Samurai

right|thumb|The mounted archer represented the quintessential samurai. The were members of the professional warrior class in pre-industrial Japan, who served as retainers to the lords. These men came from warrior families and trained from a young age in military arts through private instruction. Swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship were the primary martial skills; and often in Japanese history, only samurai had the right to even possess these weapons. These weapons required years of training to master, and this commitment made the samurai superior to conscripts and militia, the latter who

Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer, artist, and rōnin (1584–1645)

founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan (1543–1616)

Japanese samurai and daimyo (1537–1598)

1st, 5th, 7th and 10th Prime Minister of Japan (1841–1909)

thumb|right|A woodblock print by ukiyo-e master [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi depicting famous rōnin Miyamoto Musashi having his fortune told]] thumb|right|Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Yoshitoshi depicting Oishi Chikara, one of the forty-seven rōnin In feudal Japan to early modern Japan (1185–1868), a rōnin ( ; , , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a rōnin upon the death of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or legal privilege.

thumb|A samurai in Japanese armour|his armor in the 1860s. Hand-colored photograph by [[Felice Beato]]

Japanese politician (1838-1922)

Japanese admiral of the fleet (1848–1934)

samurai of the Satsuma domain, supreme commander of Japanese army, one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration (1828-1877)

civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869

1st shogun of the Kamakura shogunate (1147–1199)

Japanese military leader and statesman (1838–1922)

Japanese politician (1835-1924)

one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration, regarded as one of the main founders of modern Japan (1830-1878)

Japanese general (1840-1900)

15th and last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate (1837–1913)

Japanese samurai and politician (1836–1867)

Prime Minister of Japan (1852-1933)

short-lived state established in 1869 by former Tokugawa retainers in what is now known as Hokkaido, notable for being the first government to attempt to institute democracy in Japan

English navigator who travelled to Japan

samurai of the late Heian and early Kamakura period

16th-century Japanese daimyo (1562-1611)

samurai (1659-1719)

Japanese samurai (1593-1615)

Japanese general (1842-1916)

Japanese general (1849-1912)

samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara

samurai of the Sengoku era; famous as ninja master

was a Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period.

Japanese samurai of the Mito Domain and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration (1833-1877)

Japanese politician (1837–1919)

thumb|Prohibited book of Nabeshima, Hagakure The Analects (abridged). 1939 edition. thumb|upright|Cover of The Book of the Samurai Hagakure (Kyūjitai: ; Shinjitai: ; ; meaning Hidden by the Leaves or Hidden Leaves), or , is a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior, drawn from a collection of commentaries by the clerk Yamamoto Tsunetomo, former retainer to Nabeshima Mitsushige (July 10, 1632 – July 2, 1700), the third ruler of what is now Saga Prefecture in Japan. compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716; however, it was not published until many y

3rd shogun of Kamakura shogunate and poet

thumb|right|250px|Ashigaru wearing armor and jingasa firing tanegashima (Japanese matchlocks)

samurai

Japanese noble, statesman and naval engineer (1823–1899)

12th century samurai

16th Century Commander and Legendary Warrior of the Sengoku Period

thumb|180px|right|A young Kintarō battling Namazu, in a print by Yoshitoshi is a folk hero from Japanese folklore. A child of superhuman strength, he was raised by a yama-uba ("mountain witch") on Mount Ashigara. He became friendly with the animals of the mountain, and later, after catching Shuten-dōji, the terror of the region around Mount Ōe, he became a loyal follower of Minamoto no Yorimitsu under the new name . He is a popular figure in Bunraku and kabuki drama, and it is a custom to put up a Kintarō doll on Boy's Day in the hope that boys will become equally brave and strong.

general of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period

Japanese swordsman

Japanese politician (1836-1915)

Japanese catholic daimyo, martyr and blessed

Japanese general (1852-1906)

daimyo

Japanese martial artist (1859-1943)

Japanese daimyō who served Toyotomi Hideyoshi

General and shogun

samurai (1839-1867)

Japanese industrialist known as the "father of Japanese capitalism" (1840-1931)

leader of the Shimabara Rebellion

The is an international martial arts organization based in Japan and headed by Masaaki Hatsumi. The combat system taught by this organization comprises nine separate ryūha, or schools, which are collectively referred to as Bujinkan Budō Taijutsu. The Bujinkan is most commonly associated with ninjutsu. However, Masaaki Hatsumi uses the term Budo (meaning martial way) as he says the ryūha are descended from historical samurai schools that teach samurai martial tactics and ninjutsu schools that teach ninja tactics.

daimyo (1548-1610)

Japanese swordsman

Samurai of the Sengoku period (1501–1561)

daimyo

samurai of the late Heian period; the head of the Minamoto clan

Daimyo of Bizen and Mimasaka provinces