Samurai

or bushi (武士, [bɯ.ɕi]) were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who served the Kuge and imperial court in the late 12th century, and eventually came to play a major political role until their abolition in the late 1870s during the Meiji era.

In the Heian period, powerful regional clans were relied on to put down rebellions. After power struggles, the Taira clan defeated the Minamoto clan in 1160. After the Minamoto defeated the Taira in 1185, Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate, a parallel government that did not surplant the imperial court. The warriors who served the Shogunate were called gokenin, landholding warriors whose retainers were called samurai. Gokenin were regulated by the Samurai dokoro.

During the Sengoku Period, the term was vague and some samurai owned land, others were retainers or mercenaries. Many served as retainers to lords (including ''daimyo''). There was a great increase in the number of men who styled themselves samurai by virtue of bearing arms. During the Edo period, 1603 to 1868, they were mainly the stewards and chamberlains of the ''daimyo'' estates, roles they had also filled in the past. During the Edo period, they came to represent a hereditary class. On the other hand, from the mid-Edo period, and farmers could be promoted to the samurai class by being adopted into families or by serving in offices, and low-ranking samurai could be transferred to lower social classes, such as ''chōnin'', by changing jobs.

In the 1870s, samurai families comprised 5% of the population. As modern militaries emerged in the 19th century, the samurai were rendered increasingly obsolete and very expensive to maintain compared to the average conscript soldier. The Meiji Restoration formally abolished the status, and most former samurai became Shizoku. This allowed them to move into professional and entrepreneurial roles. Provided by Wikipedia