<P> Social mobility was high, as the ancient regime collapsed and emerging samurai needed to maintain a large military and administrative organizations in their areas of influence . Most of the samurai families that survived to the 19th century originated in this era, declaring themselves to be the blood of one of the four ancient noble clans: Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara and Tachibana . In most cases, however, it is hard to prove these claims . </P> <P> During the Tokugawa shogunate, samurai increasingly became courtiers, bureaucrats, and administrators rather than warriors . With no warfare since the early 17th century, samurai gradually lost their military function during the Tokugawa era (also called the Edo period). By the end of the Tokugawa era, samurai were aristocratic bureaucrats for the daimyōs, with their daishō, the paired long and short swords of the samurai (cf . katana and wakizashi) becoming more of a symbolic emblem of power rather than a weapon used in daily life . They still had the legal right to cut down any commoner who did not show proper respect kiri - sute gomen (斬り 捨て 御免), but to what extent this right was used is unknown . When the central government forced daimyōs to cut the size of their armies, unemployed rōnin became a social problem . </P> <P> Theoretical obligations between a samurai and his lord (usually a daimyō) increased from the Genpei era to the Edo era . They were strongly emphasized by the teachings of Confucius (551 - 479 BC) and Mencius (372--289 BC), which were required reading for the educated samurai class . The leading figures who introduced confucianism in Japan in the early Tokugawa period were Fujiwara Seika (1561 - 1619), Hayashi Razan (1583 - 1657) and Matsunaga Sekigo (1592 - 1657). </P> <P> The conduct of samurai served as role model behavior for the other social classes . With time on their hands, samurai spent more time in pursuit of other interests such as becoming scholars . </P>

What was the role of samurai in shogunate japan