![]() ![]() Īs Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified progressively more significant parts of the country, daimyō found it unnecessary to recruit new soldiers. Saitō Dōsan was one merchant who rose through the warrior ranks to become a daimyō. Additionally, the division of the population into classes had not yet taken place, so it was possible to change one's occupation from warrior to merchant or farmer, or the reverse. As an example, Tōdō Takatora served ten lords. Many warriors served a succession of masters, and some even became daimyō. In contrast to the later Edo period, the bond between the lord and the vassal was loose, and some vassals who were dissatisfied with their treatment left their masters and sought new lords. Įspecially in the Sengoku period, daimyō needed additional fighting men, and even if a master had perished, his rōnin was able to serve new lords. Until the Sengoku period, peasants accounted for the majority of daimyō armies, so they accounted for the majority of ronin. Graves of the forty-seven rōnin at Sengaku-ji After the abolition of the Samurai, some of the ronin continued with their thuggery and their mercenary work and activities, such as participating in the infamous assassination of Empress Myeongseong of the Joseon Dynasty in 1895, the Eulmi Incident. The criminal segment gave the rōnin of the Edo period a persistent reputation of disgrace, with an image of thugs, bullies, cutthroats, and wandering vagrants. Rōnin were known to operate or serve as hired muscle for gangs that ran gambling rings, brothels, protection rackets, and similar activities. Many other rōnin became criminals, operating as bandits and highwaymen, or joining organized crime in towns and cities. Those rōnin who desired steady, legal employment became mercenaries that guarded trade caravans, or bodyguards for wealthy merchants. īecause the former samurai could not legally take up a new trade, or because of pride were loath to do so, many rōnin looked for other ways to make a living with their swords. However, during the Edo period, samurai were restricted, and were-above all-forbidden to become employed by another master without their previous master's permission. During previous ages, samurai were able to move between masters and even between occupations. Confiscation of fiefs during the rule of the third Tokugawa shōgun Iemitsu resulted in an especially large increase of rōnin. ĭuring the Edo period, with the shogunate's rigid class system and laws, the number of rōnin greatly increased. Most weapons would reflect the ryū (martial arts school) from which they came if they were students. ![]() Some rōnin-usually those who lacked money-would carry a bō (staff around 1.5 to 1.8 m (5 to 6 ft)) or jō (smaller staff or walking stick around 0.9 to 1.5 m (3 to 5 ft)) or a yumi (bow). Rōnin used a variety of other weapons as well. Like other samurai, rōnin wore two swords. The undesirability of rōnin status was mainly a discrimination imposed by other samurai and by daimyō, the feudal lords. One who chose not to honor the code was "on his own" and was meant to suffer great shame. Status Īccording to the Bushido Shoshinshu (the "Code of the Warrior"), a samurai was supposed to commit seppuku (also harakiri, "belly cutting", a form of ritual suicide) upon the loss of his master. It then came to be used for a samurai who had no master (hence the term 'wave man' illustrating one who is socially adrift). In medieval times, the Ronin were depicted as the shadows of samurai, master-less and less honorable. ![]() The term originated in the Nara and Heian periods, when it referred to a serf who had fled or deserted his master's land. It is an idiomatic expression for 'vagrant' or 'wandering man', someone who finds the way without belonging to one place. The word rōnin is usually translated to 'drifter' or 'wanderer' however, per kanji, rō ( 浪) means "wave" (as in body of water) or "unrestrained", while nin ( 人) means "man" or "person". In modern Japanese usage, usually the term is used to describe a salaryman who is unemployed or a secondary school graduate who has not yet been admitted to university. A samurai becomes a rōnin upon the death of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or legal privilege. 'a person of the waves') was a type of samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. In feudal Japan (1185–1868), a rōnin ( / ˈ r oʊ n ɪ n/ ROH-nin Japanese: 浪人, IPA:, 'drifter' or 'wanderer', lit. Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Yoshitoshi depicting Oishi Chikara, one of the forty-seven rōnin ![]()
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