When was samurai formed

The two clans fought once more in the Genpei War of to , which ended in victory for the Minamoto. Following their victory, Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate , retaining the emperor as a figurehead. The Minamoto clan ruled much of Japan until In , an external threat appeared. Fortunately for Japan, a typhoon destroyed the Mongols' ships, and a second invasion fleet in met the same fate. Despite such incredible help from nature, the Mongol attacks cost the Kamakura dearly. Unable to offer land or riches to the samurai leaders who rallied to Japan's defense, the weakened shogun faced a challenge from Emperor Go-Daigo in After being exiled in , the emperor returned and overthrew the shogunate in The Kemmu Restoration of imperial power lasted only three years.

In , the Ashikaga shogunate under Ashikaga Takauji reasserted samurai rule, though this new shogunate was weaker than that of the Kamakura. Regional constables called " daimyo " developed considerable power and meddled with the shogunate's line of succession.

By , the daimyos were ignoring orders from the shogun and backing different successors to the imperial throne. When the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, resigned in , a dispute between backers of his younger brother and his son ignited even more intense fighting among the daimyo.

In , this squabbling erupted into the decade-long Onin War, in which thousands died and Kyoto was burned to the ground. Between and , various daimyos led their clans in a fight for national dominance, and nearly all of the provinces were engulfed in the fighting.

The Warring States Period drew to a close in when the warlord Oda Nobunaga defeated three powerful daimyos, marched into Kyoto, and had his preferred leader, Yoshiaki, installed as shogun. Nobunaga spent the next 14 years subduing other rival daimyos and quelling rebellions by fractious Buddhist monks.

His grand Azuchi Castle, constructed between and , became of symbol of Japanese reunification. In , Nobunaga was assassinated by one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. Hideyoshi , another general, finished the unification and ruled as kampaku, or regent, invading Korea in and Hideyoshi exiled the large Tokugawa clan from the area around Kyoto to the Kanto region in eastern Japan.

By , Tokugawa Ieyasu had conquered the neighboring daimyo from his castle stronghold at Edo, which would one day become Tokyo. Ieyasu's son, Hidetada, became shogun of the unified country in , ushering in about years of relative peace and stability for Japan.

The strong Tokugawa shoguns domesticated the samurai, forcing them to either serve their lords in the cities or give up their swords and farm. This transformed the warriors into a class of cultured bureaucrats. In , the Meiji Restoration signaled the beginning of the end for the samurai. The Meiji system of constitutional monarchy included such democratic reforms as term limits for public officials and popular balloting.

In , after 50 days of fierce struggle, the Japanese were again saved by a great storm. These storms became known as kamikaze, divine winds.

More than years later, during the second invasion of Japan, by America, the suicide pilots protecting the islands were called kamikaze, too. The Mongolian attempts to invade Japan united the Japanese against an outside force for the first time in history.

In , the Kamakura shogunate lost control of the country to a rival samurai family, the Ashikaga family. It controlled — either directly or indirectly — all elements of society, such as the agrarian and commercial sectors. The government legally differentiated four classes of society — samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Edo became a giant urban center because so many people came to make a living by supplying the huge samurai population.

By there were about one million people living in Edo. In time, the Edo merchants supplying the military became richer than the samurai, many of whom lived in poverty. Cyberpunk Series. Cyberpunk V3. Rulebooks Sourcebooks Adventurebooks. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Cyberware Weapons Technology Vehicles Bioware. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account?

View source. History Talk 0. Cyberpunk - The Complete Official Guide. Special Edition. Piggyback Interactive, Rockerboy Sourcebook. Talsorian Games , Home of the Brave. One time he printed shirts for a worldwide concert tour - it's funny because Samurai couldn't even get an arena gig in the states. He picked some really random places Beijing, Sapporo, Katowice. Happen to have one of the shirts myself.

Too bad no one got the joke. Cyberpunk Video Game, Multi-Platform.