The term originated in the Nara and Heian periods, when it referred to a serf who had fled or deserted his master's land. It later came to be used for a samurai who had no master. In medieval times, the …

Ronin is defined as a Japanese Samurai who has lost his master and must search for work as a sword for hire or reduced to banditry. A group of experts are gathered in Paris by Deirdre (Natascha …

Mar 20, 2025 · What is a rōnin in Japan, and how is it different to a samurai? To be a samurai meant position and prestige, but it could all be taken away in an instant, plunging the once-proud warrior …

rōnin, any of the masterless samurai warrior aristocrats of the late Muromachi (1138–1573) and Tokugawa (1603–1867) periods who were often vagrant and disruptive and sometimes actively …

Jan 19, 2021 · Also referred to as the Akō vendetta, the story of the forty-seven rōnin surrounds an 18th-century feud between a young lord named Asano Naganori and Kira Yoshinaka, a shōgunate official, …

May 7, 2025 · A ronin was a samurai warrior in feudal Japan without a master or lord — known as a daimyo. A samurai could become a ronin in several different ways: his master might die or fall from …

Power in medieval Japan rested on the bond between lord and retainer. Learn about how warriors became ronin and what this meant for society.