All vassals in the service of the shogun or under the command of the provincial daimyo was a huge regular army and belonged to the same class – beech. They became known, Cambuci(warriors) or military vassals (mononofu, wairau). After 1869 they became known as ShIZO-ku (former military), and throughout the rest of the world they retained the same name. This name has passed into many languages and is usually translated as" servant " (samurai, samurai).

In ancient times the title of "samurai" was given to the leaders of the armed clans of the North and soldiers of the aristocrats, belonged to the Imperial court (goodtimers). Later this term (already metamorphosed samurai. More accurately it can be translated as "one who serves") came to refer to all the warriors who had the right to wear Dyce, were in the service of his master.

Once upon a time, these soldiers were ordinary vagabonds from the big road, not averse to robbery, violence and robbery, between which they collected and trained new paramilitary units. They stole cattle, robbed passing merchants, raped other people's brides, for which they were declared a kind of hunting by the authorities. However, by the Tokugawa period, these questionable personalities had transformed and began to display qualities that made them either cult figures or objects of contempt and hatred – a point of view that depended on the chronicler. Samurai was called as rude pawns in political struggle, so and the embodiment of numerous virtues and merits. And in fact the samurai are an example of what can happen with a man who is fanatically committed to any idea, especially when it turns out that the idea is not so noble.

Samurai unquestioningly obey the orders of his master and this blind devotion made them both victims of history and heroes. Much of the blame lies with the owners of samurai, because they are responsible for brainwashing the samurai and the abuse of power book.

On the battlefield vassal was in direct subjection to his master, fulfilled his orders and suppress any attempts to escape. If the master decided to commit ritual suicide to avoid capture, the vassal played the role of his assistant (kaimaku), who was to save his master from a long agony of death, cutting off his head with one blow of the sword. Usually the vassal ran away with the head of his master, so that the enemies in accordance with the customs of that era could not make it a war trophy, but often enough he allowed his master to avoid capture. Vassal could put on his armor and set off at a gallop, to win over enemies; or dressed in a suit of his master, was enabled to cut off the head of another vassal, which the enemies had set off in pursuit, while their master was able to escape unnoticed from the battlefield.

If the vassal received orders from his master to fight to the end, he did so without hesitation; or, if he was allowed, he could follow the ancient custom of those warlike tribes whose members never surrendered of their own free will. Since time immemorial, Japanese soldiers have always preferred death to captivity.

If, for example, the defenders of the besieged castle became clear that soon they will not be able to hold the line, they killed women and children, set fire to the last defensive stronghold, and then deprived themselves of life. The exception to this rule was only one thing – a personal request of the Lord to save his seed for future revenge.

If on the field battlefield warrior recognized, that his efforts futile, and defeat inevitably, then he had the right to retreat in short secluded grove and do seppuku on the eyes of enemies (which very often??? participation in this ritual).

By this time in feudal Europe developed a "code of ethics" relations with prisoners of war, which included a variety of rules of conduct adopted then in the warring countries. Japan, however, was separated from the world and, accordingly, could not adopt this code or develop its own: feudal customs and views on collective responsibility in Japan remained the longest and with great contempt they treated foreign prisoners of war, which was especially evident in the wars of the XIX and XX centuries.

When the Japanese themselves were captured, they usually fell into a state of complete despair and self-abasement, or gradually agreed to cooperate with those who captured them, that in the absence of the commander who gave the appropriate orders, scientists explain the consequence of the willingness to accept shame, and hence to any betrayal.

All Japanese military ethic was inherited from the personal relationship between a Lord and his vassal when the latter regarded any attack on the Lord as a personal affront, and sought to punish the offender at all costs. All clan cultures contained the concept of blood feud, the official vendetta, which in the military culture of Toku-gawa became a ritual with carefully organized norms and procedures. A warrior whose master has become the victim of any abuse, or considered himself such, has ranged from procedural negligence to harsh words, from assassination to real assassination, assumed the obligation to avenge the honor of his master, even if it took many years. This obligation was particularly effective when the master was killed or forced to commit suicide. Ancient Confucian rule that people can't live under the same sky with the murderer of his father, the Japanese laws and customs interpreted in favor of the clan leader, who was considered father to all its members. The refusal to fulfil this sacred obligation was a complete disgrace, for if one who was able to avenge himself was revered by all as a man of honour, then the weak man, who did not even try to punish the murderer of his father or his master, could only escape from his native places; from that moment he was subjected to universal contempt. Revenge (kataki-uti) was considered everybody to according to ritual only after the head of the enemy has been put to the feet of the master, or in the case of death of the last to his grave.

As a member of the bushi vassal had to be ready to serve his master mainly as a warrior, which required him to complete absence of fear and doubt about the use of weapons. Therefore, the entire military philosophy is built on the concept of a complete disregard for their own safety and even the life of the warrior, by the way, according to the oath was put at the disposal of his master.

Bushido ordered a samurai to act on orders not thinking up big and not hampering the, his role was only active – thought "for him" other people, in particular, Mr.. To help the warrior overcome any mental disturbance caused by the natural fear of death, he was taught to think of himself as a man whose life does not belong to himself — a favorite topic in Japanese classical literature, where the samurai is often depicted as a tragic figure caught in the network of the cult of death, to which he retains blind devotion regardless of possible consequences. Bushido in fact was the code of death: a warrior must always be ready for a sudden and tragic end – his whole life and service was a constant reminder about it.

Contemptuous attitude to death was brought up by Japanese soldiers from childhood: children were exposed to the winter cold and forced to endure the heat, they were assigned complex tasks, sent at night to cemeteries and frontal places. Future warrior had to endure physical pain without the slightest sign of emotion, and all his training was to prepare for the ritual seppuku.

Ritual suicide as the highest form of manifestation of man's power over their own destiny and unwavering courage in the face of death, was one of the main privileges of the Japanese soldiers. It was conceived as a simple act of self-destruction on the battlefield, the purpose of which was not to fall alive into the hands of the enemy. Over time, it grew into a ceremony, which had the right to perform only members of the buke, while strictly observing all the subtleties of etiquette, implying the presence of an assistant and witnesses, whose main task was to give the ceremony a social character. Reasons for committing ritual suicide, is not always directly associated with the desire of a warrior to the very end to maintain full control over its destiny or the desire to follow a dead master, in the years of relative peace, occurred during the reign of the Tokugawa, was somewhat blurred. For example, the main reasons for the voluntary suicide of the military classic of the time consider the feeling of guilt caused by a feeling of inadequacy, which could be due to wrong or negligent conduct or fails in fulfilling obligations to the Lord. This form of suicide was known as co-quiu-si. Another common cause of suicide was anger towards the enemy, who could not find his way out (munen bara, funsi). The warrior could also kill yourself, so as to protest the unfair relation to his master or to make him reconsider any decision. This suicide was called Kansi. Among the main causes of involuntary or involuntary ritual suicide, the same sources cite a misdemeanour that a warrior could make up for only by taking an active part in his own punishment in accordance with the laws governing his special status in society. One of the reasons for this ceremony could be a direct order of the Lord, dissatisfied with the actions of his vassal, although he could give it in the event that he wanted to save his vassal (or himself) from responsibility for some act.