Knights Code Of Chivalry: The Japanese Samurai

The Samurai’s Tale by Erik Christian Haugaard is about a boy named Taro, the protagonist in the story. The major characters in the story are Taro, Yoshitoki, Lord Takeda Katsuyori, Lord Akiyama Nobutomo, and Togan. The setting of the story is in Japan, in around the 16th century. In the beginning of the story he was presented as a gift by the great Lord Takeda Shingen to Lord Akiyama after his parents had been killed. By using his wits and suppressing his fierce pride, Taro slowly escalates the ranks of his lord’s household until he achieves his greatest goal—becoming a samurai like his father and Lord Akiyama, whom he has come to admire. The life of a samurai is not so easy, Taro finds himself sacrificing opportunities of love and friendship

The codes of the samurai and knights, the code of bushido and the code of chivalry, are very different. For starters, the main characteristics of the code of bushido are loyalty, duty, and physical readiness. A samurai would have to have loyalty and he was devoting himself to duty (OI). Next, The main characteristic of the code of chivalry is courtesy (Doc. E). The code of chivalry was written first, and the difference in years between the codes are 130 years. If a conflict between dealing with a family problem and one involving involving the people he serves, the samurai would have to choose his master (Doc. E). The main similarities between them are loyalty and their duty.

Document A shows the feudal social structures in both Japan and Europe. When defining samurai and knights it read, “Warriors who owned loyalty and military service to daimyos or lord for land,” both samurai and knights were awarded for their pledged loyalty with land for them and their families. Document E states that “both samurai and knights were both expected to abide by a code of honor.” Although the honor code that Japanese warriors followed was different than the one of the European knights, they had the same general idea. A warrior had to be honest, loyal, and just and if they ever ignored or dishonored their duty as a warrior then it would bring shame, not only on them but their whole

The samurai had an unwritten code of honor called the bushido. Bushido means “way of the warrior” (History of the Samurai 3). This provided them with a code to help show them how to live and conduct themselves at home and in battle. One of the most important duties of the samurai was their loyalty to their lord. The samurai would defend their lord until the death. Revenge was also central in the samurai’s

From researching about knights and samurai, I believe that in a battle between a knight and samurai, the knight would have a greater chance in winning. This is because knights focused more on fighting techniques and how to improve them, rather than focusing on spiritual beliefs and traditions as well, which is what the samurai did. The knights also had very strong and good armour which helped a lot in battles, while the samurai’s armour changed a lot but wasn’t ever as effective as the knight’s armour. The knight’s weapons were also more advanced and better then the samurai weapons.

The entire Japanese culture is based on honor. Honor extends to the nation, the family, and the individual. The samurai are no exception to a code of honor. The samurai follow the code of bushido. Bushido is closer to the western term of chivalry. Bushido places emphasis on courage, benevolence, justice, politeness, truthfulness, honor, loyalty, and most importantly is self-control. The samurai's primary religion is Zen. The samurai adapted Zen easily due to the philosophy that fits closely to Buddhism. Samurai may act in the extreme when it comes to honor. They will kill anyone who may dishonor them or their lord. Nothing is worse to a samurai than to have corrupt dealings. Some of the warriors believed, "Honor is the power of deciding upon certain course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering … to die when it is right to die, to strike when to strike is right." Other warriors believed that "Honor is the bone that gives firmness and stature. As without bones the head cannot rest on top of the spine, nor hands move, nor feet stand, so without honor neither talent nor learning can make of a human frame a

Hey, Have you ever learned about the Samurai and Knights?? Well they had a few big similarities but lots of differences. Also in that era Samurai and Knights they had to be very loyal to their lord. I have a question for you. Were the similarities greater than the differences? No I don't think the similarities are greater than the differences between the Samurai and Knights. So no I think there are more differences than similarities. I’m going to be talking about the Samurai [Japanese Warrior] and Knights [European Warrior] is there Social position, Training and Armor, and Life and death.

In, document D - The Way of the Samurai, 1600’s: it talks about the code of Bushido and Chivalry. It says (paragraph 1) “ Outwardly he stands in physical readiness for any call to service in inwardly he strives to fulfill the Way….” this shows just how honorable a samurai could be. In Europe it was just the same (paragraph 2) it states “give mercy in those who ask for it” These similarities are significant because loyalty between the two, shows how much they trust each other. Without this trust and loyalty , these countries would be

The knights all fought for the king so they could have land and payment. The samurai did the same, just for anyone who could be their master. The higher up lords gave the lesser lords land so that they could lend their lives to the king. The samurai were anyone who needed land or payment and were willing to give their lives to anyone

A common belief is that a big part in the code of chivalry is courtly love. This is false. The documentary says the code of chivalry bound the aristocratic fighting class and protected the aristocracy families. This doesn’t have and didn’t have much to do with romance. Courtly love is more of the term to use for the code the knights followed in regards to romance. Chivalry was mostly a knights’ duties, roles, and behaviors he was to follow in order to remain honorable. It relates to the knights’ relationship with one another. Courtly love focused on how a knight treated his women. In The Knight’s Tale these two codes are at war with one another.

Loyalty was central to both the Bushido code (samurai) and the Code of Chivalry (knights). The samurai was even loyal to their lord above their family. Knights valued loyalty, as well as courage, honor, and mercy. Samurai, due to their Buddhist beliefs, felt that death was part of life and therefore didn`t fear death as a consequence of being a warrior. However, knights, through their many Catholic beliefs, were afraid of how they might be judged by their god, should they die on the field of

There is a dispute on whether knights or samurai would win in a battle. The samurai come from Japan, the knights come from Europe. Clearly they were not close to each other which means that they have different customs, armor, training, beliefs, etc. Although this would never happen, in a one on one battle, the advantage would be to the knights and this can be seen in training, armor, and beliefs from various documents.

The purpose of samurai and knight is to protect their people. The knights and samurais each have different teachings. Loyalty towards the feudal lord in Japan was hereditary. Service of a feudal lord passed from father to son, so that the relations of lord and a samurai existed between many families for man generations. This arrangement was also a voluntary one, in that there was no legal contract between the two parties The European feudal contract, which was a legal document spelling out the obligations of lord and vassals respectively, never existed in Japan. However, it really began to develop around the 10th century in Europe. In a one-on-one battle, a samurai would win because of their training, armor, and beliefs about death. The first way that samurais were superior in battles trough

In this first paragraph, I will be comparing the code of Bushido and the Code of Chivalry. The code of Bushido said that Samurai had to be honest, fair, and fearless in the face of death. A samurai had to follow this code, and if they didn't there would be consequences. If samurai did not follow this rule they would have to do Seppuku or ritual suicide. The code of Chivalry said that Knights had to be loyal

Yuzan Daidoji, Oscar Ratti, and Thomas Cleary. The Code of the Samurai. Boston: Tuttle, 1999. 10-44.