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Quizzez on Growth of the Military Society

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Quizzez on Growth of the Military Society

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Join an activity with your class and find or create your own quizzes and flashcards.

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History of Japan explained in eight minutes (all periods of Japanese history documentary)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP0NoVSqyuk

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Samurai were a class of highly skilled warriors that arose in Japan after the Taika reforms of A.D. 646, which included land redistribution and heavy new taxes meant to support an elaborate Chinese-style empire. The reforms forced many small farmers to sell their land and work as tenant farmers. Over time, a few large landholders amassed power and wealth, creating a feudal system similar to that of medieval Europe. To defend their riches, Japanese feudal lords hired the first samurai warriors, or "bushi."

Early Feudal Era

Some samurai were relatives of the landowners they protected, while others were simply hired swords. The samurai code emphasized loyalty to one's master-even over family loyalty. History shows that the most loyal samurai were usually family members or financial dependents of their lords.

During the 900s, the weak emperors of the Heian Era lost control of rural Japan and the country was torn apart by revolt. The emperor's power was soon restricted to the capital, and across the country, the warrior class moved in to fill the power vacuum. After years of fighting, the samurai established a military government known as the shogunate. By the early 1100s, the warriors had both military and political power over much of Japan.

The weak imperial line received a fatal blow to its power in 1156 when Emperor Toba died without a clear successor. His sons, Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa, fought for control in a civil war known as the Hogen Rebellion of 1156. In the end, both would-be emperors lost and the imperial office lost all its remaining power.

During the civil war, the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans rose to prominence. They fought one another during the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. After their victory, the Taira established the first samurai-led government and the defeated Minamoto were banished from the capital of Kyoto.

Kamakura and Early Muromachi (Ashikaga) Periods

The two clans fought once more in the Genpei War of 1180 to 1185, which ended in victory for the Minamoto. Following their victory, Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate, retaining the emperor as a figurehead. The Minamoto clan ruled much of Japan until 1333.

In 1268, an external threat appeared. Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of Yuan China, demanded tribute from Japan, and when Kyoto refused to comply the Mongols invaded. Fortunately for Japan, a typhoon destroyed the Mongols' 600 ships, and a second invasion fleet in 1281 met the same fate.

Despite such incredible help from nature, the Mongol attacks cost the Kamakura dearly. Unable to offer land or riches to the samurai leaders who rallied to Japan's defense, the weakened shogun faced a challenge from Emperor Go-Daigo in 1318. After being exiled in 1331, the emperor returned and overthrew the shogunate in 1333.

The Kemmu Restoration of imperial power lasted only three years. In 1336, the Ashikaga shogunate under Ashikaga Takauji reasserted samurai rule, though this new shogunate was weaker than that of the Kamakura. Regional constables called " daimyo" developed considerable power and meddled with the shogunate's line of succession.

Later Muromachi Period and Restoration of Order

By 1460, the daimyos were ignoring orders from the shogun and backing different successors to the imperial throne. When the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, resigned in 1464, a dispute between backers of his younger brother and his son ignited even more intense fighting among the daimyo.

In 1467, this squabbling erupted into the decade-long Onin War, in which thousands died and Kyoto was burned to the ground. The war led directly to Japan's "Warring States Period," or Sengoku. Between 1467 and 1573, various daimyos led their clans in a fight for national dominance, and nearly all of the provinces were engulfed in the fighting.

The Warring States Period drew to a close in 1568 when the warlord Oda Nobunaga defeated three powerful daimyos, marched into Kyoto, and had his preferred leader, Yoshiaki, installed as shogun. Nobunaga spent the next 14 years subduing other rival daimyos and quelling rebellions by fractious Buddhist monks. His grand Azuchi Castle, constructed between 1576 and 1579, became of symbol of Japanese reunification.

In 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated by one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. Hideyoshi, another general, finished the unification and ruled as kampaku, or regent, invading Korea in 1592 and 1597.

The Tokugawa Shogunate of the Edo Period

Hideyoshi exiled the large Tokugawa clan from the area around Kyoto to the Kanto region in eastern Japan. By 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu had conquered the neighboring daimyo from his castle stronghold at Edo, which would one day become Tokyo.

Ieyasu's son, Hidetada, became shogun of the unified country in 1605, ushering in about 250 years of relative peace and stability for Japan. The strong Tokugawa shoguns domesticated the samurai, forcing them to either serve their lords in the cities or give up their swords and farm. This transformed the warriors into a class of cultured bureaucrats.

The Meiji Restoration and the End of the Samurai

In 1868, the Meiji Restoration signaled the beginning of the end for the samurai. The Meiji system of constitutional monarchy included such democratic reforms as term limits for public officials and popular balloting. With public support, the Meiji Emperor did away with the samurai, reduced the power of the daimyo, and changed the capital's name from Edo to Tokyo.

The new government created a conscripted army in 1873. Some of the officers were drawn from the ranks of former samurai, but more of the warriors found work as police officers. In 1877, angry ex-samurai revolted against the Meiji in the Satsuma Rebellion, but they later lost the Battle of Shiroyama, bringing the era of the samurai to an end.

Culture and Weapons of the Samurai

The culture of the samurai was grounded in the concept of bushido, or the way of the warrior, whose central tenets are honor and freedom from fear of death. A samurai was legally entitled to cut down any commoner who failed to honor him-or her-properly. The warrior was believed to be imbued with bushido spirit. He or she was expected to fight fearlessly and die honorably rather than surrender in defeat.

Out of this disregard for death came the Japanese tradition of seppuku, in which defeated warriors-and disgraced government officials-would commit suicide with honor by disemboweling themselves with a short sword.

Early samurai were archers, fighting on foot or horseback with extremely long bows (yumi), and used swords mainly for finishing off wounded enemies. After the Mongol invasions of 1272 and 1281, the samurai began to make greater use of swords, poles topped by curved blades called naginata, and spears.

Samurai warriors wore two swords, the katana, and the wakizashi, which were banned from use by non-samurai in the late 16th century.

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Samurai were a class of highly skilled warriors that arose in Japan after the Taika reforms of A.D. 646, which included land redistribution and heavy new taxes meant to support an elaborate Chinese-style empire. The reforms forced many small farmers to sell their land and work as tenant farmers.

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For those interested in Japanese history, samurai culture and the role this military class played in shaping Japan is a fascinating one.

Although samurai no longer exist, the influence of these great warriors still manifests itself deeply in Japanese culture and samurai heritage can be seen all over Japan - be it a great castle, a carefully planned garden, or beautifully preserved samurai residences. It is also deeply ingrained in the psyche of the Japanese people.

The basis of samurai conduct is bushido, "the way of the warrior". This unique philosophy valued honour, reckless bravery and selflessness, as well as duty to the warrior's master with the purpose of giving up one's life and embracing death. There was no place for fear in the way of the warrior and this conduct of self discipline and respectful, ethical behaviour was to become the role model behaviour for other classes throughout Japan's history.

Highly literate men of war and leadership

Not only were the samurai skilful warriors, but they were also expected to be highly cultured and literate; to be skilled in the harmony of fighting and learning. An ancient saying aspired to by warriors was bun bu ryo do: "the pen and sword in accord", and it was common for samurai to enjoy calligraphy, tea ceremony, poetry and music, and to study.

It was these highly aspired ideals of educated warriors that allowed for the cohesion of samurai armies and for their power to eventually dominate government. In 1160, the Taira clan beat the Minamoto clan and Taira no Kiyomori established the first samurai-lead government with the emperor losing control and being relegated to figurehead status.

Up until that time, throughout the Heian Period (794-1185), samurai had been employed to serve in close attendance with nobility, protecting the land of the wealthy: aided by political backing and resources the samurai had come into political power. Taira's control did not last long though as in 1192, at the start of the Kamakura Period (1192-1333), Minamoto Yorimoto received the title of shogun and gained rule of Japan.

Various bakufu or shogunate ruled over the centuries, each shaping the leadership of the country in their own way with the samurai continuously influencing the classes with their ideals of high literacy and education. Such was the influence of these elite warriors that during the Edo period (1603 - 1868) levels of literacy were higher than that of central Europe.

The calm mind of a warrior

From the thirteenth century, samurai conduct became heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism.

By being present in the moment, Zen training allowed a samurai to become one with their sword and the free and spontaneous mind gave them the mental edge over their enemy. Zen meditation calmed the mind and gave a warrior philosophical strength to deal with their inevitable death.

Zen complemented and influenced the way of the warrior and over four centuries Zen practices, such tea ceremony, monochrome ink painting, rock gardens, and poetry (haiku) introduced by monks were allowed to flourish thanks to these great warriors. Buddhist teachings had such an immense effect that as they became more ingrained in samurai life some samurai lost meaning in killing and gave up their sword for lives as monks.

Samurai and the sword

Synonymous with samurai bravery is the katana, or samurai sword, and bushido dictated that this curved, slender blade was the soul of a warrior. Images of samurai depict them with their masterfully crafted weapons of war and together with the shorter blade of a wakizashi, this pair, known as the daisho, represented the social status and personal honour of the samurai.

In the mid-1600s, Miyamoto Musashi, the highly revered and undefeated swordsman and samurai, wrote Go Rin Sho, or The Book of Five Rings. Widely published today, his teachings on military strategy and tactics draw heavily on Tibetan and Zen philosophy and he advocated the use of both the katana and the wakizashi simultaneously in battle.

During the Edo period the Tokugawa shogunate sought to achieve a unified Japan and towards the end of this relatively peaceful time the role of the samurai changed from that of warrior to courtier, bureaucrat and administrator, and with it the original use of the katana. Although they continued to carry their swords they were now more a symbol of power rather than a means of defence.

Not only master swordsmen, samurai were also proficient in using the yumi, or longbow. When the longbow ceased to be used as a weapon the art of kyujutsu, the skill of the bow, was adapted to a sporting activity. Yabusame, the practice of shooting from horseback, was introduced into Shinto ceremonies and this form of archery can still be enjoyed today in certain festivals throughout Japan.

Decline of the warrior

The decline of the samurai came in the late nineteenth century as Japan opened its borders to the US navy and the power was given back to the imperial family in the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Samurai became known as shizoku, a term which represented their former samurai status, and they were no longer allowed to wear a katana in public.

In the late nineteenth century the samurai class was abolished in favour of a western-style national army, and as a result many of the samurai became highly motivated and disciplined Imperial Army Officers or used their high levels of literacy to become reporters, writers or to serve in government.

Samurai heritage

Japan is proud of its warriors of the past and the way of the warrior can be found all over this beautiful country, be it visiting one the great castles that bore witness to many a bloody battle, experiencing a festival with its origins in samurai culture; visiting the grounds of great samurai battles in history or a pilgrimage to the small cave where Musashi wrote The Book of Five Rings.

Samurai ideals have transcended throughout Japanese history and understanding the samurai heritage provides an interesting insight into today's modern society and the respect, discipline and honour that is prevalent throughout this unique nation and that the rest of the world admires.

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Samurai: A Brief Guide to Samurai Culture | InsideJapan Tours US

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For those interested in Japanese history, samurai culture and the role this military class played in shaping Japan is a fascinating one. Although samurai no longer exist, the influence of these great warriors still manifests itself deeply in Japanese culture and samurai heritage can be seen all over Japan - be it a great castle, a carefully planned garden, or beautifully preserved samurai residences.

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For more than 800 years, the samurai helped to lay the foundations of Japan's culture. Their reverence for honor, duty, and service remains ingrained in Japanese society even today. Together with their renowned martial capabilities, these characteristics made the samurai what historian Stephen Turnbull calls "the knights of old Japan." In this interactive time line, familiarize yourself with the samurai and their challenges, and learn how the warrior class evolved.- Rima Chaddha

We recommend you visit the interactive version. The text to the left is provided for printing purposes.

Secrets of the Samurai Sword Home | Send Feedback | Image Credits | Support NOVA

© | Created August 2007

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For more than 800 years, the samurai helped to lay the foundations of Japan's culture. Their reverence for honor, duty, and service remains ingrained in Japanese society even today. Together with their renowned martial capabilities, these characteristics made the samurai what historian Stephen Turnbull calls "the knights of old Japan."

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The samurai (also bushi) were a class of warriors that arose in the 10th century in Japan and which performed military service until the 19th century. Elite and highly-trained soldiers adept at using…

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A Guide to Samurai Governments, 1185-1868
1185-1333 - Kamakura Government

The most important feature of the medieval period is that the samurai (warrior-administrators) replaced the court government in managing local government.

Because the court government had no police force, bands of samurai gained power when the Heian government neglected the administration of the provinces. Samurai strength rested on strong group loyalty and discipline. These bands managed large areas of rice land in eastern Japan, around modern Tôkyô.

In 1185 a new government was founded by the Minamoto family in Kamakura, south of modern Tôkyô. In 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo was given the title 'shôgun' to signify his military control over the country. While it followed the laws of the Heian government, the Kamakura government was run by a network of samurai throughout the country, pledged to keep the peace. Since they exercised real power on the spot, they were able to take over land from rich aristocratic land proprietors and thus caused the Heian government in Kyôto to become even weaker. Gradually the samurai took the lead in developing the law of the nation.

The Mongol invasions, the only military invasion of Japan before World War II, occurred during this period. Khubilai, Great Khan of the Mongols, invaded China and in 1263 became Emperor of China. He pressed his conquest on to Japan. In 1274 and 1281 Mongols and Chinese led great expeditions across the seas to southwest Japan. Samurai in Kyûshû were greatly outnumbered and technically disadvantaged. In 1274, a great storm arose that destroyed or set to sea the whole invasion fleet. In 1281, after 50 days of fierce struggle, the Japanese were again saved by a great storm. These storms became known as kamikaze, divine winds. (More than 650 years later, during the second invasion of Japan, by America, the suicide pilots protecting the islands were called kamikaze, too). The Mongolian attempts to invade Japan united the Japanese against an outside force for the first time in history. Shintô priests, involving the country's deities for protection, were richly rewarded.

1336-1573 - Ashikaga Government

In 1333, the Kamakura shogunate lost control of the country to a rival samurai family, the Ashikaga family. The Ashikaga shogunate moved the capital back to Kyôto, but was not able to assert as much control over the various provinces as the Kamakura government had. In the surrounding countryside, daimyô (provincial barons) ruled the people, and often fought against one other over territorial claims. The daimyô built bureaucratic governments in each province and attempted to bring all elements of society under their military rule. Local rule was more developed that before, but the central government represented by the shôgun was weak.

1600-1868 - Tokugawa Government

In 1600, one of the powerful military families, the Tokugawa, was able to gain military control over all the local daimyô. The Tokugawa created a much stronger bureaucratic military government in Edo, now named Tôkyô. It controlled - either directly or indirectly - all elements of society, such as the agrarian and commercial sectors.

The government legally differentiated four classes of society - samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Since it was concerned with a possible samurai rebellion (it had taken away the weapons of all other classes), the Tokugawa government made the daimyô live part of the time in Edo, the new military capital, and leave their families in Edo as hostages whenever they returned to their domains. Edo became a giant urban center because so many people came to make a living by supplying the huge samurai population. By 1700 there were about one million people living in Edo. In time, the Edo merchants supplying the military became richer than the samurai, many of whom lived in poverty. When Commodore Perry came to Japan from the United States in 1853 seeking commercial relations, many groups in society were ready for changes in the old legal and economic systems. Japan's feudal period ended shortly thereafter with the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

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The Age of the Samurai: 1185-1868 | Asia for Educators | Columbia University

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A Guide to Samurai Governments, 1185-1868 1185-1333 - Kamakura Government The most important feature of the medieval period is that the samurai (warrior-administrators) replaced the court government in managing local government. Because the court government had no police force, bands of samurai gained power when the Heian government neglected the administration of the provinces.

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The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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The military elite dominated Japanese politics, economics, and social policies between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Known as bushi or samurai, these warriors, who first appear in historical records of the tenth century, rose to power initially through their martial prowess-in particular, they were expert in archery, swordsmanship, and horseback riding. The demands of the battlefield inspired these men to value the virtues of bravery and loyalty and to be keenly aware of the fragility of life. Yet, mastery of the arts of war was by no means sufficient. To achieve and maintain their wealth and position, the samurai also needed political, financial, and cultural acumen.

In contrast with the brutality of their profession, many leaders of the military government became highly cultivated individuals. Some were devoted patrons of Buddhism, especially of the Zen and Jōdo schools. Several were known as accomplished poets, and others as talented calligraphers. During the Muromachi period (1392-1573), a number of shoguns exerted a profound cultural influence by amassing impressive collections of painting, enthusiastically supporting Nō and Kyōgen theater, and sponsoring the construction of beautiful temples and gardens in Kyoto. Powerful warriors of the succeeding Momoyama era (1573-1615) inherited this repertoire of interests and added to it a love of grandeur and splendor. The massive walls, vast audience chambers, and soaring keeps of their great castles became the central symbols of the age. Glittering with the abundant use of gold and dynamic in design, the paintings of this period exuded power and monumentality. On a more intimate scale, the development of the tea ceremony was closely intertwined with samurai culture in the late medieval period. During the Edo period (1615-1868), the cult of the warrior, bushido, became formalized and an idealized code of behavior, focusing on fidelity to one's lord and honor, developed. The samurai of this period inherited the traditional aesthetics and practices of their predecessors and, therefore, continued the seemingly paradoxical relationship between the cultivation of bu and bun -the arts of war and of culture-that characterized Japan's great warriors.

Department of Asian Art. "Samurai." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/samu/hd_samu.htm (October 2002)

Mason, Penelope. History of Japanese Art. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.

Shimizu, Yoshiaki, ed. Japan: The Shaping of Daimyo Culture, 1185-1868. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1988.

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Samurai | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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The military elite dominated Japanese politics, economics, and social policies between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Known as bushi or samurai, these warriors, who first appear in historical records of the tenth century, rose to power initially through their martial prowess-in particular, they were expert in archery, swordsmanship, and horseback riding.

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Early Samurai

During the Heian Period (794-1185), the samurai were the armed supporters of wealthy landowners-many of whom left the imperial court to seek their own fortunes after being shut out of power by the powerful Fujiwara clan. The word "samurai" roughly translates to "those who serve." (Another, more general word for a warrior is "bushi," from which bushido is derived; this word lacks the connotations of service to a master.)

Did you know? The wealth of a samurai in feudal Japan was measured in terms of koku; one koku, supposed to be the amount of rice it took to feed one man for a year, was equivalent to around 180 liters.

Beginning in the mid-12th century, real political power in Japan shifted gradually away from the emperor and his nobles in Kyoto to the heads of the clans on their large estates in the country. The Gempei War (1180-1185) pitted two of these great clans-the dominant Taira and the Minamoto-against each other in a struggle for control of the Japanese state. The war ended when one of the most famous samurai heroes in Japanese history, Minamoto Yoshitsune, led his clan to victory against the Taira near the village of Dan-no-ura.

Rise of the Samurai & Kamakura Period

The triumphant leader Minamoto Yoritomo-half-brother of Yoshitsune, whom he drove into exile-established the center of government at Kamakura. The establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, a hereditary military dictatorship, shifted all real political power in Japan to the samurai. As Yoritomo's authority depended on their strength, he went to great lengths to establish and define the samurai's privileged status; no one could call himself a samurai without Yoritomo's permission.

Zen Buddhism, introduced into Japan from China around this time, held a great appeal for many samurai. Its austere and simple rituals, as well as the belief that salvation would come from within, provided an ideal philosophical background for the samurai's own code of behavior. Also during the Kamakura period, the sword came to have a great significance in samurai culture. A man's honor was said to reside in his sword, and the craftsmanship of swords-including carefully hammered blades, gold and silver inlay and sharkskin handgrips-became an art in itself.

Japan in Chaos: the Ashikaga Shogunate

The strain of defeating two Mongol invasions at the end of the 13th century weakened the Kamakura Shogunate, which fell to a rebellion led by Ashikaga Takauji. The Ashikaga Shogunate, centered in Kyoto, began around 1336. For the next two centuries, Japan was in a near-constant state of conflict between its feuding territorial clans. After the particularly divisive Onin War of 1467-77, the Ashikaga shoguns ceased to be effective, and feudal Japan lacked a strong central authority; local lords and their samurai stepped in to a greater extent to maintain law and order.

Despite the political unrest, this period-known as the Muromachi after the district of that name in Kyoto-saw considerable economic expansion in Japan. It was also a golden age for Japanese art, as the samurai culture came under the growing influence of Zen Buddhism. In addition to such now-famous Japanese art forms as the tea ceremony, rock gardens and flower arranging, theater and painting also flourished during the Muromachi period.

Samurai under the Tokugawa Shogunate

The Sengoku-Jidai, or Period of the Country at War finally ended in 1615 with the unification of Japan under Tokugawa Ieyasu. This period ushered in a 250-year-long stretch of peace and prosperity in Japan, and for the first time the samurai took on the responsibility of governing through civil means rather than through military force. Ieyasu issued the "ordinances for the Military Houses," by which samurai were told to train equally in arms and "polite" learning according to the principles of Confucianism. This relatively conservative faith, with its emphasis on loyalty and duty, eclipsed Buddhism during the Tokugawa period as the dominant religion of the samurai. It was during this period that the principles of bushido emerged as a general code of conduct for Japanese people in general. Though bushido varied under the influences of Buddhist and Confucian thought, its warrior spirit remained constant, including an emphasis on military skills and fearlessness in the face of an enemy. Bushido also emphasized frugality, kindness, honesty and care for one's family members, particularly one's elders.

In a peaceful Japan, many samurai were forced to become bureaucrats or take up some type of trade, even as they preserved their conception of themselves as fighting men. In 1588, the right to carry swords was restricted only to samurai, which created an even greater separation between them and the farmer-peasant class. The samurai during this period became the "two-sword man," wearing both a short and a long sword as a mark of his privilege. The material well-being of many samurai actually declined during the Tokugawa Shogunate, however. Samurai had traditionally made their living on a fixed stipend from landowners; as these stipends declined, many lower-level samurai were frustrated by their inability to improve their situation.

Meiji Restoration & the End of Feudalism

In the mid-19th century, the stability of the Tokugawa regime was undermined by a combination of factors, including peasant unrest due to famine and poverty. The incursion of Western powers into Japan-and especially the arrival in 1853 of Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy, on a mission to get Japan to open its doors to international trade-proved to be the final straw. In 1858, Japan signed a commercial treaty with the United States, followed by similar ones with Russia, Britain, France and Holland. The controversial decision to open the country to Western commerce and investment helped encourage resistance to the shogunate among conservative forces in Japan, including many samurai, who began calling for a restoration of the power of the emperor.

The powerful clans of Choshu and Satsuma combined efforts to topple the Tokugawa Shogunate and announce an "imperial restoration" named for Emperor Meiji in early 1868. Feudalism was officially abolished in 1871; five years later, the wearing of swords was forbidden to anyone except members of the national armed forces, and all samurai stipends were converted into government bonds, often at significant financial loss. The new Japanese national army quashed several samurai rebellions during the 1870s, while some disgruntled samurai joined secret, ultra-nationalist societies, among them the notorious Black Dragon Society, whose object was to incite trouble in China so that the Japanese army would have an excuse to invade and preserve order.

Ironically-given the loss of their privileged status-the Meiji Restoration was actually engineered by members of the samurai class itself. Three of the most influential leaders of the new Japan-Inoue Kaoru, Ito Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo-had studied with the famous samurai Yoshida Shouin, who was executed after a failed attempt to kill a Tokugawa official in 1859. It was former samurai who put Japan on the road to what it would become, and many would become leaders in all areas of modern Japanese society.

Bushido in Modern Japan

In the wake of the Meiji Restoration, Shinto was made the state religion of Japan (unlike Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity, it was wholly Japanese) and bushido was adopted as its ruling moral code. By 1912, Japan had succeeded in building up its military strength-it signed an alliance with Britain in 1902 and defeated the Russians in Manchuria two years later-as well as its economy. By the end of World War I, the country was recognized as one of the "Big Five" powers alongside Britain, the U.S., France and Italy at the Versailles peace conference.

The liberal, cosmopolitan 1920s gave way to a revival of Japan's military traditions in the 1930s, leading directly to imperial aggression and Japan's entrance into World War II. During that conflict, Japanese soldiers brought antique samurai swords into battle and made suicidal "banzai" attacks according to the bushido principle of death before dishonor or defeat. At war's end, Japan again drew on its strong sense of honor, discipline and devotion to a common cause-not the daimyos or shoguns of the past, but the emperor and the country-in order to rebuild itself and reemerge as one of the world's greatest economic and industrial powers in the latter 20th century.

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Samurai and Bushido - Code, Japan & Meaning | HISTORY

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The samurai, who abided by a code of honor and discipline known as bushido, were provincial warriors in feudal Japan before rising to power in the 12th century.