Editing Samurai (section)

==Culture==
[[File:Shōkō-ken.jpg|thumb|The {{nihongo3|small tea room||[[chashitsu]]}} was a place of politics and socializing for lords and samurai.]]
{{nihongo3|Japanese poetry||[[Waka (poetry)|Waka]]}}, {{nihongo3|Japanese dance-drama||[[noh]]}}, {{nihongo3|Japanese football game||[[kemari]]}}, [[Japanese tea ceremony|tea ceremony]], and {{nihongo3|Japanese flower arranging||[[ikebana]]}} were some of the cultural pursuits enjoyed by the aristocratic samurai in the Sengoku Period.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/113261/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427025841/https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/113261/|script-title=ja:武士の生活|language=ja|publisher=The Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Nagoya Touken World|date=|archive-date=27 April 2024|access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref>
 
''Waka'' poems were also used as {{nihongo3|death poems|[[:ja:辞世|辞世の句]]|jisei no ku}}. [[Hosokawa Gracia]], [[Asano Naganori]], and [[Takasugi Shinsaku]] are famous for their ''jisei no ku''.

''Noh'' and ''kemari'' were promoted by the [[Ashikaga shogunate]] and became popular among {{nihongo3|feudal lords||[[daimyo]]}} and samurai.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/article/53496|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205225102/https://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/article/53496|script-title=ja:神社と深くつながる「蹴鞠」|language=ja|publisher=[[Kokugakuin University]]|date=16 February 2018|archive-date=5 December 2022|access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="nohgaku">{{cite web|url=https://www.nohgaku.or.jp/guide/whywhat1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004141553/https://www.nohgaku.or.jp/guide/whywhat1|script-title=ja:能楽と歴史について|language=ja|publisher=The Nohgaku Performers' Association|date=16 February 2018|archive-date=4 October 2023|access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref> During the [[Sengoku period]], the appreciation of ''noh'' and the practice of tea ceremonies were valued for socializing and exchanging information, and were essential cultural pursuits for ''daimyo'' and samurai. The view of life and death expressed in ''noh'' plays was something the samurai of the time could relate to. Owning tea utensils used in the tea ceremony was a matter of prestige for ''daimyo'' and samurai, and in some cases tea utensils were given in exchange for land as a reward for military service. The {{nihongo3|small tea room||[[chashitsu]]}} was also used as a place for political meetings, as it was suitable for secret talks, and the tea ceremony sometimes brought together samurai and townspeople who did not normally interact.<ref name="nohgaku"/>

===Education===
[[File:Koan Ogata 1901.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Kōan Ogata]], a samurai, physician and rangaku scholar in late Edo period Japan, noted for establishing an academy which later developed into [[Osaka University]]]]

In general, samurai, aristocrats, and priests had a very high literacy rate in [[kanji]]. Recent studies have shown that literacy in kanji among other groups in society was somewhat higher than previously understood. For example, court documents, birth and death records and marriage records from the Kamakura period, submitted by farmers, were prepared in Kanji. Both the kanji literacy rate and skills in math improved toward the end of Kamakura period.<ref name=Matsura>Matsura, Yoshinori Fukuiken-shi 2 (Tokyo: Sanshusha, 1921)</ref>

Some samurai had ''buke bunko'', or "warrior library", a personal library that held texts on strategy, the science of warfare, and other documents that would have proved useful during the warring era of feudal Japan. One such library held 20,000 volumes. The upper class had ''Kuge bunko'', or "family libraries", that held classics, Buddhist sacred texts, and family histories, as well as genealogical records.<ref>Murray, S. (2009). ''The library : an illustrated history''. New York: [[Skyhorse Pub.]]; Chicago : ALA Editions, 2009. p. 113 {{ISBN?}}</ref>

<blockquote>There were to Lord Eirin's character many high points difficult to measure, but according to the elders the foremost of these was the way he governed the province by his civility. It goes without saying that he acted this way toward those in the samurai class, but he was also polite in writing letters to the farmers and townspeople, and even in addressing these letters he was gracious beyond normal practice. In this way, all were willing to sacrifice their lives for him and become his allies.<ref>Wilson, p. 85</ref></blockquote>

In a letter dated 29 January 1552, [[St Francis Xavier]] observed the ease of which the Japanese understood prayers due to the high level of literacy in Japan at that time:

In a letter to [[Ignatius of Loyola|Father Ignatius Loyola]] at [[Rome]], Xavier further noted the education of the upper classes:

<blockquote>The Nobles send their sons to monasteries to be educated as soon as they are 8 years old, and they remain there until they are 19 or 20, learning reading, writing and religion; as soon as they come out, they marry and apply themselves to politics.</blockquote>

===Names===
A samurai was usually named by combining one [[kanji]] from his father or grandfather and one new kanji. Samurai normally used only a small part of their total name.

For example, the full name of [[Oda Nobunaga]] was "Oda Kazusanosuke Saburo Nobunaga" ({{lang|ja|織田上総介三郎信長}}), in which "Oda" is a clan or family name, "Kazusanosuke" is a title of vice-governor of Kazusa province, "Saburo" is a formal nickname (''[[yobina]]''), and "Nobunaga" is an adult name (''[[nanori]]'') given at [[genpuku]], the coming of age ceremony. A man was addressed by his family name and his title, or by his ''yobina'' if he did not have a title. However, the ''nanori'' was a private name that could be used by only a very few, including the emperor. Samurai could choose their own ''nanori'' and frequently changed their names to reflect their allegiances.

Samurai were given the privilege of carrying two swords and using 'samurai surnames' to identify themselves from the common people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wert |first1=Michael |title=Samurai: A Concise History |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-093294-7 |page=38}}</ref>

===Marriage===
[[File:Taikō gosai rakutō yūkan no zu.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] with his wives and concubines]]

Samurai had arranged marriages, which were arranged by a go-between of the same or higher rank. While for those samurai in the upper ranks this was a necessity (as most had few opportunities to meet women), this was a formality for lower-ranked samurai. Most samurai married women from a samurai family, but for lower-ranked samurai, marriages with commoners were permitted. In these marriages a [[dowry]] was brought by the woman and was used to set up the couple's new household.

A samurai could take [[concubine]]s, but their backgrounds were checked by higher-ranked samurai. In many cases, taking a concubine was akin to a marriage. Kidnapping a concubine, although common in fiction, would have been shameful, if not criminal. If the concubine was a commoner, a messenger was sent with betrothal money or a note for exemption of tax to ask for her parents' acceptance. Even though the woman would not be a legal wife, a situation normally considered a demotion, many wealthy merchants believed that being the concubine of a samurai was superior to being the legal wife of a commoner. When a merchant's daughter married a samurai, her family's money erased the samurai's debts, and the samurai's social status improved the standing of the merchant family. If a samurai's commoner concubine gave birth to a son, the son could inherit his father's social status.

A samurai could divorce his wife for a variety of reasons with approval from a superior, but divorce was, while not entirely nonexistent, a rare event. A wife's failure to produce a son was cause for divorce, but adoption of a male heir was considered an acceptable alternative to divorce. A samurai could divorce for personal reasons, even if he simply did not like his wife, but this was generally avoided as it would embarrass the person who had arranged the marriage. A woman could also arrange a divorce, although it would generally take the form of the samurai divorcing her. After a divorce, samurai had to return the betrothal money, which often prevented divorces.