All text, images, designs are © 2006 Glory Film Productions Inc. All rights reserved.
Samurai Sword, Samurai Warrior, History Tradition
Continued From Page 1
Samurai Sword, Samurai Warrior, History & Tradition
Etymology
The character for Samurai.The term "Samurai" is of Chinese origin and translates in both Chinese and Japanese as "those who serve in close attendance to nobility." In Japanese, it was originally pronounced in the pre-Heian period as "saburau" and later to "saburai". In Japanese literature, there is an early reference to Samurai history in the Kokinshu (early 10th century):
Attendant to your nobility
Ask for your master's umbrella. The dews 'neath the trees of Miyagino. Are thicker than rain
The word bushi (武士) (lit. "warrior or armsman") first appears in a early history of Japan called Shoku Nihongi (797 A.D.). In a portion of the book covering the year 723 A.D., Shoku Nihongi states: "Literary men and Warriors are they whom the nation values". The term bushi is of Chinese origin and adds to the indigenous Japanese words for "warrior": Tsuwamono and Mononofu. The terms "bushi" and "samurai" became synonymous near the end of the 12th century, according to William Scott Wilson in his book Ideals of the Samurai--Writings of Japanese Warriors. Wilson's book thoroughly explores the origins of the word "warrior" in Japanese Samurai history as well as the Kanji (Chinese symbols) used to represent the word. Wilson states that Bushi actually translates as "a man who has the ability to keep the peace, either by literary or military means, but predominantly by the latter."
It was not until the early modern period, namely the Azuchi-Momoyama period and early Edo period of the late 16th and early 17th centuries that the word saburai became replaced with samurai. However, the meaning had changed long before.
Continued on the next page
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).
