For a thousand years, from around the late 800s until the 1880s, Samurai warriors served the noble families and royal courts in Japan. Much like the knights of Europe, the samurai were a special class of fighting men who wore finely made armor and used special weapons. We see them today in movies and video games, but your students might not know much about them in the real world.
The photos below, from the Philbrook Museum‘s Samurai exhibit, may inspire curiosity about Classical Japan and these legendary soldiers. We offer three lesson plans for different grades below.
Here, models of samurai warriors on foot and on horseback show the distinctive armor the warriors wore. Each set had similar function, shape, and pieces, but the style was individual. Warriors would wear special symbols showing their family lines and individual identity. Families had special badges, often based on particular plants and animals.
Samurai were professional warriors, and used horses and bows and arrows. Scholars conclude that they were, like European knights, drawn from upper class families rather than drafted into the army from the general population.
Ancient Japan was ruled by a number of different families, who had conflicts among themselves. It is thought that the samurai developed from the private fighting forces serving these families.
Books on the Samurai
There are not many books for kids about the samurai, but there are lots of books with plenty of pictures. We also found clear basic information in books about the medieval world. Here are some favorites:
- Samurai: An Illustrated History
- An Illustrated Guide to Samurai History and Culture: From the Age of Musashi to Contemporary Pop Culture
- Japanese Swords and Armor
- Samurai Stained Glass Coloring Book
- The Usborne Internet Linked Medieval World
Samurai armor and weapons
The type of armor and weapons shown in the pictures here is typical of the 12th to 14th centuries, and continued to be worn and used through the 19th century. Samurai armor of this type was made of leather and fabric, with some metal elements. These materials were fashioned into separate pieces of armor that protected the ears, the neck, the shoulders, the arms, the chest, and the thighs. There were also helmets and pieces to protect the hands and feet.
Every piece of armor was beautifully made and highly decorated. Embroidery and quilting were used on the armor itself and also for the beautiful clothes worn under the armor.
See how a samurai would get dressed.
This type of armor, called O’yoroi, was particularly made for people using bows on horseback. The armor gave protection, but also allowed flexibility and clear vision required for archery. Other cultures that used mounted archery include the Comanche, the Mongols, and the Parthians of Ancient Persia.
Armor is intended to protect the soldiers. However, samurai armor was also intended to intimidate the warriors’ adversaries. The armor for the horse shown in the photo above made the horse look like a dragon.
Helmets were made to make the soldiers look scary, too.
Many of the decorations used flowers and other designs that we would not consider scary today. Other examples, such as those shown below, used beautiful geometric patterns.
Samurai weapons were also beautiful. The swords below had a graceful and effective shape, and were elegantly decorated. The close-up photo shows the delicate details.
Samurai armor lends itself to art lessons:
- Make a samurai helmet using the traditional Japanese craft of origami.
- Download a PDF with templates and instructions to make a 3-D samurai helmet.
- See more projects from the museum that houses the collection seen in the photos in this article.
- Use favorite art supplies to create geometric patterns like the ones shown above on paper and use the paper to cover a book or sketchbook.
- Challenge students to make a badge showing a special symbol for themselves or their families. They can add it to their origami samurai helmets, or put it on their backpacks.
The samurai code
Here are the 7 virtues of Bushido, along with their general meanings, from the 1899 book, Bushido: The Soul of Japan:
- 義 (Gi) – Rectitude / Righteousness / Justice: This is often considered the most important virtue. It means doing the right thing, acting with integrity, and upholding a strong sense of justice and morality. A samurai was expected to know right from wrong and act accordingly without hesitation.
- 勇 (Yu) – Courage / Heroic Courage: This isn’t just about physical bravery in battle, but the courage to face challenges, overcome fears, and live authentically. It implies courageous action when it is right to act, rather than blind impulsiveness.
- 仁 (Jin) – Benevolence / Compassion / Mercy: Despite being warriors, samurai were expected to exercise immense power with kindness and empathy. This virtue emphasizes treating others with respect, helping those in need, and showing compassion, even towards enemies.
- 礼 (Rei) – Respect / Politeness / Courtesy: Samurai were expected to be impeccably polite and respectful, not just to superiors but to everyone, regardless of social status. This virtue reflects an inner regard for the feelings of others and outward proper conduct.
- 誠 (Makoto) – Honesty / Sincerity / Truthfulness: A samurai’s word was their bond. This virtue emphasizes absolute truthfulness in word and deed. There was no need for written contracts because a samurai’s promise was considered unbreakable.
- 名誉 (Meiyo) – Honor / Glory: Honor was paramount to a samurai. It involved maintaining one’s dignity, reputation, and moral character. Losing one’s honor was often considered worse than death, leading to rituals like seppuku (ritual suicide) in extreme cases to restore it.
- 忠義 (Chūgi) – Loyalty / Duty: This virtue emphasized unwavering devotion and allegiance, primarily to one’s lord (Daimyo), but also to family, comrades, and one’s principles. Loyalty was considered the highest duty, even if it meant sacrificing one’s own life.
These seven virtues formed a comprehensive ethical framework that guided the samurai’s conduct both on and off the battlefield, emphasizing self-discipline, integrity, and a profound sense of purpose.
What other codes of conduct do students know about? Have they heard of the code of chivalry or the cowboy code? Does your school have a code of conduct or an honor code?
This is a great opportunity to come up with one for your classroom! Challenge students individually or in groups to develop a code for themselves. Then discuss the various codes you’ve found and created as a class and choose the items you most agree upon for your own classroom code.
Finish up by asking students to study the photos for colors, images, and ideas they can use to create a classroom poster listing the virtues in your classroom code.
Samurai and knights: a comparison
Start with a Venn diagram and compare the samurai with European knights.
Here is a suit of armor from Germany.
Here is a suit of armor from Japan.
Notice how both serve the same purposes, but they are made of different materials, with different parts and shapes.
This is a photo of a samurai from 1881. Below is a photo of a modern-day person dressed up as a knight for a reenactment.
Both these photos give a good idea of how one of these historic warriors would have looked — and they also give clues about the different time periods. Japan was a feudal society long after knights flourished in European countries. Samurai were still important in the 1880s, centuries after the end of knightly battles in Europe.
Note how the samurai model in the photo above dressed up his horse to be intimidating. It looks like a dragon!
German knights, like the samurai, were horsemen and they dressed up their horses, too. What’s the same and what’s different about the choices they made?
The photo above shows a whole wall of armor from a German castle. What’s the same and what is different about this armor from the samurai armor shown above?
Both samurai and knights had codes of honor and religious beliefs. The samurai generally followed Buddhism or Confucianism while the knights were usually Christian. Check out the Samurai code above and compare it to the code of chivalry which the knights would have striven to follow. What’s the same and what’s different?
Knights and samurai worked for landowning noblemen in a feudal system. Samurai were paid with rice, and knights often also received just room and board. In either case, they might be rewarded with land at the end of their service, or they might continue working for their lords in another capacity. Often, they did not live to old age — their jobs were dangerous. When the samurai system ended in the late 1800s, many samurai became merchants or otherwise took ordinary jobs. Sometimes both groups had wives and children, and lived with their families when they finished being soldiers.
