All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Warriors.S01E07.The.Samurai.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

Raised...

in a world of violence...

The samurai
have a die-hard,

absolute bloodthirstiness.

Trained to attack...

with iconic weapons of war.

Real katanas can cleave
a person in half.

It's terrifying.

Built to
honor loyalty...

more than life itself.

There are even examples
of people reaching in and

grabbing some of
their intestine

to show how
manly they are.

Japan's samurai...

become icons.

Warriors aren't born...

They're built.

Understanding how

reveals the true nature
of their greatness.

From the cradle
to the grave,

these are the steps
to creating...

History's Greatest Warriors.

The samurai...

A legendary warrior
like no other...

His mastery of military
strategy and combat...

enables him to
dominate Japan

from the 12th to the
late 19th centuries.

What makes the samurai so
special and different is

both their dedication and
their indoctrination

to martial arts.

Martial arts, as a
lifestyle and a mindset,

allows them to now apply

all of this training
into their swordsmanship,

into their
battlefield tactics.

No one else does this the
way the samurai do it.

It's not just that they
were superior fighters,

but it's also the way of the
samurai that intrigues us.

These principles of loyalty
and honor that are

so central to the
samurai's identity.

The journey to
becoming a samurai will

require years of
brutal training.

Mastering the long bow...

and the katana,
will re-shape the body

and the mind.

The warrior will learn
tactics that keep

the samurai in power for
nearly 700 years.

It is a path that
dates back...

to feudal Japan.

So the 8th century,

Japan has its
capital in Kyoto,

where the emperor is.

Kyoto is the cultural and
political center of Japan.

Because Japan is
an island country with

few enemies breaching
its borders,

conflicts over
power and territory

often pit samurai
against samurai.

The emperor at this time
is very weak.

More of a ceremonial
head of state.

By the 9th and
10th centuries,

a powerful group of landowners
rule the provinces

as feudal lords.

They have large clans,
loyal armies.

They rise up as
provincial warriors,

who are called on by the
central government to

effectively be their police
force, their militia.

And they do so
with great skill,

to the point where their
power begins to rival

that of the imperial
family itself.

By the
12th century,

control of Japan by an
ineffective emperor...

weakens.

There's now a power vacuum,
and the feudal lords,

along with their armies
of loyal samurai,

are eager to fill it.

Samurai means servant.

He puts his master
above his own family.

He's dedicated to the clan.

The clan comes
above everything.

Bit by bit, the samurai
become the military class.

They charge around the
battlefields of Japan.

However, they then start to
break up and fight each other

for power over the
imperial court.

This behind-the-scenes

power struggle over who
controls the emperor,

escalates into open conflict.

Two of the strongest
regional samurai clans

position themselves to
rule all of Japan.

Now, when we
talk about clans,

we're not talking about
a few hundred people.

These clans are huge, could
be thousands of people,

with different branches.

The two clans
fighting for power

are the Taira
and the Minamoto.

Their respective armies
allow them to dominate

huge swaths of Japan.

Eventually their
conflict explodes

into all-out civil war.

For clan leader,
Yoshitsune Minamoto,

the conflict is personal.

When he's a child,
the Taira kill his father,

and he is raised
by Buddhist monks.

But there's nothing
peaceful about this guy.

He devotes himself to the
study of military tactics

and strategy, and he's
really good at it.

I mean, the man is
a tactical genius.

He demands that the samurai
under him become

expert swordsman,
expert archers,

expert horseman.

He is a very
demanding tactician.

Minamoto's
five-year period of

brutal fighting against
the Taira builds...

to an epic showdown.

The Genpei War
comes down to

the Battle of Dan-no-ura.

The climactic battle
is a naval battle in 1185.

And this battle is fought
in Taira home territory.

Most of the
Minamoto forces

are from landlocked areas.

The Taira are from the west

where there's a
lot more water,

so they're much
better at sea warfare.

The Minamoto have to figure
out how to beat these

more skilled opponents
at sea battles.

The Minamoto become
quite shrewd in their attacks,

massing archers on ships
that are slightly modified,

raining arrows down.

Nearly all
of the Taira...

are slaughtered.

They fling themselves
into the sea and drown.

Even the noblewomen are
getting shot and killed.

This is the end of the
line for the Taira clan.

The victors and the

emerging warrior-class
of samurai...

will change Japan forever.

After the Genpei War,
the real power to

control Japan,
the country,

comes from shogun.

The emperor is more
of a ceremonial figure.

The shogun is the ruler.

The shogun controls
the daimyo...

And the daimyo have their
own armies of samurai.

And the samurai are fiercely
loyal to their daimyo,

or lord.

To successfully wield power,

the samurai will need to
build an elite warrior...

one whose training
begins in childhood.

So, if you're born
into a samurai family,

the expectations are-
from the very beginning-

you will become
a warrior.

Becoming a samurai
is hereditary.

At the core of
this early preparation,

is instruction in
the samurai code...

Bushido.

Bushido means
"warrior way."

It's about being
a good warrior,

being an honorable warrior,

and winning victory at
any cost for your lord.

This is in accordance
with bushido.

Honesty, integrity,
honor, courage...

bravery in the
face of danger.

Bushido seeks to create a

well-rounded warrior...

by first creating a
well-rounded person.

For someone who's
engaged in the occupation

of killing, in order
to balance that out,

there are other things.

It's not just about
military preparedness.

For the samurai, it is
this emphasis

on literature, poetry.

You're starting
to learn the basics of

reading and writing,
which mostly consists of

Chinese political
philosophy.

The child then
hones his physical skills,

spending years
practicing horsemanship.

Probably say
around 6 or 7,

they are already
on the horseback.

You had to learn
archery off of the horse,

and then you had to learn
archery on top of the horse,

which is difficult because
you have to gallop while not

necessarily using your
hands to guide the horse.

There are several
prominent warriors

who die from horse falls...

so knowing how to ride
a horse really is

a matter of life and death.

With a
foundation in place,

a young samurai is now
ready to begin

the rigorous training...

that will forge him
into an elite warrior.

Since birth,
the young samurai

has been on the
path of bushido,

"the way of the warrior."

As a teen,

he begins a training regimen
that is comprehensive...

and grueling.

The samurai is
built from the ground up.

They build his character...

They build his body.

They supply him
with weapons...

and they supply him
with armor.

And then they supply
him with a goal.

The goal is to win
for the lord...

and they will do
that at any cost.

Training affects every
aspect of their life.

Most samurai actually devote

their entire
lives to training.

The youth will
need to progress from the

fundamentals of martial
skills to true mastery.

But he will not
do this alone.

For archery, horsemanship,
and sword fighting,

you seek out an instructor
within your domain.

And you are essentially
mentored by this person

in how to be a warrior.

More than 70%
of Japan is mountainous.

To excel in combat in
this kind of terrain,

the samurai must combine long
- range weapons training...

with mobility and speed.

The samurai are
trained from an early age to

draw these heavy bows,

and they must be
accurate with them.

A good samurai archer
needs to be able to draw a

powerful bow to penetrate
armor of his enemy.

The samurai would
use it on horseback,

and at full gallop!

It was an incredible thing
that they could do.

The main way for
training is actually to go on

hunts together, learning
how to gallop after game,

how to shoot
precision arrows

at the game.

Becoming a skilled
marksman from horseback

will distinguish the samurai
on the battlefield.

But he must also
train to kill

with close-range weapons,

and there are
many steps in this process.

Samurai, they don't
start with a live blade.

They start with something
called a bokken.

It's a wooden blade
made of red oak,

used for practicing
your forms.

And they would
practice different stances,

different styles,
different techniques...

holding the sword,
forms of attacking.

As he
grows into his teens,

the trainee will graduate
from blunt wooden

practice swords to
razor-sharp steel blades.

In Japanese,
this sharp blade sword

is called shinken.

But shinken has actually
another meaning...

"seriousness".

Handling a real-life
blade sword requires

utmost seriousness
and focus.

You might also
be trained in iai,

which is the art of
drawing and cutting

with a real blade.

Realistic training
results in injuries,

even when the young samurai
is learning unarmed combat.

So, there are
lots of different terms

for what we would
now call jiu-jitsu.

These are all forms of
unarmed combat that

are the predecessors
of modern-day judo

and even
Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

At one point,
there's 18 different

martial arts that
samurai train in,

that range from
hand-to-hand combat,

using different weapons,
to even ninja,

the art of stealth
and spying,

moving without
making noise,

without making
your enemy aware.

But to build
a samurai requires

more than mastering
martial arts.

He must also submit to a
regimen that shapes

his character and
sharpens his focus.

Buddhism
arrived in Japan

before the samurai
even started.

So they are a
Buddhist warrior,

and they grow up
being taught zazen.

How to sit,
how to be still,

and how to focus
themselves,

to make sure that they
are combat effective.

In Japanese
martial arts history,

Buddhist terminology is
used to describe

that state of training.

Mushin, or "no mind",
it's this idea that

you're moving without
thinking at all.

Zanshin,
"the remaining mind",

the idea that you're
always aware of

what's going on around you
and you just keep moving.

So even in the
midst of a giant battle,

they're focused
on the person

they're fighting
in the moment.

They train themselves to
never let their horizons

get so far out that they
become overwhelmed.

To link
body and mind,

the young warrior may use
training techniques that

trace back to mystics of
the 7th and 8th centuries.

To build
a great warrior,

you might also have
to engage in

some kind of asceticism.

And that might involve
things such as meditation

or standing under a
cold waterfall.

This extreme cold
will shock your senses.

And so, being able to
remain calm

in the midst of
all this happening,

is a way that
they train zanshin.

Some source
says the samurai

used to train in
complete darkness.

You might get attacked by
some other samurai

when you're on street,
in darkness.

You have to
prepare yourself.

There are also other
practical reasons

to do this
darkness training.

You might injure yourself
like above your eye,

and blood might
cover your eyes.

It's a useful skill.

Other areas of
training show whether

a young samurai has
the mental discipline

to become an
elite warrior.

One of the most unusual
is cha-do,

the tea ceremony.

Tea ceremony
is a formalized,

ritualized ceremony
where tea is made,

presented on special
pottery to your guest.

It's not just making tea.

It's an occasion
to be mastered.

So, it becomes another
way for the samurai

to demonstrate
greatness.

The way a samurai
conducts the tea ceremony

shows the type
of person he is.

If he does it well,
people around him know:

He is a focused warrior.

The practice of
cultivating a calm mind

prevents panic in combat,

as does acclimating the
youth to extreme violence.

Young warriors
are exposed to

as much violence
as possible.

A lot of the mental
resilience among samurai

comes from experience
on the battlefield.

Starting around
the age of 13,

the trainee is taken onto the
battlefield to witness the

reality of war- the dead
and dying soldiers,

the screams, the gore,
the severed limbs.

So by exposing them
to this extreme violence,

they will be familiar
with the battlefield.

A calm mind
on the battlefield

allows for
strategic thinking.

It is at the Battle of
Okehazama in 1560 that

such training pays off
for 23-year-old

Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The young samurai
exhibits the calm,

calculating demeanor
of a gifted leader.

In the 1500s,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi

works his way up in the
household of a famous

samurai daimyo,
named Oda Nobunaga.

He starts off as
a foot soldier.

He is a fighter, but what
he is known for is his...

tactical and
strategic acumen.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi
is very good at tactics.

He helps Oda's forces
at Okehazama

overcome terrible odds.

They're a force of just
3,000 facing off

against 25,000
enemy samurai

in a battle for control
of this region.

Even though this
is a huge battle,

he is not intimidated and
is tactically brilliant.

At one point,

he launched a rearguard
action to protect Oda

that was so well done that
Oda promoted him to

become one of
Oda's trusted generals.

The young warrior
studies the tactics and

techniques of those who
have gone before him.

And when he is ready
to join them

in the ranks of his clan's
samurai army...

there is a sacred ceremony.

Genpuku is the
coming of age of a samurai.

It's usually in
the late teens.

They will take the
samurai hairstyle.

They'll shave the pate,
and they'll grow their

hair out long and put that
hair in the top knot.

This ceremony marks
a young man's

formal beginning
as a full samurai.

He'll likely receive
his kabuto, or helmet.

They get a new name,

and once you go
through that process,

that means you are
ready to go to war

as a samurai.

The young samurai
has officially come of age.

But before he can aspire to
victory for his lord

and clan in combat,
he will need to wield

the samurais'
weapons of war.

Years of intense
training transform a boy

into a fearsome warrior.

Now he is ready to use
some of the most

lethal weapons ever forged.

So anybody who knows about
the samurai thinks of

the samurai sword,
the katana.

But, their primary
weapon is actually the bow.

In the earliest
days of the samurai,

the warrior rides into
battle on horseback with a

long-range weapon capable
of precision attacks...

He uses the yumi,
or long bow.

The yumi has the ability
to reach an enemy

from a significant
distance away.

The yumi was also
incredibly accurate.

The bow is
long and powerful.

This size allows its
effective range

to be 100 yards.

You can fire it much
further than that,

but for the killing blow,
100 yards or closer and

you will see off
your enemy.

The yumi's
unusual design

makes it a surprisingly
versatile weapon.

It's larger
at the top,

shorter at the bottom.
It's asymmetrical,

so that they can move
across the horse

when they're
actually riding,

and then they can turn
around and shoot.

Because of the way
it's asymmetrically formed,

people can use it in
different stances.

Crouching,
standing as well.

When combat
requires close-range weapons,

the samurai reaches
for his blade.

Around 1000 A.D.,

the sword that we now know
as the samurai sword...

adopts a form which
is initially a tachi.

And it actually is
primarily a cavalry sword.

The samurai's
on horseback,

he's charging through
the battlefield,

and he has to have
a longer sword,

a great sword.
He has to swipe down,

taking the enemy with him,
left and right.

As the battlefield
gets closer,

and everybody is
fighting closer,

the samurai cut
their tachi down,

to create the katana,
and that's where

we get the iconic sword of
the Japanese warrior.

But the katana
comes to symbolize

in the popular imagination

everything that we
associate with the samurai.

It is, in essence,
the soul of the samurai.

The katana blade
is about

32 to 36 inches
in length.

It's a
single edged blade.

It's slightly curved.

An authentic
katana sword,

they're not as heavy as
people might think.

In the hands of a
proficient wielder,

it can cleave a
person in half.

And it feels like butter.

You're cleaving
through butter.

It's terrifying and
incredible at the same time.

The way it's constructed,
it's truly a piece of art.

A good samurai
sword should be flexible,

and it should be able to bend
and return back to its shape.

It should also be able to
withstand being

clashed against other
swords and armor.

And this type
of two-handed sword...

continues right the way
through samurai history.

The only way the
samurai can be sure of

his blade's effectiveness
is to test it.

But some tests of strength
and sharpness

are shocking for
their brutality.

The samurai will get
permission to kill criminals.

They will tie them
up in bamboo, strip them up,

and they'll use
different cuts,

and they'll go through
the entire body.

Say it's
a new sword,

you will cut
through the body,

through the bones,
through the hips.

And we know from
samurai documentation,

the more secure
your handle is,

the deeper into the
enemy it will go.

In 1602, they banned
the testing of your blades

on cadavers and
condemned criminals.

Bushido bans it as
going against

the way of the warrior.

The most
common enemy

a highly trained
samurai will face...

is another samurai.

To increase his odds of
surviving an encounter

with such a
formidable opponent,

he needs armor.

In the early period,
the armor is...

lacquered leather that is

strung together in
strips with silk.

It's called lamellar,
which allows for it

to be light and
very flexible.

Later, they add
in iron pieces,

especially to
the breastplate,

the most important part.

The ornate kabuto

completes the samurai's
defensive gear.

But it, too,
is a weapon...

of a different kind.

The kabuto is
the samurai helmet.

The actual emblems represent
where the samurai

came from or who
they're loyal to.

It would include
psychological warfare.

The way a kabuto looks,

including the face mask
worn by the samurai,

it's used to frighten
their opponents,

in a way that deters them
from fighting

at their most optimal.

Although many
samurai pride themselves

on their mastery of
traditional weaponry,

others adapt to
the changing times.

Portuguese traders
introduce firearms to Japan

in the mid 16th century.

They bring in
primitive muskets,

matchlock rifles.

And the samurai
are intrigued.

During this time,

the samurai are fighting
each other constantly,

in huge battles,
so any advantage

that you can achieve through
the introduction of

a new weapon is
highly prized.

And so all samurai daimyo,
or samurai warlords,

at this time are interested
in these new weapons.

One such warlord
is Oda Nobunaga...

In the Battle
of Nagashino in 1575,

Oda Nobunaga employs firearm
units in a staggered line

to put out a continuous fire
against his enemy,

who are essentially
slaughtered by it.

The enemy is surprised
and terrified by the gunfire

coming from behind
the wooden palisades

built by Oda's forces.

Firearms have
been used before,

but never on this scale...

and it fundamentally changes
the nature of warfare

in medieval Japan.

Expertly trained
with a variety of weapons,

the samurai warrior
now faces the

life and death test
of real combat.

The samurai has
trained for most of his life.

He has acquired the
skills, weapons,

and mental fortitude
of an elite warrior...

all of which he'll use
in continual

life or death battles...

Not against a foreign enemy,

but rather,
enemy samurai.

Before 17th century,

the battle was always on
a bigger scale, and...

bunch of people
fighting together.

And then, in the 17th
and 18th centuries,

when Japan is
relatively united,

larger-scale wars
are less common.

That's when a samurai
may find himself

fighting another samurai,

and that means he's
up against someone

just as skilled, and just
as deadly as he is.

It is a solemn event,

likely to end in death.

There are certain
preparations that

must be made before the
first blow is struck.

A samurai before
battle will make sure

he looks presentable.

When you tie your armor,
you tie the helmet,

you would get a knife
and cut all the bits off,

so just the knot was left.

And this is known as the
costume of death.

And it means, "I'm not
coming back unless I win."

When you
first go into battle,

you're in absolute fear...

and it's like a fog
around you.

And he says, all you
have to do is focus.

Pick one target,

kill that target and
take their head.

A samurai has been
trained to assess the enemy

before the first attack,
putting into practice

zanshin, the art of
extreme awareness.

He watches and waits
with intense focus

for the optimal
moment to strike.

Sometimes I'm looking into
the eyes of the opponent,

and I might let my gaze
fall down a little bit

'cause I know
that most of the threats

are gonna come
from the torso.

How well they maintain their
space from their opponent,

it's very, very important.

If you're too close,
it limits the ability

of the katana to be
useful to you.

If you're too far, you can't
reach your opponent.

Where the armor
can't protect your opponent,

that's where you
want to strike.

At the shoulders, behind
the knees, at the elbows.

A truly skilled samurai
will be able to

deliver those blows
with accuracy.

When a samurai
recognizes that he is

defeated by his opponent,

he may request an end
to the duel...

and to his life.

Seppuku is the
ritualized suicide of a samurai.

And it's usually done
for a variety of reasons,

including shame,
losing in battle.

It's seen as the
rite of a samurai to

show the world,
as they leave it,

that they were a
true samurai.

That they, in fact,
did have honor.

Most samurai will
traditionally grant the

defeated enemy the supreme
honor of committing seppuku

because they share the
same path of the warrior.

It is the ultimate
expression of bushido.

Just as the
samurai has studied the ways

to kill his enemy in combat,

he has also
learned the ways

of seppuku.

It's something that
people in modern days

have a hard time
understanding...

because there are
different kinds of seppuku.

It may be a very
formal ceremony,

with time to prepare-
to bathe in cold water,

to write one's death poem,

and to have witnesses
to the event.

But it can also be
much more spontaneous.

It can take place when
they lose a battle,

and your opponent will

grant you permission
to do seppuku.

It's basically the praise,
to say,

"You fought well."

Seppuku involves
taking your short sword,

and you cut...

from left to right.

And,
you're supposed to,

to show your true
strength and honor,

remove your intestines.

You're not supposed
to be crying out in agony.

And there are even examples,
probably apocryphal,

of people reaching in and
grabbing some of

their intestine to show
how manly they are.

In acknowledgement
of his opponent's journey

along the path of bushido,

the samurai victor
may act as

the other man's "second,"
to spare him further agony.

What this
person is waiting for,

is for you to stop moving
your head in pain.

To straighten up,
and then

he'll take one slice to
take your head off.

For the samurai,
there's satisfaction at

proving himself against
a worthy opponent...

There's also confidence
that he's ready

for the larger
battles to come.

The samurai
has been built into

a formidable warrior...

At the dawn of
the 17th century,

tactics are evolving...

and some ambitious samurai

are eyeing the
ultimate prize:

control of all Japan.

Archery does one thing for
Japanese military history.

It changes how
armor is made.

It changes tactics.

Muskets add another
layer to that.

Tactics have to change.

The organization of the
battlefield has to change,

where to position
your soldiers.

How to flank people.

This all has to be taken
into consideration as muskets

become a primary
weapon in many battles.

These new tactics
are in play in 1600,

a time of great conflict.

After the death of the
country's effective ruler,

Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
clans are battling...

for control of Japan.

When the ruler
Toyotomi Hideyoshi dies,

there's no one to
replace him.

Similar to the
Battle of Genpei,

which launches
the age of the samurai,

there is once again
a fierce battle

between two
rival warlords.

It pits in Ishida's samurai
in the west against

Tokugawa's army in the east.

And that conflict
reaches its conclusion

on the battlefield
of Sekigahara.

The Battle of Sekigahara is
one of the largest battles

of all Japanese history.

It's a fight between
the east and the west.

Tokugawa Ieyasu
is actually

fighting against his
old master's family.

Even though he's promised
to look after them,

he's going for them.

Tokugawa decides
to take power for himself,

and essentially all of the
warlords line up

on one side
or the other.

This is the battle royale
of all warlords,

picking a side and
sussing it out

on the field of Sekigahara.

Sekigahara is northeast of

the capital city of Kyoto.

It is the midpoint where the
two great armies

will decide the
fate of Japan.

It pits over 150,000
samurai on the battlefield.

And they come together
in a narrow valley.

And the battle
involves multiple types

of units- samurai
who are mounted,

foot soldiers with all
different types of weapons,

including matchlock rifles.

The scale is untold.

Tokugawa leads
the eastern force's

70,000 warriors,

which is the
bulk of the eastern army.

But Ishida has
almost double that.

And when he sends
out scouts,

they confirm the
numerical advantage.

One well-armed
samurai is deadly.

Now, when you imagine

nearly 200,000 squaring off
against each other,

highly trained fighters
with katana,

or spears,
even muskets-

that's a
mind-boggling number

of deadly samurai meeting
on the battlefield.

Tokugawa knows he
doesn't have the numbers.

But he learns through spies

that the enemy
coalition is weak-

the western warlords
don't respect their leader.

Through diplomacy,

Tokugawa exploits
this to his advantage.

Tokugawa is kind
of a sneaky politician.

He's not necessarily
good at combat, himself,

but he was just a real
conniving strategist.

Tokugawa has
a secret weapon.

Through a series of letters,
he offers land and titles

to any enemy warlords
who are willing to

fight with his army.

Before
the battle starts,

he convinces an
enemy warlord

to switch sides.

And, he wants him to switch
sides before the battle,

but the warlord is cautious,

and begins the battle on the
western army side.

The battle begins.

Tokugawa's
samurai warriors

face overwhelming odds.

It's a
chaotic scene.

There's fog,
there's musket fire.

Records suggest that
both sides use katana

and muskets,
along with cannon,

and the effects are
absolutely devastating.

30,000 samurai are
killed in just six hours,

so the Battle of Sekigahara is

the battle that decides
the future of Japan,

and also,
the leader of Japan.

The battle
is a deadlock.

But then, that
reluctant warlord,

who starts with the western
samurai, finally flips.

He decides to
switch sides,

and join Tokugawa
and his army.

Other warlords
on the western side

see an army moving to
the other side.

And so, they jump ship
as well

and move over to the
eastern side.

With numbers
now on his side,

Tokugawa's eastern army

gains the upper hand.

After this happens,

the battle is a rout.

The eastern army
wins rather easily.

The western side
is defeated.

The western leader, Ishida,
is publicly executed.

His death,
and Tokugawa's victory,

marks the end of the
period of warring clans.

Tokugawa, he takes
all of Japan for himself,

and he sets up the shogunate
and the Tokugawa Regime.

This brings in a period
of peace for 250 years.

It starts
the Tokugawa Period,

the last reign of samurai
until their fall in 1868.

The warrior
has fought with honor,

but he knows from his
Buddhist training

that all things
are transitory...

that power cannot last.

By the
19th century,

Japan is in a
period of stability.

But it won't last.

For 250 years,
Japan is locked.

They're isolated.

No one is allowed
to go outside.

No one is allowed
to come inside.

It's a
relatively peaceful era,

in terms of not having
any major warfare.

But then things begin to

fall apart in the
early 1800's.

The more
samurai that are born,

the more samurai
inherit different lands.

And every generation,
that land fractures.

This means the samurai get
poorer and poorer and poorer.

There are
disputes over succession

in the Tokugawa house, itself.

And then, there's the
arrival of Westerners

in the seas
around Japan.

In 1854,
one of those Westerners

is American commodore,
Matthew C. Perry.

It's his second trip
to Japan,

and he arrives in
Tokyo Bay with

a fleet of 4 steam-powered
war ships.

Matthew Perry's
fleet of battleships

has the Japanese terrified.

They actually call them
"The Black Ships".

And they're something
the Japanese

have never seen before.

If anything symbolizes
the onslaught of

the modern world,
this is it.

The time is right.
Commodore Perry,

he says, "Open up or
we'll open fire."

So the samurai go
to war with themselves.

Those who want to go forward

and follow central samurai,
old power...

Or the new way of a
modern government.

Perry, essentially...

forces the shogun
and his advisors

to sign a treaty that
opens up Japan

to other commercial treaties
with the European countries.

Matthew Perry
writes in his journal,

"I have opened Japan."

It signals a
turning point for the samurai.

The samurai are
essentially wiped out...

in 1877, when the last
samurai rebellion against

the new modern government
is crushed...

by young samurai,

who see the possibilities of
a modernized Japan,

and take it upon themselves
to remove

their own ruling class

to create that modern Japan.

There are
a series of laws

that essentially
ban samurai culture,

for all intents and
purposes.

You can no longer
carry swords in public.

Samurai are essentially
given retirement stipends,

and for the most part,
they are kept out of

local governorship and
local government.

While the samurai's
journey has come to an end,

the social and cultural
impact of many of

his warrior attributes...
remain.

Almost immediately,
the Japanese government

decides to use bushido

as a way to
unite the nation,

to instill in the nation...

these idealized tenets
that the samurai

is supposed to follow,
including courage and honor...

But most importantly, loyalty.

They use this to unify the
nation to create

a modern Japan
that will become

an important political power
in the world.

The samurai
eventually becomes

a cultural icon
around the world.

They're in films,
they're in games,

they're in anime.

They are an
icon of Japan.

We see it in perhaps
the biggest Western

pop cultural sensation,
Star Wars,

where the director,
George Lucas,

draws on bushido to
create his characters

of good and evil.

There are very
few weapons in popular

imagination that are so
intimately tied to the

image of a warrior class
than the katana.

Immediately you see that
weapon, you think samurai.

The samurai
have an ideal,

and many of those samurai
got close to that ideal.

They followed "the way",
the path.

Somebody who's focused,
disciplined, and capable.

And we'd all
like to be that.

We all want to be
a samurai.

Two centuries
after they're disbanded,

the samurai's achievements
continue to inspire.

His elite martial skills,

plus his quest to
achieve his full potential,

physically, mentally,
and even spiritually...

earn him a place...

among History's
Greatest Warriors.