Were the samurai really just bullies who oppressed peasants?

>>2335963
Well, if your an aristocratic warrior serving a major feudal lord, a lot of your time is going to be spent keeping the peasants under control.

Japan has a lot of farmer rebellions, and without men to put them down the entire social order would have fallen apart.

In fairness though they fought wars against however they were called to fight

>>2335972
>Japan has a lot of farmer rebellions, and without men to put them down the entire social order would have fallen apart.
This is similar to my belief that the Catholic Church wasn't in the wrong for persecuting heretics during the Middle Ages. The cynics would say it's about control, but society could have easily fell into anarchy if everyone and their mother was preaching different religious doctrine.

>>2335985
Pluralism doesn't necessarily lead into anarchy.

>>2335991
I'm talking about the social order.

>>2335985

>without the catholic church enforcing catholic social order there is no catholic social order

ok

>>2336090
Just like how Rome fell and led to chaos, the RCC served far more functions than simply religious ones.

>>2336109
What chaos exactly? For the most part Rome died a quiet death that very few outside of the major political institutions felt.

The average farmer saw no difference to their life other than a change in management.

>>2335991
t. Luther

>>2336320
mother fucker, it's called the dark ages
>peasants were so stupid they didn't even notice the decaying infrastructure and raiding parties
yea ok

>>2336364
>he thinks there's an actual difference between roman tax collectors rolling up to his farm to take money and food and Barbar totally not tax collectors rolling up to his farm to take money and food

No there really wasn't much difference in the life of a farmer in the Ostrogothic kingdom or the Frankish kingdom from life under Roman rule no matter how much you want to appeal to muh dark ages

>>2335963
technically yes but knights were like that as well

>>2336390
You get some sort of benefit from paying taxes in the form of maintaining infrastructure. Giving money to bands of tribes is only for protection.

>>2335985
> if everyone and their mother was preaching different religious doctrine.

You mean like in Japan and China.

I wont claim they didn't suppress some sects, especially those that preached some sort of overturning of the powers that be or had strong connections to foreign powers but many societies allowed a degree of religious tolerance

>>2336390
The difference was a Roman official was just that, someone who was the clear favorite of Rome to collect taxes, and any rivals who presumed to claim the same would have to back it up with considerable force to survive the legions that would come for him.

Under the Germanic kingdoms, you were lucky to not be in the middle of a dispute between two or more counts, the Church, bandits and free cities demanding tolls, and whoever was the new invader or raider coming that season for their due.

>>2336780
You clearly don't know shit about the barbarian kingdoms of late antiquity and the early middle ages. There wasn't anarchy across the Europe. Most simply slid right right into established Roman laws and maintained order because it was most beneficial to them.

>Ostrogothic Kingdom
>Theoderic was a man of great distinction and of good-will towards all men, and he ruled for thirty-three years. Under his rule, Italy for thirty years enjoyed such good fortune that his successors also inherited peace. For whatever he did was good. He so governed two races at the same time, Romans and Goths, that although he himself was of the Arian sect, he nevertheless made no assault on the Catholic religion; he gave games in the circus and the amphitheatre, so that even by the Romans he was called a Trajanor a Valentinian, whose times he took as a model; and by the Goths, because of his edict, in which he established justice, he was judged to be in all respects their best king.

>Kingdom of the Lombards
>The earliest Lombard law code, the Edictum Rothari, may allude to the use of seal rings, but it is not until the reign of Ratchis that they became an integral part of royal administration, when the king required their use on passports. The only evidence for their use at the ducal level comes from the Duchy of Benevento, where two private charters contain requests for the duke to confirm them with his seal. The existence of seal rings "testifies to the tenacity of Roman traditions of government".

Oh no, so much chaos.
The real problems came for Justinian's attempts to retake Italy.

>>2336808
>you were lucky not to be caught in the middle of a conflict

And how exactly is that different than getting caught in a conflict between Emperors and pretenders? Again its the same shit with new name.

>>2336841
>And how exactly is that different than getting caught in a conflict between Emperors and pretenders? Again its the same shit with new name.
Because you don't actually get caught between them. You just end up under one who diverts the taxes to himself instead of Rome, marches off to Rome to fight, and whether he wins or loses his taxes go back to Rome once more.

When two counts fight over who gets to take your money, they both will end up on your doorstep to take their due.

>>2336847
Except situations like that happened going as far back as Constantine during his unification.

>Emperor one shows up at your town demanding your loyalty through food and money
>If you don't supply them, you're a traitor and you get fucked
>If this Emperor loses or gets pushed back, Emperor two shows up demanding your loyalty through food and money
>If you don't supply them, you're a traitor and you get fucked

>>2335963
Musashi wasn't a Samurai.

>>2336979
What? he was exactly that. He had a family lineage going back to the imperial court and got a job as a kenjutsu instuctor for a lord in Kyushu.

>>2335963
You sound like a Marxist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfDOG2AJvTU
I don't know, this is metal as fuck
>concealing your face to avoid recognition and a curse from beyond the grave
>your guards mumbling magic spells to bind the spirits of the vengeful dead

File: 78aef178873de0427148758c3b3625e0.jpg (140KB, 410x640px) Image search: [Google]

140KB, 410x640px

>>2335963
I read somewhere Onna bugeisha were trained for protecting peasants and villagers with no combat experience from bandits and such.