Samurai
During the 12th century, two Japanese clans fought heatedly for power- the Taira and the Minamoto. There was little law then, and after the Minamoto defeated the Taira clan in the Genpei war, the Emperor feared the Minamoto clan would try to over throw him and take power. So, he bestowed the honor of Shogun upon Minamoto no Yoritomo, the leader of the Minamoto clan, who viciously killed the rest of his family so they couldn't even think about taking away his position of Shogun. A Shogun was akin to a mini-ruler for a certain region. His rule was called the Kamakura Shogunate, or the Kamakura Bakafu. Under the Shogun were the daimyo, who ruled portions of the Shoguns land. Lastly were the Samurai, who were fighters for the daimyo. Samurai followed an ethical code called 'Bushido', which means 'way of the warrior.' Samurai were to adhere to Bushido, which required them to stay faithful and loyal to their master, the daimyo, and made sure they were educated, brave, fearless, noble and compassionate; they could not strike an enemy from behind in good mind. In return for protecting their masters' land, they got land of their own to live on. Samurai were the only ones allowed to wear swords, unlike commoners, who could not wear one at all. They had a long one for fighting, and a short one for seppuku.
Seppuku was the Samurai art of suicide. It was considered an 'honorable death' instead of a sin. It was a portion of the Bushido, protecting the Samurai from a shameful life. It's main practice was Hara-kiri, which literally means 'stomach-cutting'. One occasion for committing seppuku was the death of the lord. It was an expression of grief at one's master's death and was the utmost form of loyalty to the lord. Other reasons were punishment. Seppuku could also be a way of showing a disagreement with one's master. A frequent reason for committing hara-kiri was in a lost battle to avoid the disgrace of falling into the hands of an enemy. Women also committed Seppuku, if they were divorced. The shame of being unwanted caused them to kill themselves.
Another extremely odd practice of the Samurai was Shudo. Shudo was the tradition of love between an experienced Samurai and a novice, and was held to be "the flower of the samurai spirit." It was one of the main ways in which the knowledge and the skills of the samurai tradition were passed down from one generation to another. Another name for the bonds was Shido, "the beautiful way." The devotion that two samurai would have for each other would be almost as great as that which they had for their daimyo. Indeed, according to contemporary accounts, the choice between his lover and his master could become a philosophical problem for samurai.
The marriage of samurai was done by having a marriage arranged by someone with the same or higher rank than those being married. While for those samurai in the upper ranks this was a necessity (as most had few opportunities to meet a female), this was a formality for lower ranked samurai. Most samurai married women from a samurai family, but for a lower ranked samurai marriages with commoners were permitted. In these marriages a dowry was brought by the woman and was used to start their new lives.
A samurai could have a mistress but her background was strictly checked by higher ranked samurai. In many cases, this was treated like a marriage. "Kidnapping" a mistress, although common in fiction, would have been shameful, if not a crime. When she was a commoner, a messenger would be sent with betrothal money or a note for exemption of tax and ask for her parent's acceptance and many parents gladly accepted. If a samurai's wife gave birth to a son he could be a samurai.
A samurai could divorce his wife for a variety of reasons with approval from a superior, but divorce was, while not entirely nonexistent, a rare event. A reason for divorce would be if she could not produce a son, but then adoption could be arranged as an alternative to divorce. A samurai could divorce for personal reasons, even if he simply did not like his wife, but this was generally avoided as it would embarrass the samurai who had arranged the marriage. A woman could also arrange a divorce, although it would generally take the form of the samurai divorcing her. After a divorce samurai had to return the betrothal money, which often prevented divorces. Some rich merchants had their daughters marry samurai to erase a samurai's debt and advance their positions.
A samurai's wife would be dishonored and allowed to commit jigai (a female's seppuku) if she were cast off. During the Tokugawa shogunate from 1603 to 1867 (the Edo period) the country lived in peace. The samurai warrior class had basically nothing to do. Now they took other tasks, in the bureaucracy for instance. In 1867 the last shogun resigned and the emperor was reinstalled as the formal leader of Japan. In 1871 the old feudal system and the privileges of the Japanese samurai class were officially abolished. The daimyo had to return the land to the emperor for which they received pensions by the Japanese state. Historians estimate the percentage that belonged to the samurai class at 8 percent of the overall population of Japan. The abolishment of the samurai class caused severe social problems. Many samurai did not know how to make a living and survive. There were cases of samurai wives who sold themselves to brothels to support the family.
But Samurai history had not yet ended. Many samurai were desperate with their situation and the loss of their former status. They gathered under Takamori Saigo, a samurai and statesman. They were rebelling against the Meiji government. In 1877 it came to open military conflicts. The rebels were lead by Saigo Takamori. It was a clash of brave fighters equipped with inferior weapons against a modern army with Western technology and trained in modern Western warfare. 60,000 government troops faced 20,000 rebels. After several lost battles Saigo and 300 die-hard samurai had retreated to the hills of Shiroyama near their hometown of Kagoshima. Exhausted and without ammunition and food, the last samurai knew that they had no chance. In the morning hours of September 24, 1877 the artillery shelling by the government forces began. Saigo Takamori was wounded and committed suicide in samurai tradition - the last samurai beheaded each other.