Samurai is not just a warrior who is able to protect its country. Samurai is a warrior who follows specific spiritual rules, who serves its nation and does all possible to protect it from different kinds of threats. Samurai is more than just a warrior, he is a protector of national, cultural and spiritual treasures of Japan.
A historical significance of samurais for Japan cannot be overestimated, as these warriors remain the ideals of the protectors of national cultural treasures. Trying to measure and understand the contribution samurais have made to Japan, the history of development of these characters in the history of the country should be considered.
As it has already been mentioned, Samurais have never been simple warriors, they were “legendary warriors of old Japan who led noble and violent government by the demand of honour, personal integrity and loyalty” (Turnbull 7). Considering the impact of samurais on the development of Japanese culture, it should be mentioned that the main principle according to which Japanese people live is dignity and following moral rules. It is really important for samurais to remain fair before themselves.
The issue of individuality is highly developed. Therefore, these personal characteristics of people have become the essential part of social thinking. Personal dignity, individual significance and fair treatment of all moral rules are the contributions samurais have brought to Japanese culture (Jansen 160).
One of the main peculiarities of samurais was the living according to needs. Being formed as the result the desire of people to live fairly, but unfair land redistribution and heavy new taxes prevented them from it, samurais conserved their desire of fairness. Developing personal strength, samurais have become good warriors who were ready to serve their masters. Weak Heian Dynasty began to lose the power in rural Japan and than in the whole Japan, while powerful and educated samurais were responsible for running the country.
The power has moved to the hands of those who could keep with it. Being good warriors, samurais spent much time on studying, therefore, they were able to rule the country. Thus, Japan has entered another stage of its development, Kamakura period, characterized as the warrior one. The change of the ruling power influenced all the spheres of human life, starting with every day activities and finishing with arts (Dodd and Richmond 792).
Dwelling upon the main influence of samurais on the development of Japan, the change of the period is considered as the main contribution. It should be mentioned that developing as a country whose war potential was rather low, the emergence of samurais has created the change. Being a culturally developed country, Japan had become a military strong one. The formation of samurais on the territory of Japan had a great significance for the development of the country.
Samurais were those who opened a new page in the development of the country. Being the creators of the Kamakura period, the beginning of the three great periods of the military development of Japan, samurais are considered as the main participants of the beginning of the new era.
Even though samurais were the founders of the military era of Japanese society, they also contributed to the moral development of the nation as they learnt reading and writing from the classical pieces of literature devoted to morality and loyalty and these reading influenced those considerably.
Works Cited
Dodd, Jan and Simon Richmond. Japan: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides, 1999. Print.
Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2002. Print.
Turnbull, Stephen. Samurai – The World of the Warrior. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2006. Print.