Samurai with sword. 1910s Japan, public domain image.

Samurai were warriors in ancient Japan. The word probably means "servant" or "attendant. The samurai belonged to the warrior nobility, a wealthy and respected part of society. Almost all samurai had a master to whom they were loyal. These lords were called shōgun. They were not only army chiefs. They were usually very wealthy and ruled over one of the small states that once made up Japan. Translated to Europe, the Shōguns were something like dukes, and the samurai were their knights. If a samurai was not under a shōgun, he was called a rōnin. The samurai's equipment usually included a kitana, a long, sharp sword. In our country, it is also known as a samurai sword. Other samurai were armed with a spear or a bow and arrow. They wore armor to protect their bodies. The samurai followed a code of conduct called bushidō. This included virtues such as courtesy, loyalty, courage, and modesty. They were also very careful to save face. If they lost a battle, they often committed seppuku, or ritual suicide, to avoid disgrace. The era of the samurai ended in the years after 1860, when Emperor Meiji came to power. He made sure that the Shōgun lost their power in Japan. However, the samurai period still influenced the Japanese army later on. It fought against China and the United States in World War II and eventually lost the war.