EDUCATIONAL MODELS OF ORGANIZING THE TRAINING AND UPBRINGING OF SAMURAI IN JAPAN, 16TH – MID-19TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the current problem concerning the organization and evolution of educational models of samurai training in the 16th – mid-19th centuries. Samurai in Japan for many centuries were the most influential social stratum. They displaced the traditional Japanese aristocracy from the place of the leading political force of the country and created their own state and political system – the shogunate. In different eras, the meaning of the concept of «samurai» was transformed according to specific historical circumstances, but its main component remained military service.Such a status in society was largely ensured by an effective system of upbringing and education from early childhood in samurai families and schools of various types. Samurai went through a long and difficult path of educational process throughout life. In order to become a true warrior, it was necessary to form and develop in oneself the basic principles of morality and learn to perfectly master all martial arts and specializations.At the age of 15, the young man underwent a rite of initiation into the samurai, received a real combat sword, with which he did not part throughout his life, and this completed the first stage of the educational process, which can be conditionally called family.In Japan in the 16th – first half of the 19th centuries. educational institutions of various types functioned, providing high-quality education to representatives of the samurai class. The level of education obtained allowed the samurai to be a master of martial arts, contributed to the formation of strong-willed qualities, discipline and rational thinking, which were needed both in everyday combat practices and in the implementation of career aspirations.The article draws attention to the fact that the models of organization of samurai education were generally effective and its results influenced, including the formation of a new face of Japanese identity.The samurai educational system proved to be able to adapt to new social conditions and ensure the formation of new criteria and principles of the cultural and educational level of the samurai. And it was not only about the level of professional training as a warrior, but also about the formation of the basic principles of morality, ethics and behavior, which were important in the life and social status of the samurai.