Fukuoka Prefecture’s Akizuki

Samurai Warriors Without War

Dear cherished readers, if I asked you to conjure up a mental image of a Japanese samurai, what would you envision with your mind’s eye? Would it be a fearsome warlord like the courageous Takeda Shingen or a cunning warrior like the crafty Oda Nobunaga? Are they fully armored and garbed in the protective trappings of the battlefield? Whatever similitude you summon, it’s likely that the scene is devoid of cultural traditions like the tea ceremony, flower arranging, and other such arts. Wait, what? Weren’t we talking about Japan’s warrior class here? What gives? Oh boy. This could take a while but here we go!

Unbeknownst to many foreign visitors to Japan who are accustomed to overseas depictions of samurai, these esteemed warriors were actually closer to civil servants during the final chapter of their reign as the top dogs. Once Japan entered the Edo period (1603–1868), the country escaped a trail of bloody civil wars until its final years. After power had been consolidated under the Tokugawa shogunate’s iron grip, the warrior caste needed to reinvent itself. Given their status at the top of the societal hierarchy, the samurai gradually transition from being soldiers to being administrators.

Of course, this all presented a bit of a conundrum for the samurai class as a whole. Put simply, what’s a…