Since childhood, we associate samurai with the image of a courageous, stern warrior, who, moreover, has become quite adept in philosophy and is ready to lay down a tank or two on occasion. But in reality, the military class of Japan could not boast of either the sense of duty praised by Kurosawa, or other virtues of a brave warrior.
Over the centuries, samurai gained strength and eventually became the true nobles of Japan. A unique class of warriors that made up the ruling class until the 19th century - but who were they really?
Homosexuality
Oddly enough, but the courageous samurai shared the addiction of the ancient Greeks to boys. Intimate relationships with students were called shu-do, that is, "The path of a youth." It was practiced almost until the end of the 19th century.
Traitors
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Everyone knows very well that a samurai would rather open his stomach than betray his master. Unfortunately, this is just a legend. In the era of the warring provinces (Sengoku period, second half of the 15th - beginning of the 17th), there were so many battles that if after each samurai solemnly performed seppuku, then soon there would be no samurai left. Betrayal in the ranks of the soldiers flourished: as soon as the commander made a mistake, his head was solemnly carried to the enemy.
Unemployed Warriors
But with the end of the Sengoku period, the samurai had a hard time. There was no one to chop off their heads, and the soldiers simply wandered around the country, hungry and useless. Those who managed to retrain as bodyguards survived, and many even went to the yakuza.
Bushido
We know well from the films that samurai devoted their lives to Bushido, the Way of the Warrior. However, for the slightest offense, Bushido prescribed the same punishment: to open his belly. And no, brave warriors did not value words on paper enough to follow the code without exception.
The Meiji era
Emperor Meiji came to power in 1868 and immediately began to revoke samurai powers. He stripped them of their right to be the only military force in Japan and began introducing Western-style army mobilization.
Shizoku
With the same Meiji samurai turned into shizoku, some bureaucrats with swords. Swords have been left for them so that the former warriors could punish anyone for violating their orders. Until the end of World War II, shizoku remained an important part of Japanese culture, but in 1947 they were outlawed.
Influence on culture
Despite the fact that samurai made up only 10% of the total population of the country, they have had a significant impact on Japanese culture. Moreover, today we know the Land of the Rising Sun as a stronghold of honest, courageous and merciless fighters - even if in reality things were not quite so.