The Samurai
Were the Samurai elite martial artists or a self-important militia of romanticised thugs?
After a bloody battle on September 22nd, 1877, Saigo Takamori and his loyal warriors pause on a hillside overlooking Kagoshima. They鈥檒l never surrender, but they鈥檙e wounded, exhausted, and massively outnumbered, and Saigo already knows how this will end. Because his noble Samurai army aren鈥檛 just fighting the Emperor鈥檚 gun-wielding forces. They鈥檙e fighting progress itself. And that鈥檚 a battle they cannot win. But were the Samurai really a class of elite martial artists, driven by unbreakable codes of chivalry and loyalty? Or, behind the propaganda, just a self-important militia of romanticised thugs?
This is a Short History of the Samurai.
Written by Joe Viner. With thanks to Jonathan Clements, historian, and author of A Brief History of the Samurai.
