The Meiji Restoration of 1868 took power from the warlords that had been the de facto rulers of Japan and consolidated it under the Emperor Meiji. With the Restoration came many changes, including the creation of a modern, western-style, conscripted army in 1873. The famous Samurai, who despite making up only 10% of the Japanese population, and who wielded a tremendous amount of power, lost their right to be the nation's only armed force, and eventually, even their right to wear a sword in public.
In honour of these noble warriors, Bored Panda has collected this list of coloured Samurai photographs, all taken between 1863 and 1900, in the twilight years of the Samurai's reign. As it's unlikely that any of you are Samurai, this list is closed, but you can still vote on your favourite photo!
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I didn't know there were samurai women. I looked it up and this is a fun tidbit that I found: With their husbands in combat almost continuously, 16th century samurai women provided for the defense of their homes and children. Their wartime roles included washing and preparing the decapitated bloody heads of the enemy, which were presented to the victorious generals. Like their samurai husbands, personal honor was paramount for samurai women. They carried small daggers and were always prepared to die to maintain their honor and family name. http://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/tokaido_6.html
Looks like a Yakuza, with these tatoos. Maybe there's a connection between the samurai and yakuza heritage in Japan. Just a guess.
Yakuza and other organizations that popped up attempted to use much of already estabilished bushido ways. Irezumi has been around for some historians say at least 10k BC. Tattoos were often signs of dedication and prayers of protection. You'd get a God on you in hopes they would give you ultimate strength in battle with no fear. Many Lords in Japan are rumored to have tattooed or branded their guard. A sign of ultimate dedication and loyalty. It wasnt until the Kofun period that it got a bad taste. During that period they began tattooing criminals to publicly shame them for their crimes and so people could profile them to avoid becoming their next victim. Much of the world did this practice at one point or another. Because of that it became the stereotypical ignorance of society to assume that all tattoos were on criminals only. Many priest have been getting inked for tens of thousands of year. But if gangsters can exploit things they will. Thus they kept the concept alive using fear.
Load More Replies...As someone who is Japanese there is no connection between Samurai and Yakuza. This picture is of Yakuza.
Could you please explain (other than your native knowledge) how we would know?
Load More Replies...Much lower social standing - not supposed to use the samurai full sword, only a short sword
Not really too much of a connection. It might just be a yakuza member, it might be a rōnin as well. Yakuza originated from peddlers and gamblers, none of which were normal samurai. A former samurai - rōnin (as mentioned before) might become a member of either for those two groups.
Part 2: The Kabuki with it's distractions and diverse clientele provided a means for Tekiya and Bakuto to fraternize with the Samurai which would otherwise be impossible. Despite this being unacceptable in Japanese society it was a mutual business relationship. Later after the restoration the Samurai formed militant Ultranationalist organizations and the newly emerging Yakuza was involved in some of the business end of it or something like that. You may need to fact check this though.
Read both part 1 and 2 and it sounds very interesting and pretty much a good answer to what I was curious about. As you said, you were not certain about it, but it definitely deserves a check up.
Load More Replies...Daria. Do some research you can find answers and educate yourself not all japanese with tattoos are associated with Yasuda or criminals
That wasn't my point at the first place.... But yes, I can search for info between the connection of samurai and yakuza if there is any.
Load More Replies...He looks ill..face is a tad emaciated. Otherwise a wonderful photo.
"Beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young."
Imagining how fast a samurai moved without those heavy attire. Must be awesomely fast
I have enjoyed these pictures and am thankful to have been able to view them they were an awesome people with much honour - I am sorry that so many had nothing but negative foolish responses to these ancient pictures. Thank You for sharing them.
They still exist (descendants of the original Iga and Kōga clans), but they nowadays give tours in their old home compounds which are loaded with traps and escape passages
Load More Replies...Beautiful and interesting to look at it. Still, these photos were staged for a Western audience, and many of the details such as the tattoo were painted on after the fact (and are not in fact tattooed on the models). I think this speaks more to Western perspectives of Samurai during the early Meiji period as opposed to real samurai culture at this point. But again, I do like the aesthetic.
I disagree... I don't know why you should imagine these photographs were staged principally for a 'western audience'... And tattoos were indeed, during certain periods of samurai history, very much a part of samurai culture, and ceromonial practice.
Load More Replies...These pictures were beautiful but Csomai Zsuzsanna's comments were the most interesting part of the article as she knows quite a lot about samurais.
sorry, though it was some kind of modern recolouring, apparently it's not.
Load More Replies...Wonderful photos and most likely Yokohama studio portraits of the 1880s and 1890s for Western tourists at the time. Photographs prior to the Meiji Restoration are fairly rare as Japan was closed to the West prior and photography had only recently been introduced to Japan. You can view more at www.photosofjapan.com if you are interested and yes the tattoos are real, just hand-coloured to bring the albumen prints to life :) samurai2-5...084158.jpg
Chinese, Korean term for Japan is Wa(倭). Slightly derogatory term for Japanese in Korean is wae-nom = short bastards.
Slightly derogatory Korean term for Japanese was/is "wae nom" = short bastards.
Can someone educate me on the types of clothes and armor they wore please? How could one maneuver in all the metal?
Actually the metal prevented samurai from making certain movements like bending the elbow a certain way
Load More Replies...They still exist (descendants of the original Iga and Kōga clans), but they nowadays give tours in their old home compounds which are loaded with traps and escape passages
Load More Replies...Beautiful and interesting to look at it. Still, these photos were staged for a Western audience, and many of the details such as the tattoo were painted on after the fact (and are not in fact tattooed on the models). I think this speaks more to Western perspectives of Samurai during the early Meiji period as opposed to real samurai culture at this point. But again, I do like the aesthetic.
I disagree... I don't know why you should imagine these photographs were staged principally for a 'western audience'... And tattoos were indeed, during certain periods of samurai history, very much a part of samurai culture, and ceromonial practice.
Load More Replies...These pictures were beautiful but Csomai Zsuzsanna's comments were the most interesting part of the article as she knows quite a lot about samurais.
sorry, though it was some kind of modern recolouring, apparently it's not.
Load More Replies...Wonderful photos and most likely Yokohama studio portraits of the 1880s and 1890s for Western tourists at the time. Photographs prior to the Meiji Restoration are fairly rare as Japan was closed to the West prior and photography had only recently been introduced to Japan. You can view more at www.photosofjapan.com if you are interested and yes the tattoos are real, just hand-coloured to bring the albumen prints to life :) samurai2-5...084158.jpg
Chinese, Korean term for Japan is Wa(倭). Slightly derogatory term for Japanese in Korean is wae-nom = short bastards.
Slightly derogatory Korean term for Japanese was/is "wae nom" = short bastards.
Can someone educate me on the types of clothes and armor they wore please? How could one maneuver in all the metal?
Actually the metal prevented samurai from making certain movements like bending the elbow a certain way
Load More Replies...