The rise of the ‘Bushi’ or more commonly known as the Samurai came about as an incremental change to the conflicts that presided in 10 th – 12 th century Japan. The Samurai were originally hired swords contracted by imperial courts to fight wars that originated due to human institutions and societal politics. Although, under conventional pretext The Samurai are regarded as honourable warriors many historians including Karl Friday in his book ‘Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval Japan’ think otherwise and question the notion based on evidence put forth in the latter literature.
The Samurai were incorporated from noble families and were trained in the ways of the arms, especially the bow & arrow along with swordsmanship, from a very young age. They were contracted by nobles who would bestow on them a portion of the land and or any wealth they would procure using the skirmishes via these individuals. This ensured, that loyalty was one of the key principles of any Samurai warrior and apart from a few extreme cases such as the banner men of Yoshimori abandoning him during the battle of Kamarkura in 1213, Samurais would normally serve a single noble all their life and had a strong allegiance code of ethics and principles.
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Karl Friday further argues that even though nobility and loyalty were the core aspects of a Samurai’s framework they did not hesitate to in seizing or exploiting a favourable position in combat. The evidence to these were the empty open challenges the Samurais issues and failed to uphold many times without any justifications whatsoever, in fact, many times it is observed throughout history that Samurais would go out of their want to obtain an advantage over the opposition.
A very distinct example to this was when Minamoto Tametomo advised the war council of Fujiwara Yorinaga that the best time to attack their enemies were during the night with the notion that fire should be set ablaze in three different directions while fortifying the fourth one and striking down as enemies as possible. All these instances enable us to realize that even though allegiance and nobility were of paramount importance they were not necessarily trained to let go of a favourable position or to hold back on a sneak attack.
