Previous   Next
Home » Images » 0051 Pictures From History » CPA0025269

Japan: Muramatsu Santaifu Fujiwara no Takanao, from the series 'Biographies of the Faithful Samurai'. Utagawa Yoshitora (active c.1850-1880), 1866

Japan: Muramatsu Santaifu Fujiwara no Takanao, from the series 'Biographies of the Faithful Samurai'. Utagawa Yoshitora (active c.1850-1880), 1866

Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.

The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.

Quick links to other images in this gallery: