Comparative Analysis of Samurais and Knights Essay Example

Soldiers and warriors from all over the world have been fighting for their country. But during the feudalism time, two main types of warrior classes were the fierce samurais of Japan and the loyal knights of Europe. Historians believe that maybe the samurais and knights may have had greater similarities than differences but I beg to differ. The samurais and knights actually had greater differences than similarities because of their different design in armor, the difference in the conduct of codes, and their differences of how they were trained and waring tactics.

These two warriors were quite different because of their armor design and style.  Samurais and knights had unlike ideas for their way to protect themselves during battle, both went onto two different paths. The Japanese went onto the path of artistic and imaginative for their battle armor and Europeans didn’t have quite the taste like the Japanese while thinking of the style. (Document  D) Their style consisted of small iron plates tied together, lacquered and then bound into armor plates.  The knights wore complete suits of plate armor, from metal along with steel gloves, helmets, and shoes. This shows how the structure and design were quite different within the two warriors. Along with having different suits of armor the suits were more beneficial for different purposes during war battles.

The samurais were fierce and they mostly fought with swords which are called shock warfare. The Knights used bullets, bows and arrows, and swords which are a combination of shock and projectile warfare. (Document D and Document C). While fighting through their armor protected them the fitting quite affected how they fought (Document D). The knights had armor that weighed 40-60 pounds which means along with weapons and getting on to a horse can debilitate the fighting and flexibleness of how they could arme themselves. The samurai's, on the other hand, had a silky and contacting armor which made it easier to fight because their right arm was not covered making it easier to help the samurais protect theirs.

These warriors were from two different continents which usually means they would usually come up with different conduct codes.  The Europeans developed a code of conduct called chivalry which influenced by Christian ideals and then blended with military values (Background Essay) Knights wanted to vow to be reliable to the king and to supply mercy to people who ask for it. The samurai's code of conduct was Boshudoi which was focused on courage, honor, and loyalty to his master above all else. It was created by a mixture of Confucianism, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism Background Essay. Bushido is a more natural product of the warrior caste system that was employed by the Japanese ruling class to wage warfare and control their realms. A samurai was to have loyalty and he was devoting himself to duty. In Japan their culture stress filial piety and morality with respect for their superiors and elders. ( Document E) 

Through the course of any warriors life from a they had some form of training; the knights and samurais had variant in their training and war tactics.