The ENTIRE History of the Samurai

They were hired to serve. Instead, they ruled Japan for almost 700 years, fought the Mongol Empire, tore the country apart, glued it back together, and then the thing that finally finished them off was winning. This is the entire history of the samurai, from hired horse archers to office clerks with two swords to the last charge at Shiroyama. 0:00 1274: one samurai against the Mongols 0:19 Hired muscle 1:17 The muscle takes over 2:36 The Mongols 5:08 Everyone fights everyone 7:18 They win, and become clerks 9:24 Abolished 10:54 The proof Sources and further reading: - Takezaki Suenaga and the Moko Shurai Ekotoba (Illustrated Account of the Mongol Invasions), Kyushu National Museum / Museum of the Imperial Collections; Thomas Conlan, "In Little Need of Divine Intervention" (Princeton) - Mongol invasions of Japan, 1274 and 1281; Kublai Khan's letter of 1266; the Genko Borui wall at Hakata - The Tale of the Heike (Battle of Dan-no-ura, 1185) - Oda Nobunaga, Battle of Okehazama (1560), the Honno-ji Incident (1582), Akechi Mitsuhide's "three-day reign" - Toyotomi Hideyoshi's sword hunt (1588) and the Hoko-ji Great Buddha - Tokugawa Ieyasu, Battle of Sekigahara (1600), sankin kotai - Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings; the Ganryujima duel (1612) as told in later accounts (legend) - The Meiji Restoration, the conscription law (1873), the Haito Edict (1876), the Satsuma Rebellion and the Battle of Shiroyama (1877) All animation is original and drawn for this channel. The Moko Shurai Ekotoba scroll is in the public domain. #history #samurai #japan