The samurai first appeared in 10th century AD in the Heian Period. A new system of military service created private armies who were paid for by local warlords, known as ‘daimyo’. The original meaning of the word ‘samurai’ was ‘to serve’. Theoretically, the samurai existed to serve the Japanese emperor.

The samurai, members of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan, began as provincial warriors before rising to power in the 12th century with the beginning of the country’s first military dictatorship, known as the shogunate.

The Samurai were the warriors of premodern Japan, who later evolved to become the ruling military class of the Edo Period (1603-1867). Their origins can be traced back to the campaigns of the early Heian period of the late 8th and early 9th century to subdue the native Emishi people in the Tohoku Region.