The samurai were a preeminent class defending Japan for centuries. But as the Tokugawa shogunate ushered in an era of stability, the need for them faded, forcing these warriors to find a new way of ...

Heian aristocrats lived in a very hierarchical society in which ... Also among Japan’s rural residents were hereditary warrior families. Some came from elite provincial families that had exerted ...

The ceremony is held to commemorate Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), a scholar, poet and politician in the Heian Period (794-1185). This year’s event marked the 60th since the tradition was ...

The Heian period (794-1185) was followed by 700 years of warrior governments—the Kamakura, Muromachi, and Tokugawa. The civil government at the imperial court continued, but the real rulers of the ...