More about the Samurai
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Other than the shogun, the samurai had the most "prestigious" position in society. The Samurai code of behaviour was called bushido (way of the warrior).
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According to Confucianism, the warrior way of the samurai was to be a leader in moral, cultural and intellectual developement and to be a model in loyalty and duty.
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Most samurai lived in castle towns but more often than not a domain would have so many samurai that the castle towns wouldn't be able to contain them. The extra samurai just went to live in the surrounding country side.
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At first samurai were confident warriors but then Japan went into isolation wich brought peace therefore leaving no battles to fight which meant they didn't need to fight in wars.
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This gave them more time to do administrative (business or organizing) work for the domains.
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The samurai now helped govern domains, manage the tasks of daimyo household and support/take care of daimyo residences in Edo.
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Samurai didn't have a specific job they were supposed to do so they moved to the cities.
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The Bakufu of Edo changed how samurai could gain court title by making a rule that they would petition for warriors.
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By doing this the Bakufu made sure they could give the highest ranks to those that supported them.
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Then in 1611 & 1615, in order for the Bakufu to make sure that warrior offices and ranks were kept seperate from noblility, they removed the names of warrior leaders from the court lists.
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The samurai class was the first to learn how to read and write, and these educated fellows were the one's that introduced Japan to Western ideas in the years after the Edo Period.
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The role of samurai changed from a violent fighting warrior to a public administrator over the 200 year isolation. Altough this transition did take a while because of the lack of work and not enough income.
