Samurai certainly developed their own culture that was unique to them. They were more then just warriors, they had a unique lifestyle that followed, and in fact you will be surprised at some of the things you learn.

First of all Samurai may not have been the brightest souls in Japan, but they were certainly educated. Yes, Samurai were expected to know how to read and write, they were also encouraged to engage themselves in other arts. Samurai also had a series of different names throughout the course of their lives. All of the names were important to the Samurai in some way. At birth, a Samurai’s given name would stay with him until his coming of age. They were typically strong sounding; you know the “Big and Bad Samurai to be”. For example a common name might have been ‘Victory Forever’, a little bit pretentious yes but these were Samurai. As children Samurai were also given nicknames, for instance the sons might be nicknamed by order of their birth like firstborn: ‘Taro’. As a Samurai came of age, he would be given a name more fitting of him, firing of his character and fighting ability.

In terms of clothing, Samurai typically wore a Kimono and typically consisted of two layers, an outer and inner. There were also winter and summer kimonos, a ceremony would typically be held for the exchanging of summer to winter Kimonos and vice versa. The Kimonos were also plain, and bright or lavishly decorated kimonos were seen as foolish and immodest. This was the opposite however for women in Samurai families as well as young children. Beneath the kimono, a loincloth was worn. Socks were also worn and were called tabi, they were made to separate the first toe form the rest, in order to wear sandals. And yes, Samurai typically wore sandals, and sometimes clogs. There were also special raincoats that Samurai wore, they were made out of straw and are called Kappa. To top it all off, Samurai wore obi, a belt, in order to secure their swords in place at their waist. Hairstyle was also important for Samurai, and it was typically a topknot. This consisted of oiled hair that was slicked back and tied tightly at the top.

Of course, in terms of food, the main dish was rice. Rice was actually seen as food for the wealthy. Typically peasants ate millet. For Samurai, a daily portion of rice would be about 900 grams. Besides rice, potatoes, radishes, beans, cucumbers, yams, various nuts, peaches, apples, and several other foods were also eaten. More importantly fish served as a huge supply of food. Drinking wise, it is of no surprise that Sake was extremely popular, although, we must not forget tea.

When Samurai were to be married a person of higher rank or equal would arrange the marriage. They would typically choose women from a Samurai family. Although, Lower ranked Samurai were allowed to marry commoners. Samurai were also surprisingly allowed to divorce their wives given certain conditions. They had to obtain approval from someone of higher rank. Divorces were though, rare and a typical reason for divorce could be: the wife could not produce viable offspring. A better solution for this though, would have been adoption. Surprisingly also, women could divorce their husbands too, in the end however, it would appear as if the Samurai had divorced her.

And so that is how the culture of Samurai was, unique, and altogether interesting. But then again, what is there about Samurai that is not interesting?