Meaning "those who serve" the Samurai have amazing history, value system and were incredibly intelligent for the time. The Delphian school is a K-12 independent, co-educational day and boarding school located in Sheridan, Oregon, fifty miles southwest of Portland. Visit Delphian.org for more information.

1. SAMURAI

2. Samurai means "those who serve".
Samurai were Japanese warrior
noblemen. They dominated Japan from
the 1600's through 1868.

4. Seppuk
u:
The Samurai would perform a ritual known as
Seppuku. It's a gruesome suicide a Samurai must
perform if they fail to follow Bushido or if they
are likely to be or captured by an enemy.
It is performed by piercing the stomach with a
short blade and moving it from left to right, until
the performer has sliced himself open. At this
point, an attendant—usually a friend of the
samurai—decapitates the disemboweled samurai
with a sword
After the nuclear bombs were dropped in
Hiroshima in World War II many generals
committed suicide like this.

5. Interesting facts about Samurai:
- There were female samurai. Called Onna-
Bugeisha which translates to "female martial
artist". They fought in combat with their male
counterparts.
- Samurai were extremely open-minded when it
came to sexuality. The samurai not only
accepted same-sex relations in their culture—
they actively encouraged them. These
relationships were generally formed between a
samurai and a youth he was training.
- The majority of samurai were very well-
educated. At a time when very few Europeans
could read, the level of samurai literacy was
extremely high.
- The emperor Meiji officially abolished the
Samurai in 1868.

7. Slide presented by Delphian School Junior: Pruette Karl
Delphian is a K-12 independent, co-
educational day and boarding school
located in Sheridan, Oregon, fifty miles
southwest of Portland. Visit Delphian.org
for more information.