection of Gary Grose; LEFT: Japanese, Tea bowl, late 18th century, glazed earthenware, Hagi ware, 2 15/16 × 5 5/16 in., Ackland Museum of Art, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Gift of Herbert and Ellen-Fairbanks Bodman (86.68); RIGHT: Japanese, Tea bowl, 17th century, glazed earthenware, Karatsu ware, 3 7/16 × 5 1/8 in., Ackland Museum of Art, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Gift of Herbert and Ellen-Fairbanks Bodman (86.61); Photo: Caroline Rocheleau

Following the reunification of Japan in the 16th century, the role of the samurai as peacetime bureaucrats and producers of culture was most prominent during the extended peace of the Tokugawa period. Many Tokugawa period samurai practiced pastimes that expressed warrior status off the battlefield, such as martial arts and hunting. For example, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun and Japan’s third unifier, was particularly captivated by falconry. Additionally, literacy and print media boomed during the Tokugawa period, and the lack of war allowed more samurai to become experts in poetry, Chinese classics, the tea ceremony, Japanese religious traditions, and other subjects.

While popular images of samurai focus on swords, bows, and battles, samurai were a diverse group of elites who, while always holding a martial identity, were also politicians, administrators, scholars, poets, and more. There is much to be said about the samurai status group and its impact on Japanese history far beyond the scope of war alone.

Picture of Jack Snyder
Jack Snyder is a student at UNC–Chapel Hill majoring in history and Asian studies.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top