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Samurai

武士 · Samurai — A Japanese warrior who unifies martial arts and the Way

The samurai (武士) was a professional warrior class that ruled Japan for about 700 years from the Kamakura shogunate of the 12th century until the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Initially a military class guarding emperors and nobles, they seized political power from the late Heian period to establish warrior governments (shogunates). More than soldiers, samurai were an honor class following the moral code of bushido, with loyalty (chū), propriety (rei), courage (yū), righteousness (gi), and benevolence (jin) as core virtues. The privilege of wearing two swords (daisho) — katana (long sword) and wakizashi (short sword) — was theirs alone, and the tradition of seppuku (ritual disembowelment) when honor was lost became symbolic of Japanese culture. Miyamoto Musashi, Takeda Shingen, and Oda Nobunaga are exemplary figures.

Origin

The archetype is the samurai class (武士階層) that began forming in the late Heian period of Japan. During the Edo period, Bushido was systematized, becoming a symbol of Japanese identity.

Features

Iaijutsu (居合術): turning the very act of drawing the sword from its scabbard into an attack — a swift, decisive strike
Nitoryu (二刀流): simultaneous use of the long sword and short sword
Bushido: the mental fortitude to perform seppuku (切腹) without hesitation for the sake of honor
The extreme of concentration — the calmer the mind, the greater the combat power

Usage

The absolute master of one-on-one combat. A samurai's duel with a live blade is the greatest sword contest in all of fantasy.