WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The term “samurai” comes from the Japanese word saburau, meaning “to serve, ‘’ and was first used in A.D. 702 to describe mid-to-low-ranking court administrators and, later, armed imperial guards. Their title was mostly metaphorical, referring to their loyalty to the emperor.

Detailed explanation-2: -As servants of the daimyos, or great lords, the samurai backed up the authority of the shogun and gave him power over the mikado (emperor). The samurai would dominate Japanese government and society until the Meiji Restoration of 1868 led to the abolition of the feudal system.

Detailed explanation-3: -The samurai class, “shimin, ‘’ formed Japan’s top elite, and were the only caste granted the privilege of wearing two swords and having two names-a family and a first name. The shoguns and daimyo lords were members of the shimin caste.

Detailed explanation-4: -Samurai, member of the Japanese warrior caste. The term samurai was originally used to denote the aristocratic warriors (bushi), but it came to apply to all the members of the warrior class that rose to power in the 12th century and dominated the Japanese government until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Detailed explanation-5: -Samurai means ‘to serve or wait on’ and refers to the hereditary military-elite class of Japan. The word itself immediately conjures images of ferocious warriors whose devotion to their craft was equal to the loyalty to the shogun or daimyo. For centuries the samurai ruled over the four main islands of Japan.