Database: Bandits: Outlaws for Hire

In ancient Japan, "bandit" was a general term for pirates, smugglers, highwaymen, and burglars. Many of the bandits from that era were individuals who had fallen from grace or were people with a troubled past and rather poor. They were attracted to places with a concentration of wealth, like big cities. Bandits usually acted alone, dressing in black at night (since there were no streetlights at the time), and broke into houses to steal coins and silk fabrics. Some would steal from warehouses (kura) where valuable goods were stored away from fire and other threats. When caught, their punishment was determined by the seriousness of their crime. Imprisonment did not exist at that time, so for minor crimes they were typically branded on the forehead or cheek with a hot iron. In worst cases, they were sentenced to death by beheading or hanging. If they were from family with property, the property was was confiscated. Otherwise, the thief and his family could be exiled from their village, their goods confiscated, and their house destroyed.

In the 16th century, there was a sharp decrease in bandits' numbers, except for pirates. It became common practice for daimyō to recruit bandits into their armies, using those same forces to bring down repeat offenders. The roughneck soldiers of feudal armies behaved like bandits towards the population by looting and burning villages and city neighbourhoods. However, they were more or less forced to do so because of deficiencies in feudal army logistics, they lived off the land.