Rōnin

According to the Bushido Shoshinshu (the "Code of the Warrior"), a samurai was supposed to commit seppuku (also harakiri, "belly cutting", a form of ritual suicide) upon the loss of his master.

[citation needed] Because the former samurai could not legally take up a new trade, or because of pride were loath to do so, many rōnin looked for other ways to make a living with their swords.

Those rōnin who desired steady, legal employment became mercenaries that guarded trade caravans, or bodyguards for wealthy merchants.

Rōnin were known to operate or serve as hired muscle for gangs that ran gambling rings, brothels, protection rackets, and similar activities.

The criminal segment gave the rōnin of the Edo period a persistent reputation of disgrace, with an image of thugs, bullies, cutthroats, and wandering vagrants.

[2] After the abolition of the Samurai, some of the ronin continued with their thuggery and their mercenary work and activities, such as participating in the infamous assassination of Korean Empress Myeongseong of the Joseon Dynasty in 1895, the Eulmi Incident.

[citation needed] As Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified progressively more significant parts of the country, daimyō found it unnecessary to recruit new soldiers.

The Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 resulted in the confiscation or reduction of the fiefs of large numbers of daimyō on the losing side; consequently, many samurai became rōnin.

In the ensuing years of peace, there was less need to maintain expensive standing armies, and many surviving rōnin turned to farms or became townspeople.

[citation needed] Not having the status or power of employed samurai, rōnin were often disreputable and festive,[2] the group targeted humiliation or satire.

[citation needed] Numerous modern works of Japanese fiction set in the Edo period cast characters who are rōnin.