Samurai

The samurai was the class of military nobles of feudal Japan. They were the prestigious retainers of land-owning lords known as daimyo although there were also masterless samurai known as ronin. From the Kamakura period of the late 12th century to the Bakumatsu era in the mid-19th century, these lords and their samurai ruled over Japan through a form of military government known as the shogunate despite the nominal sovereignty of the Emperor of Japan. The samurai were roughly analogous to the knights of the European Middle Ages.

The age of the samurai came to an end with dissolution of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War and the subsequent Meiji Restoration.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Memories
• Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Blade of Aizu