Status Updates From The First Samurai: The Life...

Masakado som krigarhövding

Thus by Masakado’s day, Japan was ruled by a government that, outwardly at least, lacked both an army and a police force. Without troops of its own, the court turned instead to private forces directed by private warriors for its martial dirty work.

The samurai thus came into being as an order of mercenaries in the capital and the provinces, for whom military service represented a means to broader—"civilian"—career ends.