samurai clans

Japanese feudal houses

Samurai clans were hereditary warrior families in feudal Japan who served regional lords and the shogunate, bound by codes of loyalty, honor, and martial discipline.

These clans—such as the Minamoto, Taira, and Tokugawa—often wielded significant political and military power, sometimes rivaling or controlling the imperial government itself.

The clan system shaped Japanese society for centuries until the Meiji Restoration abolished the samurai class in the late 1800s.

Related

katana · blood feud · Muromachi period · family crests · ancestral lands · vassal · siege warfare · martial arts schools · battle formations · retainer · swordsmanship · castle fortifications · feudal lord · ninja · banner · Tokugawa · castle · alliance

Categories
Opposites
social class/caste in feudal Japan

samurai clansfarmers

Land-cultivating occupation holders

eta · commoners · outcasts · townspeople · merchant class

military/warrior status

samurai clanspeasantry

Rural working class

civilian population · non-combatants · Buddhist monasteries · merchant guilds

power structure type

samurai clansreligious orders

Vowed spiritual communities

merchant houses · village councils · trade guilds

Family

clan, samurai

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