Japanese Feudalism :

•Again, society was organized under a rigid class system with no social mobility. 

•The shogun (like the king) ruled the country through the daimy0 (like the nobles), who were the heads of the samurai (like the knights). 

•Poor farmers paid the daimyos taxes for the right to farm their lands. In exchange, the daimyos used his samurais to protect these poor farmers.

•a hereditary military dictator of Japan; the shoguns ruled Japan until the revolution of 1867-68

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lord in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings. In the term, "dai"| 大 literally means "large", and "myō" stands for | 名田 |myōden, meaning private land.

a Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal military aristocracy

1. Way of the Warrior", is a name in common usage since the late 19th century which is used to describe a unique Japanese code

2. The first person to popularize the term “bushido” in the west was Japanese author Nitobe Inazo

The katana is characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single edged blade, circular or squared guard, and long grip to accommodate two hands

Long before the term "samurai" came into usage, Japanese fighters were skilled with the sword and spear. These warriors included some women, such as the legendary Empress Jingu (c. 169-269 A.D.), pictured here leading an invasion of Korea.According to the stories, Jingu was married to the fourteenth emperor of Japan, Chuai, who reigned between 192 and 200. After his death, she ruled as a regent for her young son. To pass the time, she invaded and conquered Korea (without shedding a drop of blood, according to the legend).

The samurai's hair was an important part of his appearance, and most texts and house-codes of the samurai make reference to the importance of its neat appearance. The traditional hairstyle (for the better part of a thousand years) was the topknot, a fashion by no means exclusive to the samurai. Nearly everyone, with the exception of Buddhist priests, wore topknots, making the genesis of this style nearly impossible to guess at it with authority. There is reference to the use of topknots in ancient China, and it might have been one of the many cultural imports introduced to Japan between the Asuka-Nara and Heian Periods.

In 1877 it came to open military conflicts. The rebels were lead by Saigo Takamori. It was a clash of brave fighters equipped with inferior weapons against a modern army with Western technology and trained in modern Western warfare. 60,000 government troops faced 20,000 rebels. After several lost battles Saigo and 300 die-hard samurai had retreated to the hills of Shiroyama near their hometown of Kagoshima. Exhausted and without ammunition and food, the last samurai knew that they had no chance. In the morning hours of September 24, 1877 the artillery shelling by the government forces began. Saigo Takamori was wounded and committed suicide in samurai tradition - the last samurai beheaded each other. Saigo Takamori became a hero for the Japanese. The victorious government made a clever move many years later. They pardoned Saigo posthumously and honored him as a national hero. Samurai in Modern Japan