Dbq Samurais

The sacrifices of a samurai were not easy. They gave up their own lives to serve the lives of their masters. By doing so, they would miss major achievements of their own children and were just a thought or memory to friends and families. Samurais had to face the toughest training and endured gruesome battles. At the same time, about 4,200 miles away (6,772 km), European knights were doing the same. In medieval times, the toughest warriors arose from the dirt that made up Europe and Japan. Knights from Europe and samurais from Japan were unstoppable. Each group had strength, courage and loyalty, they were the best soldiers of their time. In medieval Europe and Japan, knights and samurais were alike due to their training styles, social structure,

The training knights and samurais endured had many fundamental similarities. Of these, one of the main ones was that training began at a young age. School samurais consisted of a unique combination of physical training, poetry, and spiritual discipline. They studied Zen Buddhism, Kendo (fencing with Bamboo sticks), and the samurai code. (Document C). Knights schooling also started as early as age four and the teachings were of horse-riding, religious instruction and practiced with blunted or wooden swords. (Document C). At age 13 a trainee officially became a samurai and knights became squires, the next level of training for knights. This illustrates that both followed the same aspects of training and the fact each warrior moved up around the same

The samurais had to follow ‘The Code of Bushido’. In the code it states that all samurais had to stay loyal to his master at all times. If family plans happened to cross with serving loyalty to his master, the samurai had to do his job, and serve his master. The other part of the Bushido says that one that follows this way must stay in a peaceful state at all times. If any warrior broke these rules, he is not allowed to serve any battles but he has to keep peace in his heart. (Document E). Parallel to this, knights follow a code called, ‘The Code of Chivalry’. In this code, the knight has to be loyal to the king, give mercy to all and live a well-rounded life all together. Meaning, he must be kind and respectful to ladies and must serve his king with a great deal of loyalty. Breaking this code was a huge disgrace to any knight. (Document E). Adding to that, there was no legal binding for the code in Europe, unlike Japan whose code was legal. Each party, Europe and Japan, did serve it’s leader for the longest they could. The samurai's loyalty lasted all three of his lives, his past life, his current life and his after life. (Document B). Knights and samurais both had to follow the rules of these codes and both served great loyalty, making their lives similar to each