SAMURAI History (short and concise)

Last Friday I gave my first presentation at my job at Trivium, as an AfterSchool Assistant. The kids are between the ages of 5 and 10, so I tried to make it as simple and interesting as possible. Usually we start out with about 25 kids and then it dwindles down as they get picked p, so about the time I gave my presentation, there were maybe 15 kids, which is just perfect. 
So, this is basically what I taught, it is REALLY simple. There are NO names of any historical figures (who's going to remember them anyways?- or even be able to pronounce them?), only a few terms, and very few dates. But, if you want to know the super-duper simple history of Samurai I guess this is it:

 ~ Samurai are basically warriors that in the past controlled Japan~

SAMURAI HISTORY 

In feudal Japan the social hierarchy went like this

1.) Emperor

2.) Land owners

3.) Peasants.

(The date is around 800 A.D.)

The government gave the landowners permission to keep the peace. (For example: Stop uprisings) So they employed mounted warriors who developed into the Samurai. 

Eventually the sons of the landowners started becoming samurai, they rode horses, wore armor and used a bow and sword. 

In the beginning you could be born a peasant and then move your way up and become a samurai, but eventually if you weren't born into the samurai "class" you could never become one.

 

So even if you did really great things in the army you couldn't become a Samurai. Eventually it became the custom that before two Samurai would fight each other they would both recite a LONG list of their lineage to prove that they were REALLY a samurai. 

Eventually only Samurai could even have weapons. (1500's)

 

Also, the Samurai became so powerful that they emperor of Japan didn't have any control. He was only a symbol. He was really rich and the Samurai still protected him, and they told everyone that he was a god. But, the Samurai became the rulers of Japan. They fought a lot to be the top Samurai. 

 

Eventually, because of all the fighting there were lots of Samurai that got defeated and didn't have anywhere to go. Some of them killed themselves (committed suicide) but others decided to just wander Japan. They were called Ronin. (1600's). They became very independent and just did whatever they wanted. A lot of Books and movies are made about this time in Japan, because it was very exciting. The Ronin would travel around and you could hire them to fight for you, be bodyguards,  others taught martial arts, and a lot of them went around and found other Ronin to dual with. 

 

But then in 1639, the highest Samurai (called a Shogun) decided to close the whole country off from the rest of the world. There were also lots of laws passed, so that the Samurai couldn't fight each other with weapons. So instead they just did martial arts and things like flower arranging and tea ceremony. 

Finally in 1877 two of the most powerful Samurai had a huge battle and the one that won, he made the Emperor of Japan the ruler again, so he had power over Japan. About this time, the last of the Samurai died out. 

ABOUT SAMURAI

Armor: They often had symbols on their armor so that everyone could recognize what family they came from. One Samurai family painted their whole army of foot soilder and samurai a really bright red. They like to wear really big helmets so that they looked taller, usually about two feet taller. 

Weapons:

Sword: The Japanese Sword is the strongest sword in the world. At the same time as the Samurai, Knights in Europe were using sword that broke all the time. They were very brittle, but the Japanese sword was strong and flexible. Also, Samurai didn't carry shields so when they fought it was with two hands, and looked really neat. 

Weapons: 

Tanto: A small sword, like a dagger. When you put it in its sheath it looked like a folded up fan. Women, monks, and retired Samurai often carried these. 

They also had Fans that were made of metal and could be used like a weapon. 

Girls would Wear metal hair pins that were little mini weapons. 

(There were LOTS more weapons)

LIFESTYLE:

Samurai were always training to fight. At the age of three little boys would start learning to fight with wooden swords, and at 5 they were given their first real sword so that they could defend themselves. At ages 13 and 16 they went through some ceremonies and then got new swords, at sixteen they got the Katana, the Samurai Sword. 

Girls did training too. They had to learn Martial Arts. Often when her husband went off to battle, the wife was left running the castle and had to be able to defend herself.

Nightingale Floors. 

Developed by a Shogun, a REALLY powerful Samurai. He had lots of enemies and was scared that they would send ninja to try and sneak into his castle and kill him. Ninja's are really good at sneaking around and being quiet, so he made a floor that squeaked no matter where you stepped on it. It sounded like little birds chirping. There are three castles left with this floor in Japan today. I actually went to one called Niji-jo in Kyoto. 

In Japan there was a annual parade in Kyoto were civilians dress up in Traditional outfits. I saw a lot of Samurai. ;)