Hi there,I want to ask a questions to you about Samuraiys.

I know Japanese culture and Samuraiys very well.You know some foreign people (me too)really admire the Samurais and their cultures.
So I'm wondering a thing so much.It's really important a question for me!!!

What is the meaning of the come from a Samurai family at the present? or Is there any meaning come from a Samurai family in Japan?Do they still keeps some cultural things at the present? Is there any difference from other familys?Do they keep somethings about some life rules,about consideration,child rearing and world view at the present?

Or can you say everybody is Samurai in Japan so there is no meaning at the present...? :

Is it like to be Superman in Crypton? :icon_mrgreen:
(Because everybody like the Superman in there...)

Thank you so much!

Well here is what it seems to me anyway.

Samurais belong to a feudal system back in the "good old days" when there was one.
Back then it meant they were the only people "licensed to kill" thanks to sword hunts and the like. They were also the only ones to have surnames and wear family crests or mons.

All of those became irrelevant with the Meiji restoration and the all the following events.
Now a samurai name is appreciated by some but a minor embarrassment to others who possess them.

I had come into contact with quite a few people claiming descent from samurai. One guy considered it an embarrasment to belong but ...errr still carried his mon in his wallet. I had to poke him quite a bit to show me his mon.

If you're talking about bushido, that's something the militarists dreamt up as a way to solidify the Japanese spirit during the period when they needed a united nation for the constant warfare they were involved back in the late 1800s / early 1900s

I mean,when I or my friends hear the name of Samurai we feel a great esteem for them.Because you know some films and books tell them muchly and everybody knows them.For example "Last Samurai" and you know they have a own philosophy and way...
So I'm wondering,What do japanese people think about them at the present?Do they keep same philosophy at the present? :

maybe I can't tell my opinions to you...

Well ... judging from the reactions of some of the people I've gone out with.

Reactions range from

Yeah so? )

to

Wowww waaaay cool

it COULD be a big plus if it came to omiai (? arranged marriage) depending ...

OH COME ON!!!!!!....

Don't gibe me!

It's not my question's answer!!!

eh? What IS your question then? ?

If this is about samurai being glorious, having a special "way' of the samurai, bushido etc ...
That's a romanticised view, one the Japanese go out of their way to present to the world in an effort to showcase their "unique" Japanese-ness ...

Well I can't argue with them being unique. I've never met another culture quite like it, but then again most other cultures are pretty unique too.

They DO have a philosophy of sorts, but remember philosophy is created by humans. It changes when the situation changes.

Honor? Glory? Let's see ... Pearl Harbour? If it's is all about honor why is it that Ninjas are so popular?

Oh about the "Last Samurai" ... that's just Hollywood. It all happened because the samurais who supported the Meiji restoration found they were getting a raw deal when they lost all their samurai privileges.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satsuma_rebellion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiroyama

I don't actually see the glory in it. After all these guys were fighting AGAINST a democratic government...(well soon to be democratic anyway).

They wanted back their samurai stipends, their fiefs, their special privileges, but their world was changing around them.