Japan's Samurai Craze

Disheartened by the recession and grid-locked politics? In Japan, people are turning to history for comfort. Specifically, to samurai warlords. Magazines, television shows, video games, and now even iPhone cases display the Japanese craze for medieval knights, who are seen as symbols of loyalty, strength, and decisiveness.

Two of the most popular samurai are Oda Nobunaga, who unified most of the country in the latter half of the 16th century, and Date Masamune, who became known as the "one-eyed dragon" after losing an eye to childhood illness, and wore a distinctive crescent moon helmet. Women are in on the craze, too – warrior wives are among the biggest stars of samurai dramas on Japanese television.

Hideki Nakagawa, a Nihon University sociology professor and an expert on pop culture, told Agence France-Presse that in difficult times, "people tend to turn to strong symbolic figures on whom they can project their ideals." The Japanese have been hit hard by the recession, and just voted out the Liberal Democratic Party, which had been in power for nearly 54 years. Dissatisfaction with the ruling party, which faced charges of ineffectiveness and scandal over the past decade, has driven the idealization of samurai in popular Japanese culture.

When the going gets tough, wouldn’t you like a strong, faithful ally on your side?

(Photo by James Alexander Jack via Flickr/Creative Commons)