How to Train to Be a Samurai

In order to train to be a samurai, you must be willing to devote your entire life to service, training and the samurai code of Bushido. The samurai were the warrior class of Japan between the 10th century and 19th century. While they no longer serve an official function in Japanese society, samurai families still exist and continue to train their children how to be samurai.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

1. Be born to a samurai family. The samurai were considered nobility. Only those born with samurai blood were usually allowed to train as samurai. They had the money, time and family support to devote to training. Instruction to be a samurai mostly came from relatives and close family friends.

2. Be a boy. Samurai warriors were exclusively men. Women in samurai families were taught some martial art techniques and educated in many similar subjects to men, but they rarely fought in battle. Historically, true samurai warriors were male.

3. Start young. Samurai began training at about three years old with wooden swords. When they were about six years old they were trained with real bladed weapons. This was usually a long bladed knife like a tanto or mamorigatana. Training was daily and serious. Even child samurai did not get to fool around while training.

4. Leave home. Samurai boys were usually raised by relatives who instructed them in warrior ways. This limited distractions. They studied a wide variety of skills. The most important was kendo, the way of the sword. They also learned horseback riding, archery, spear fighting and hand-to-hand combat.

5. Study hard. Samurai were educated as well as deadly. They were expected to be talented at skills such as calligraphy, poetry, literature, painting, flower arranging and the tea ceremony. They also learned battle tactics. Every samurai trained to someday become a general and lead other samurai.

6. Be honorable. Everything a samurai does must be with honor. A samurai must not lie, must not cheat and must not fail. If he is given a task to do he must complete it in the proper way. Above all, a samurai must not embarrass himself, his family or his clan.

7. Sacrifice your life. The sole purpose of a samurai is to serve his daimyo. This is a master for whom the samurai willing gives up his life. The code of Bushido requires that samurai do whatever their daimyo commands. If he orders you to cut your own stomach open, prepare to die.