Differences Between Knights And Samurai

In medieval Europe a knight stood in shining armour across his lord’s house, side by side with his fellow soldiers, all looking the same. A wave of fully covered metal humans swept across the plains, with long swords and horses, both looking like robots while they defended their lord’s land. Thousands of miles away in Japan, some samurai stood in intricately designed armour with crossbows and swords ran or rode on horses and fought so they would have defended their master’s land. The bright and bold colours of the horse’s skin and the Samurai’s armour danced like fire as they clashed with other Samurai. Europe’s knights and Japan’s samurai were different because they had different views on religion, training and combat, and societal structure.
The code of Bushido told the samurai how to act and think. It stated that Samurai should’ve devoted himself to duty above everything else in his life including his family. He would also more loyal to his master than anyone else, and that a samurai actually spended 3 lives serving his master. (Doc. E) While knights believed that they should have been more loyal to their king, never fight for their own gain or fight for no reason, and never be evil or do anything with malicious intent. They also took a different approach to tactics they used on the battlefield. Samurai armour didn’t completely cover the whole body, like on the right arm so they could easily draw their bow and fire They also didn’t cover their face or hands. Samurai armour was made out of small iron scales that were tied together. The knights were the complete opposite of this. They completely covered their bodies, including their hands and face. This armour was extremely heavy, and made completely out of steel, which is why knights all rode on horses. (Doc. D) Also, to be a samurai or knight, you had to go through school and training, but the type of schooling they got was had many differences. To be a samurai, one was trained physically, in spiritual discipline and poetry. A boy would be considered a samurai at age 14. The samurai went a lot more in depth with the aspect of religion on how they fought and went about daily life. Samurai also trained their women. Women wouldn’t have been a samurai, but they still had basic training on how to defend their homes in case of an invader. Unlike the Samurai, knights didn’t train the women and they focused more on being a squire at age 14 then work until he would have the possibility of becoming a knight at age 21. (Doc.