The Birth of the Samurai

This brief but comprehensive history looks at the emergence and development of a warrior elite in Japanese culture prior to the rule of the samurai. As the country moved from a hunter-gatherer society to a mainly agricultural one, fighting warrior bands formed to protect the new settlements and farmlands. As these grew over time, powerful clans would emerge and through political wrangling, open rebellion and outright war, the country would see numerous shifts of power. Local chieftains became subjects of an all-powerful Imperial Family, who in turn saw their influence gradually decline in favour of leading courtiers. Meanwhile, provincial warrior clans honed their skills on the battlefield and gradually increased their holdings until by the latter half of the twelfth century, the Minamoto Clan were able to seize control of the country for themselves and usher in the age of the samurai.