Samurai

Definitions: Samurai

Samurai

Noun

1. A Japanese warrior who was a member of the feudal military aristocracy.

2. Feudal Japanese military aristocracy.

Date "samurai" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1907. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Samurai

Domain	Definitions
Computing	Samurai n. A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for factions in corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases, and other parties with legitimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith. In 1991, mainstream media reported the existence of a loose-knit culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems, mostly bright teenagers with personal micros; they have modeled themselves explicitly on the historical samurai of Japan and on the "net cowboys" of William Gibson's cyberpunk novels. Those interviewed claim to adhere to a rigid ethic of loyalty to their employers and to disdain the vandalism and theft practiced by criminal crackers as beneath them and contrary to the hacker ethic; some quote Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of Five Rings", a classic of historical samurai doctrine, in support of these principles. See also sneaker, Stupids, social engineering, cracker, hacker ethic, and dark-side hacker. Source: Jargon File.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Samurai

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Samurai (侍 or sometimes 士) is a common term for a warrior in pre-industrial Japan. A more appropriate term is bushi (武士), literally "war-man", that came into use during the Edo period. However, samurai now usually refers to warrior nobility, not, for example, ashigaru or foot soldiers. The samurai who has no attachment to a clan or daimyo to call his own was called a ronin, "wave-man".

Etymology of Samurai

The word samurai has its origins in the pre-Heian period Japan when it was pronounced saburai, meaning servant or attendant. It was not until the early modern period, namely the Azuchi-Momoyama period and early Edo period of the late 16th and early 17th centuries that the word saburai became substituted with samurai. However, by then, the meaning had already long before changed.

Origin of the Samurai

During the Heian period, saburai came to refer especially to the guards of the imperial palace and to those who carried swords. These forerunners of what we now know as samurai had ruler-sponsored equipment and were required to hone their martial skills in all times.

However, the actual armies of the emperor on the other hand, were nothing but groups of conscripts assigned to provincial areas of Japan in case of war or rebellion. They were modeled after continental Chinese armies and were composed by a third of the able-bodied adult male population, however, in contrast to the imperial guards, each soldier had to supply his own weapons and support himself.

In the early Heian, the late 8th and early 9th centuries, the emperor Kammu sought to consolidate and expand his empire in northern Honshu. He sent his armies to conquer the rebelling Emishi (ancestors of Ainu) which proved unsuccessful due to their lack of motivation and discipline to fight. He introduced the title of shogun and began to rely on the powerful regional clans to conquer the Emishi.

These clans originally were farmers that had been driven to arm and protect themselves from the tyranny of the imperially appointed magistrates sent to govern their lands and collect taxes. Trained in mounted combat and archery, they came to be exclusively used by the emperor to put down rebellions, while the armies were eventually fully disbanded. By the mid-Heian, they had adopted Japanese style armor and weapons and laid the foundation of bushido.

For most of the later feudal period, the era of the rule of the samurai, term yumitori (“bowman”) remained as an honorary title of an accomplished warrior even when swordsmanship had become more important. Kyujutsu, Japanese archery, is still an important part of the war god Hachiman.

Rise of the Samurai

Originally these warriors were little else than hired soldiers in the employ of the emperor and noble clans. But slowly they gathered enough power to eventually usurp the power of the emperor and establish the first samurai dominated government.

As the regional clans allied with each other and gathered manpower and resources, they formed a hierarchy centered around a toryo, or chief. This chief was a distant relative of the emperor and lesser member of one of three noble families, the Fujiwara, Minamoto, or the Taira. Though originally sent to provincial areas for a 4 year term as a magistrate, after completion of their term, knowing that they would only be able to take only sideline roles in the government, they decided to stay and not to return to Kyoto. Their sons inherited their positions and continued to lead the clans in putting down rebellions throughout Japan during the middle and later Heian.

Because of their military and economic power, the clans eventually became a new force in the politics of the court. Their involvememt in the Hogen Rebellion in the late Heian only consolidated their power and finally pit the rival Minamoto and the Taira against each other in the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. Emerging victorious, Taira no Kiyomori became an imperial advisor, the first warrior to attain such position, and eventually seized control of the central government establishing the first samurai dominated government and relegating the emperor to a mere figurehead.

Feudal Period Japan

The Taira and the Minamoto once again clashed in 1180 beginning the Gempei War which ended in 1185. The victorious Minamoto no Yoritomo once again established the superiority of the samurai and in 1190 visited Kyoto and in 1192 became Seii Taishogun, establishing the Kamakura Shogunate.

Over time, powerful samurai clans became warrior nobility (buke) who were only nominally under court aristocracy (kuge). When samurai begun to adopt aristocratic customs like calligraphy, poetry and music, some kuge also begun to adopt samurai skills. Despite of various machinations and brief periods of rule by various emperors, the real power was in the hands of the shogun and warriors.

Various samurai clans struggled for power over Kamakura and Ashikaga Shogunates. During the 14th century seppuku, the ritual suicide, became more common.

Sengoku jidai ("warring-states period") was marked by the fact that caste was still somewhat flexible. Those born into other social strata could sometimes make name for themselves as warriors and become de facto samurai. Formal bushido did not count for much when 150 warlords fought for dominance.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became a grand minister in 1586, himself the son of a poor peasant family, created a law that the samurai caste became codified as permanent and heritable, and that non-samurai were forbidden to carry weapons.

During the Tokugawa era, samurai increasingly became courtiers, bureaucrats and administrators rather than warriors and the daisho, the paired swords of samurai (katana and wakizashi) became more of a symbolic emblem of power rather than a weapon used in daily life. They still had the legal right to cut down any commoner who did not show proper respect; in what extent this right was used, is unknown. When the central government forced daimyos to cut the size of their armies, unemployed ronin actually became a social problem.

Scholars codified the bushido in its eventual form in the Tokugawa era. Also, the most famous book of kenjutsu, Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, is from this period (1643). Still, the incident of 47 samurai caused some debate about the righteousness of their actions.

Meiji Restoration

The last hurrah of original samurai was in 1867 when samurai from Choshu and Satsuma provinces defeated the shogunate forces in favor of the rule of the emperor. Emperor Meiji abolished the samurai status in favor of more modern, western-style army, retaining only the katana for officers.

Japanese soldiers still maintained some semblance of bushido all the way to the World War Two. Some samurai bloodlines like house of Honda have had influence in Japanese business and politics.

External links

Samurai Archives in http://www.samurai-archives.com/

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Samurai."

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Synonyms within Context: Samurai

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Nobility	Peer, peerage; house of lords, house of peers; lords, lords temporal and spiritual; noblesse; noble, nobleman; lord, lordling; grandee, magnifico, hidalgo; daimio, daimyo, samurai, shizoku; don, donship; aristocrat, swell, three-tailed bashaw; gentleman, squire, squireen, patrician, laureate.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Samurai

English words defined with "samurai": Bushido. (references)

Specialty definitions using "samurai": Samurai bond, Samurai market, Stupids. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Samurai" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Albanian (samurai), German (samurai), Indonesian (Japanese sword, samurai), Italian (samurai), Portuguese (samurai), Romanian (samurai), Spanish (samurai).

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Modern Usage: Samurai

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	The Way of the Samurai is one of immediacy, and it is best to dash in headlong. (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai; writing credit: Jim Jarmusch) Sparta, Rome, The Knights of Europe, the Samurai. They worship strength, because it is strength that makes all other values possible. (Enter the Dragon; writing credit: Michael Allin) But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future where my evil is law! Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku! (Samurai Jack; writing credit: Paul Waite) Find hungry samurai. (Shichinin no samurai; writing credit: Shinobu Hashimoto; Akira Kurosawa)
Lyrics	But if I did they'd have a samurai ("One Week"; performing artist: Barenaked Ladies)
Movie/TV Titles	Master Samurai (1974) Lost Samurai Sword (1970) Ju-ichinin no samurai (1966) Samurai (1965) Sanbiki no samurai (1964)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Samurai

Domain	Title
Books	Samurai Sword a Handbook (reference) The Code of the Executive: Forty-Seven Ancient Samurai Principles Essential for Twenty-First Century Leadership Success (reference) The Last Samurai (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Seven Samurai - Criterion Collection (reference) Six-String Samurai (reference) Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai (reference) Seven Samurai (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai - The Album [SOUNDTRACK] [LIVE] [EXPLICIT LYRICS] (reference) Samurai [EP] (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech	Yashica 2100DG Samurai Digital Camera (reference) Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman (reference) Soul of the Samurai (reference) Way of the Samurai (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Samurai

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Non-Fiction Usage: Samurai

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Tunisia	Recent international operations include 50 billion Japanese Yen raised through a global samurai bond issue and 55 million Yen raised on the global samurai and Yen bond markets. (references)
	Tunisia	TUNISIA'S TIMELY COMPLETION OF ITS IMF PROGRAM (1987 - 1994) AND SUBSEQUENT FISCAL CONSERVATISM HAVE WON IT INVESTMENT GRADE RATINGS FROM A NUMBER OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING STANDARD AND POORS (BBB), MOODY'S (BAA3) AND FITCH (BBB), THE GOVERNMENT SUCCESSFULLY RAISED 50 BILLION JAPANESE YEN (USD 463 MILLION) THROUGH A GLOBAL SAMURAI BOND ISSUE IN JULY 2000. A FURTHER 55 MILLION YEN WAS RAISED IN MARCH THIS YEAR ON THE GLOBAL SAMURAI AND YEN BOND MARKETS. (references)
Political Economy	TUNISIA	This has included tapping the Global Samurai Bond markets, where Tunisia successfully raised 50 billion Japanese Yen ($463 million) in July 2000 (Tunisia's first 30-year bond issuance), and a further 55 billion Yen in March 2001. Merrill Lynch International brokered the operations. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Samurai

"Samurai" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 60.00% of the time. "Samurai" is used about 55 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (plural)	60%	33	60,273
Adjective (general or positive)	21.82%	12	101,599
Noun (singular)	10.91%	6	143,867
Noun (proper)	7.27%	4	175,879
Total	100.00%	55	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expression: Samurai

Expressions using "samurai": Samurai bond ♦ Samurai market ♦ the samurai. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "samurai": quasi-samurai.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Samurai

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
samurai	2,159
samurai x	1,669
samurai sword	1,221
suzuki samurai	905
samurai jack	840
last samurai	761
the way of the samurai	377
samurai deeper kyo	306
samurai showdown	202
samurai picture	177
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Samurai

Language		Translations for "samurai"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		samurai. (various references)

Arabic		‏الساموراي تابع عسكري لنبيل ياباني. (various references)

Bulgarian		самурай. (various references)

Czech		samuraj. (various references)

Danish		Samuraimarkedet (Samurai market), Samurai obligation (Samurai bond). (various references)

Dutch		samoerai. (various references)

Esperanto		samurajo. (various references)

Finnish		Samurai-markkinat (Samurai market). (various references)

French		samouraï. (various references)

German		samurai-, samurai. (various references)

Greek		σαμουράι, ιάπωνασ στρατιωτικόσ, ιάπων στρατιωτικόσ. (various references)

Hungarian		szamuráj. (various references)

Indonesian		samurai (Japanese sword). (various references)

Italian		samurai. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		侍 (warrior). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		さむらい (warrior), ぶふ (warrior), ぶけ (military family, warrior), ぶし (knob, knot, point, tone, tune, warrior), �"ぶし (feudal warrior, fist, old hand, old soldier, species of tree resembling a magnolia, veteran), もののふ (warrior). (various references)

Pig Latin		amuraisay.(various references)

Portuguese		samurai. (various references)

Romanian		samurai. (various references)

Russian		самурай. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		samuraj. (various references)

Spanish		samurai. (various references)

Swedish		samuraj. (various references)

Thai		นัก�"าบซามูไร (มาจาก� าษาญี่ปุ่น). (various references)

Turkish		samuray. (various references)

Ukranian		самурай. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Samurai

Derivations
	Words beginning with "samurai": samurais. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Samurai" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: anuria, ashmodai, Masuria, samarai, samaria, samaurai, samauri, Sambuca, sameri, Samiran, sammurai, Samorat, Samore, Samourai, samuarai, Samuda, Samudra, samuri, samuria, samurii, sanquar, satura, saural, Saurat, Shapurji, Sigurimi. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Anagrams: Samurai

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-i-m-r-s-u"
	-1 letter: amusia, asarum.
	-2 letters: amias, amirs, arias, arums, auras, auris, maars, mairs, maria, muras, raias, ramus, simar.
	-3 letters: aims, airs, amas, amia, amir, amis, amus, aria, arms, arum, aura, maar, mair, mars, mirs, mura, raia, rami, rams, rias, rims, rums, sari, sima, sura, ursa.
	-4 letters: aas, aim, air, ais, ama, ami, amu, arm, ars, ism, mar, mas, mir, mis, mus, ram, ras, ria, rim, rum, sau, sim, sir, sri, sum.
	-5 letters: aa, ai, am, ar, as, is, ma, mi, mu, si, um, us.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-i-m-r-s-u"
	+1 letter: marsupia, samarium, samurais, simaruba, timaraus, uraemias.
	+2 letters: amaurosis, aquariums, malarious, marsupial, sacrarium, samariums, simarubas, simulacra.
	+3 letters: amateurish, amateurism, audiograms, calvariums, gradualism, hematurias, luminarias, marihuanas, marijuanas, marquisate, marsupials, naturalism, sanatorium, sanitarium, traumatise, traumatism, tularemias.
	+4 letters: admeasuring, amateurisms, aquamarines, barramundis, gradualisms, infrahumans, marquisates, maturations, microfaunas, natatoriums, naturalisms, oceanariums, pancratiums, parameciums, ragamuffins, sanatoriums, sanitariums, seminatural, submarginal, traumatised, traumatises, traumatisms, traumatizes, vanguardism.
	+5 letters: adumbrations, albuminurias, amateurishly, ambulatories, barramundies, calumniators, dramaturgies, extramusical, immeasurable, immeasurably, liquidambars, magistrature, manipulators, maquiladoras, masquerading, masturbating, masturbation, matriculants, matriculates, planetariums, submaxillary, summarizable, supraliminal, transuranium, traumatising, ultramarines, ultrarealism, unitarianism, vanguardisms.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.