Photo: Brad Flowers For nearly 700 years, samurai were Japan’s social elite, skilled not only in combat but also in politics and the courtly arts. To equip these warriors in accordance with ...

These values began to develop very informally as early as the ninth century among the samurai warrior class ... and in the face of imminent failure or disgrace, ritualistic suicide (seppuku ...

The samurai belonged to the intellectual elite ... poetry that often contrasted with the violent nature of battle. The warrior class rose to power in the 12th century, and their influence grew ...