The samurai were a preeminent class defending Japan for centuries. But as the Tokugawa shogunate ushered in an era of stability, the need for them faded, forcing these warriors to find a new way of ...

In 1180, the Minamoto clan resumed hostilities with the Taira in what became the first armed conflict of the Gempei War (so-named for the Chinese reading of both clans' names). The war spelled defeat ...

For more than 800 years, the samurai helped to lay the foundations of Japan's culture. Their reverence for honor, duty, and service remains ingrained in Japanese society even today. Together with ...