Gutierrez_Tokugawa_Project

=The Decline of Samurai Culture=

During the Tokugawa period samurai increasingly became bureaucrats and administrators rather than warriors. With no warfare since the early 17th century, samurai gradually lost their military function. By the end of the Tokugawa era, samurai were aristocratic bureaucrats for the daimyo. The paired long and short swords of the samurai became more of a symbolic emblem of power rather than a weapon. Samurai still had the legal right to kill any commoner who did not show proper respect, but it is uknown to what extent. The samurai class suffered more than any other during the Tokugawa peace period.