10 little-known facts about Japanese ronin (10 photos)

Ronin in feudal Japan are samurai warriors who left without a master due to his death or betrayal. What's up with them happened next? Why did they often become outcasts and rebels, rebelling against the shogunate? Let's try to dive at least briefly into this fascinating chapter of Japanese history.





In Japanese society, since the 12th century, samurai, members of the military caste system, had a great influence. They appeared at the dawn of the military governments - shogunates. Many of them were hired by feudal lords (daimyo) for protect their territories from invasions, and the true samurai enjoyed respect not only for the ability to wield a sword, but also for devotion to one’s daimyō, loyalty to an oath.

Sometimes a samurai found himself without a master for some reason, and then he became a ronin. Ronin were outcasts who roamed the country. Often they lost their position in society, refusing to serve new owners and learn new rules. Ronin, like traditional samurai contributed to the formation of Japanese culture and traditions. IN In this list, we will try to learn a little more about them.

1. Meaning of the term "Ronin"



"Ronin" is translated as a soaring person, wandering a person, a wanderer or a wave person (i.e. a person without a goal, moving like an ocean wave). This term appeared for the first time in the periods Nara (710-794) and Haina (794-1185) and then he described the serfs, rebelled against their masters and fled from the service.

It was not until the Kamakura period (1185–1333) that the term became known throughout Japan. Then so began to call the samurai, who defied Japanese tradition and were forced to wander. Ronin called not only the rebellious warriors, rebels, but also those who became bandit, bodyguard, pirate or murderer, that is, people outside law.

2. Ronin appeared due to the change of eras





Toyotomi Hideyoshi

The ronin phenomenon became most famous during the Edo period. (1600–1878) when, due to the political situation, many samurai forced to become ronin. Earlier, during the Sengoku period, samurai allowed to find new owners. Bushido code allowed for service with a new master if the previous daimyō was killed in battle. Need in experienced warriors was large and they did not remain idle (and to seppuku, or hara-kiri, there was no need to resort).

But by the Edo period, the situation looked different: Japanese Leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi united the country with the help of the shogunate. Because of this peaceful union warriors have become less in demand. Gradually moral the code of the samurai became more and more rigid: they could no longer go to service to a new daimyo if the former lord has died. They have practically no there was no choice but seppuku. This led many samurai on the path of outcast ronin. They had to survive using only what they knew well: their swords.

3. Ronin was no longer considered a samurai



The shogunate created a strict social order in which samurai were key members of the military hierarchy. Samurai served their own masters, daimyo. The daimyō served the shogun, and the shogun served the emperor.

The ronin had no masters and were no longer part of this elite hierarchy. The samurai class looked down on the ronin, and they too didn't want to have anything to do with them. Sometimes called ronin "samurai outcasts", but, most likely, only commoners spoke like that. Samurai by definition means "one who serves". Therefore, ronin could not bear the title of samurai because he no longer had a master to serve.

4 Ronin Was Considered An Underclass



In Japan from the 12th to the 19th centuries there was a four-level class system. Ronin were considered representatives of a lower social class than the samurai, and belonged to the class farmers/peasants. After all, they no longer served the master and they could not be the same privileges as the samurai.

According to the feudal hierarchy of Japan, being a ronin was considered shameful. They were seen as people who had not fulfilled their duty to their master and country (this can be compared with a shameful dismissal from modern army, dismissal with a wolf ticket).

The main purpose of the samurai was to serve his daimyo. Without the owner, they seemed to lose both honor and purpose. And because of the strict codes bushido, imposedon the samurai by the Tokugawa shogunate, many ronin actually become criminals. It's hard to blame them, because they were victims of a system that largely worked against them.

5. Ronin shook the traditional foundations



Ronin were not only warriors without a master, but were also considered rebels. The rules no longer bound them. Samurai code of honor they no longer adhered. And practice the eight virtues of bushido didn't make sense either. But for sure some ronin still continued to live by the rules to which they were accustomed, only not strict.

Everyone knows the most striking example: when the daimyo died, the code bushido demanded that the samurai commit seppuku - otherwise they will cover themselves with shame. This ritual suicide was considered as an honorable way to die, to leave after the master. However, the ronin followed this tradition.

6 Ronin Had A Bad Reputation



The shogunate considered ronin unpredictable and dangerous, because some of them did become bandits. Other went as mercenaries or bodyguards to the rich. image of a ronin mercenary assassin, armed with two swords, a bow or a bo staff, was painted in particularly dark colors during the Edo period. We must understand that not all ronin as one were criminals.

7. Ronin often rebelled against authority.



There were many cases when ronin united in groups, took up arms and rebelled against the shogunate and other authorities. Most a famous case is the story of the 47 ronin, also known as Ako Incident.

The 47 ronin were a group of masterless samurai who avenged the death of their daimyō in 1703 by killing a court official named Kira Yoshinaka. This act of samurai loyalty and revenge was later turned into a popular play and film.

Another well-known example is the Keian Rebellion of 1651. Group ronin planned to force the Tokugawa shogunate to treat ronin with great respect. This military coup included setting fire to the city of Edo and Raid on Edo Castle. Although the rebellion ultimately failed, it prompted the shogunate to loosen restrictions on both ronin and for samurai in general.

8 Some Samurai Wanted To Become Ronin



Although the samurai turned ronin was often looked down upon, there were samurai who themselves aspired to this way of life. They believed that they could live more freely and with dignity if they did not bound by an updated (and tightened) bushido code.

In the 19th century, the ronin movement became especially attractive to samurai dissatisfied with power. The 260-year-old Tokugawa dictatorship was approaching end. Many wanted to rid Japan of Westerners and restore imperial family as the legitimate rulers of the country.

Many samurai voluntarily left their masters in order to become ronin. These ronin are believed to have inspired the Meiji Restoration, the time when the Tokugawa shogunate (military government) came to its decline. This event ended the Edo period in 1867.

9 Ronin Invented Modern Haiku



During the Edo period, a new independent form emerged from the renga style. poetry. This poetic style called haiku became popular thanks to a ronin named Matsuo Basho. His poetry is different from traditional Japanese poetry. He disapproved of the style known as haikai and range. Instead, Basho began to analyze the art, writing haiku with 17-complex structure. He called it "shofu" or "basho style".

Basho's works are considered one of the most important sources haiku inspiration. His version of haiku evolved into haiku later, in the 19th century. Basho's poem "Old Pond!" considered the oldest a piece of contemporary haiku.

10 The Role Of Ronin Has Changed Over Time



With the end of feudalism in Japan, the role of ronin and samurai has changed. During the Meiji period, the country underwent a major modernization, which in 1876 led to the abolition of the samurai class. The warriors had to adapt and integrate into society on a different basis.

The Meiji Restoration led to the fact that many former samurai went into the army or became teachers, farmers or merchants. The Meiji Restoration also opened up new opportunities for ronin and helped rethink their place in Japanese society.