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In my opinion, I think that I barely understand what it takes to be a samurai. I use my real life events to try to understand what it's like to be a samurai. I use the stress of study for test as a way to understand the mental thoughts going through a samurai when they prepare for battle.

I feel that I can never be samurai due to the fact that there are many risk involving it. I mean first off I have a 50 percent chance if my master would be nice or straight up rude. Then there is a chance that I might die the month I become a samurai . Then there is a chance that I might be dishonorable, and have to do the ritual suicide. So I could chat on the possibilities, that would happen but I think you got the idea.

Then finally I think I will use the samurai's concept of loyalty that can be applied to my life. And by using the concept of it I mean just using part of the purpose of the master-student loyalty. So I would just be loyal to the people that I care about, and by being loyal to them I mean that I would help them and try to be a good person to them.

So even though I don't really approve all the ways of the samurai, I can still try to understand them and use some of their ways and change some concepts to fit my style.

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When a samurai prepares for battle, has to do many task to be ready. First of all he has get the many armor parts to keep him protected from the many attack. After putting on his armor, he gets his weapons to fight in the battle. After that when everyone is ready to attack, they attack.
In my opinion I think I don't have what it takes to be a samurai. To start, at a young age, I have to know physical training, poetry, as well as I need to learn discipline. Also as a samurai, I don't make m own desicions for war, only my leader can take control of me. Also to be a samurai I have to follow the Bushido code that makes me do ritual suicide if I fail my master.
One trait of a samurai that I can apply on me is to put loyal service to people above. What I mean by that is that I will respect my family members that are older than me.

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Calvin

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Being in the battle field I can smell the enemy's trail. The smell of  the enemy is like boiling water shivering up my spine. In the aftermath, I smell victory as well as the blood of defeat in the enemy.

Smelling the enemy's trail their tension is rising up like boiling water. Smelling the rising tension, I can tell they are ready to fight me.

In the aftermath of winning the battle, some of the enemy lost their life causing me to cut off their head. Smelling  the blood of the enemy shows that I won.

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There are many things that I hear while being a samurai. Some of them can be peaceful like while meditating I can only hear soft breezes, and then there are other times when I can hear a war horn outside my house, and then the cries/yells of samurai.

While meditating it is one of the best things a samurai can ask for. I get to relax and reflect on my problems, and relaxing is a rare thing when my town gets attacked every week and a half, so it is literally a gift from heavens. Not only did it help my emotions but it helps me focus in battle.

Then when I hear the war horn, a million thoughts go through my head. "... A samurai would rather die in battle than betray his master" (MEMT 239). That quote there is what I think most of because I'm wondering if I would dies that day or have to betray my master, or just flee.

Now that saddest bit of hearing, the cries of other samurai. When I  am hearing this things I am usually predicting that they will die, or be seriously injured.             "Japanese soldiers frequently choose to fight to the death rather than accept defeat or capture" (MEMT 239). Then I have heard people yelling to charge ahead and recklessly getting wrecked.

Overall, this hearings have affected me negatively and positively throughout my years of being a samurai.

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Feel-  After finishing my training I am ready for war. Feeling the tense air blowing on me I went to get my armor. Getting my chest plate on I tied on the" leather cords"(DBQ Document D). Feeling the straps being tightly raped around me, I feel safe on my upper area. Feeling the many iron plates that surrounded me I went to get the lower part of my armor. Putting on the skirt to protect my legs from the iron  and leather  thigh protection. Putting on my arm straps on my left arm get all the protect, so my" right are felt free to move around for my bow" (DBQ Document D). Getting the helmet, it was tight, but it was made by many iron plates to protected my head. Putting on my mask. Having a full set of armor on me I now feel confident to go to battle. Coming outside, it was raining. Overtime I felt" heavier and heavier due to that my silk cords" (DBQ Document D) that held up my armor was soaking up the water from the raining making my armor heavy.

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Alvin Tran, and Calvin Cao
Per:5
12/11/19

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After becoming a samurai, now I gotta follow the Bushido code that my ancestors did. Seeing  the codes of Bushido, there are some rules I need to understand. One of the rules I saw was to put" loyal service to my master"(DBQ Document E) and above. Seeing this rule, I must follow my leader's rules as well as sacrifice my life to protect him. Learning that I have to sacrifice I saw how to sacrifice myself if I failed my leader. to die honorably Getting out my Wakizashi my master showed me,  He demonstrated (not actually doing it) to stab yourself in the abdomine and moving it across my body to go up  to my kidneys. After that he showed me that I should have peace and to always have my weapon on me.  Also to become unavoidably" involved in obligation between father and child, older and younger, brother, and husband and wife"(DBQ Document E).Seeing his words I now understand the Bushido Code I gotta do like what my ancestor did. Now I see how to be a samurai with honor.

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Training is the most important aspect for me. " The rigorous training (of a samurai) ... began in childhood ... (S)chool was a unique combination of physical training ... poetry and spiritual discipline" (DBQ Document C).  At around age 5, I studied a lot of Kendo (which is the martial art o f fencing, but with bamboo sticks). Then one of the most exciting thing happened in my life, " (At about age 14 the trainees officially became samurai in a ceremony called genpuku. (Document C).
I officially became a samurai at 13 actually, and thanks to most of the training to my father and older brothers.

Some of the training I feel that was important was archery, sword, and horse riding because  us samurai were known for our horse-riding archery skills, and everybody knows that our swords are our greatest weapon.

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5-As a samurai
7-There is a Bushido code
5-Honor your leader
7-Sacrifice to discipline
7-Understand morality

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I have 3 kinds of beliefs/religion that influence and impact my life. They are Shinto, Confucianism, and Zen Buddhism (Information from  "What Were the Beliefs of the Samurai?").

Confucianism had a huge impact on me, particularly the practice of seppuku (ritual suicide which is committed if I am dishonorable) being heavily influenced by Confucianism.

(Information from " What is Shintoism? How did it influence Samurai Culture in J") Shinto impacted as much as Confucianism due to it influencing me to have a sense of loyalty to my masters above me and my country, Japan. Shinto also may be the reason why people look down on ronin (samurai without masters), because now those samurai (thankfully not me) have no honor.

Finally there is Zen Buddhism, which helps me to be an effective warrior that doesn't do cruel actions, it helps me be focused in combat, so I have tunnel vision whenever I am in combat.

These religions help me set goals for myself and helps me be a better person.

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I have a variety of weapons to choose from to fight, some of the common weapons that I use to fight are: The Yari (bladed steel spears), Yumi (bamboo bows),  Katana (long sword),  and the Wakizashi (short sword/dagger).

The Yumi is 7-10 feet long, it is made out of bamboo, wood, rattan, and leather. The ammunition for it is bamboo arrows with a metal tip, and it has a range of 330 feet.

Then there is the Yari, a spear which has the components of a handle and a one- edged blade, there are other designs (for the blade) but the design earlier mentioned is the most common one. In Japan, there is martial art that I learned, is centered around the Yari named sōjutsu ("art of the spear") , (Information used from "Overview of the Japanese Yari").

Now finally there are the swords that I use, the most popular one is the Katana, and the shorter sword, Wakizashi, used for Honor Suicide. The Katana's blade has a soft steel core and a very hard steel exterior.

Now if you excuse me I'm going to be training with these weapons, especially sōjutsu.

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Since as a samurai, I don't really taste anything important that will change my life. So the only thing I can talk about is what I taste figuratively, which is victory, defeat, and emotion.

First off, I can taste victory when I am in battle. I can taste the victory whenever I confidently believe that I will win a fight, but I don't just not try, I try even harder because I just want the battle to be over (also that will be not a smart decision.

Then when I can taste the verge of defeat I try to fight harder but I keep losing hope. Like in the second quote in the 5 senses (hear), us samurai almost never give up.

Other times I feel that I can taste one of my emotions overpowering my other ones and making me do strange things. It's like when you put too much salt on your food and then you have to eat it because you don't want to waste the food. So that is what I think it is like.

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https://www.martialartswords.com/blogs/articles/overview-of-the-japanese-yari

https://dailyhistory.org/What_Were_the_Beliefs_of_the_Samurai%3F

https://www.history.com/topics/japan/samurai-and-bushido

https://prezi.com/nx11qkpiqt3v/what-is-shintoism-how-did-it-influence-samurai-culture-in-j/

https://people.howstuffworks.com/samurai2.htm