什么是武士

日本战士阶级。在日本早期历史中，文明是与皇室相联系的，武士多受人蔑视。随着私人庄园（shoen）的出现，武士变得日益重要，因为庄园需要武士的保护。武士的势力不断增强，当源赖朝建立起鎌仓幕府（1192～1333）後，武士成为统治阶级。武士以遵守纪律、禁欲以及服务为特徵（参阅Bushido）。武士文化在足利时代（1338～1573）时期有了进一步的发展。在德川家族（1603～1867）统治的两个太平世纪中，武士在很大程度上演变为世俗的官僚主义者。作为政府雇员，武士领有固定的薪金，在18～19世纪江户（今东京）和大阪的商业经济蓬勃发展的过程中，薪金数额日益减少。到19世纪中期，官衔较低的武士渴望社会变革，同时希望面对西方列强的入侵能有一个强大的日本，他们於1868年在明治维新中推翻了幕府政府。封建阶级在1871年被废除。一些武士起来造反（参阅saigo Takamori），但他们中的大多数使自己融进了日本的现代化进程。亦请参阅daimyo、han。

samurai

Member of the Japanese warrior class. In early Japanese history, culture was associated with the imperial court and warriors were looked down on. The samurai became important with the rise in private estates (shoen), which needed samurai protection. Their power increased, and when Minamoto Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate (1192-1333), they became the ruling class. They were characterized by an ethic of discipline, stoicism, and service (see bushido). Samurai culture developed further during the Ashikaga shogunate (1338-1573). During two centuries of peace under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867), they were largely transformed into civil bureaucrats. As government employees, they received a fixed stipend that was worth less and less in the flourishing merchant economy of the 18th-19th century in Edo (Tokyo) and Osaka. By the mid-19th century, lower-ranking samurai, eager for societal change and anxious to create a strong Japan in the face of Western encroachment, overthrew the shogunal government in the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Feudal distinctions were abolished in 1871. Some samurai rebelled (see Saigo Takamori) but most threw themselves into the modernization of Japan. See also daimyo, han.