Differences Between Samurai And Knights

Samurai and Knights: Were the Similarities Greater than the Differences? In Europe and Japan, very similar forms of government developed within a couple hundred years of each other. This occurred despite the fact that these two parts of the world were very distance from each other and it was very unlikely that these countries had contact with each other. This form of government, called feudalism developed in both places due to the need to establish order after a time in chaos. The knights and the samurai were the soldiers who fought in Japan and Europe. A closer examination of social position of knights and samurai, their training and weapons and the code that knights and samurai lived and died by reveals that samurai and knights were more
Both their armor was heavy duty and made to protect the warrior. They were made out of heavy plates of iron. The minor differences in their armor had to do with their respective weapons. For example, samerai used bows, and therefore did not have any protection on their drawing armor. However, it was beneath a knight to use a shortbow, and instead they used longbows. This deadly weapon called for thicker armor, covering knights from head to toe. The only problem was that the armor was to heavy to stand up in if one fell of his horse (document D). The training stages were also very similar, as were the processes in becoming a warrior. Before they became a warrior, the Japanese and European youth would train physically and religiously. At the age of 14, Japanese trainees officially become samurai in a big ceremony. However, at 14, European trainees only went from a page to a squire. At this point of their training, they continue their studies, but were assigned to an examining knight. These trainees would accompany their examiner into battle, car3 for their horse, dress them, and feed them. if the squire was approved by his examiner, around the age of 21, he will become a full fledged knight (document C). Even though the samurai became warriors earlier and used different weapons, they were astonishingly similar to the warriors who lived on another
The Japanese samurai code of honor was called the bushido, and the European knights’ code was called the Code of Chivalry. Their codes of honor called for the warriors to be loyal to their lords. The samurai, however, were told to hold their loyalties to their masters, even if it were against their families. They also upheld the moral rules and punished those who disobey. Despite the 100 years in between the two codes, the Code of Chivalry also commanded knights to be obedient and merciful (document E). Although they had similar beliefs on character and loyalty, knights and samurai believed in different religions, and so they had different thoughts about death. On one hand, the samurai saw death as something common. In fact, one samurai, Ota Dokan, wrote about how he didn’t even know he was dead (document F). Knights, on the other hand, were scared of death. In their last moments they would beg for forgiveness for all the sins they committed (document F). So even though they had comparable codes of honor, the knights’ and samurai’s different religions brought them to think of death in different ways. Analyzing the social status of knights and samurai, their training and weapons, and their code of honor that knights and samurai lived and died by exhibits the fact that samurai and knights were more similar than different.