Asakawa Kan’ichi: How Samurai Was Born?

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Fig. Samurai on horseback, wearing armor and horned helmet, carrying bow and arrows

Date  circa 1878 or earlier

Author        Unknown author

This is in the Public domain

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Samurai_on_horseback0.jpg

It is intriguing to find how samurai was born. This blog extracts Asakawa’s answer [1].



Fig. All lands belong to the Emperor. Tenant needs to pay taxes to the Emperor.



In essence, the Taika Reforms laid the groundwork for the emergence of the samurai class by centralizing power, abolishing the old clan system, and leading to the rise of armed landowners. These changes set the stage for the evolution of these armed landowners into the samurai class, a process that would continue over the following 900 years.

Fig. Asakawa Kan’ichi

"Kan'ichi Asakawa Papers (MS 40). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library."

https://japanesehistory.yale.edu/about

Asakawa Kan’ichi (1873 –1948) was a Professor of History at Yale, a peace advocate, and a curator at the Yale Library. Born in Japan as the son of a samurai, he spent the majority of his life in America.

[1] Asakawa, K., “The early institutional life of Japan : A study in the Reforms of 645 AD”, second edition, Paragon Book Reprint Corp. New York, 1963. Originally Yale University Press, New Haven, 1903.

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