什麼是武士

日本戰士階級。在日本早期歷史中，文明是與皇室相聯繫的，武士多受人蔑視。隨着私人莊園（shoen）的出現，武士變得日益重要，因為莊園需要武士的保護。武士的勢力不斷增強，當源賴朝建立起鎌倉幕府（1192～1333）後，武士成為統治階級。武士以遵守紀律、禁慾以及服務為特徵（參閲Bushido）。武士文化在足利時代（1338～1573）時期有了進一步的發展。在德川家族（1603～1867）統治的兩個太平世紀中，武士在很大程度上演變為世俗的官僚主義者。作為政府僱員，武士領有固定的薪金，在18～19世紀江户（今東京）和大阪的商業經濟蓬勃發展的過程中，薪金數額日益減少。到19世紀中期，官銜較低的武士渴望社會變革，同時希望面對西方列強的入侵能有一個強大的日本，他們於1868年在明治維新中推翻了幕府政府。封建階級在1871年被廢除。一些武士起來造反（參閲saigo Takamori），但他們中的大多數使自己融進了日本的現代化進程。亦請參閲daimyo、han。

samurai

Member of the Japanese warrior class. In early Japanese history, culture was associated with the imperial court and warriors were looked down on. The samurai became important with the rise in private estates (shoen), which needed samurai protection. Their power increased, and when Minamoto Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate (1192-1333), they became the ruling class. They were characterized by an ethic of discipline, stoicism, and service (see bushido). Samurai culture developed further during the Ashikaga shogunate (1338-1573). During two centuries of peace under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867), they were largely transformed into civil bureaucrats. As government employees, they received a fixed stipend that was worth less and less in the flourishing merchant economy of the 18th-19th century in Edo (Tokyo) and Osaka. By the mid-19th century, lower-ranking samurai, eager for societal change and anxious to create a strong Japan in the face of Western encroachment, overthrew the shogunal government in the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Feudal distinctions were abolished in 1871. Some samurai rebelled (see Saigo Takamori) but most threw themselves into the modernization of Japan. See also daimyo, han.