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The modern samurai

Published in Education
Go to the profile of Chi-Ping Day
Chi-Ping Day
Senior Research Biologist, National Cancer Institute, NIH
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Many people are familiar with the history of Sengoku (Warring State) period in Japan, thanks to the popularity of video games and manga from Japan. Sengoku was one of the interludes in the almost two-thousand years of feudal history in Japan. Like in Europe, the feudal system was strictly hierarchical; your social class was your identity. In ancient Japan, feudal lords ("Dai-myo", supreme land owner) control the lands, lived in castles, taxed the peasants and traders, and hired Samurai.

Samurai is literally translated as "servant", personnel who serve the Daimyo closely. Overtime, the servants evolved to become a class with the warrior title. They not only run the campaigns as military officers, but also managed the territory as administers.

Samurais were not soldiers or house servants, but a class of its own. However, they could not have their own territories even though they fought to occupy it, because it was not allowed by their social class- they were literally the servants who can only serve without ownership. When a Daimyo's land ownership ended (e.g. being conquered or no male heir), samurais were dismissed and they needed to seek new hiring by another Daimyo. The only path for a samurai to own territory, so he did not have to worry about next job, was to become a Daimyo. He needed to fight to occupy a land, gathered his own team, and then submitted a request to the emperor for nominating him to be the master of the land. There was no promotion from Samurai to Daimyo. You have to get into a new social class.

The counterpart of samurai in modern academic research is staff scientist, if you understand how a laboratory is operated in a research institute.

Don't get me wrong, I did not try to be sour or bitter. I have been a staff scientist for almost two decades. I loved my job and was proud of my research (e.g. the mouse models I built are used in many laboratories nationwide). However, the career path of staff scientist is restricted by the definition of the position, which is a class of its own but could not go beyond.

For any young scientist who gets a staff scientist position, congratulation! I am pretty sure you will enjoy the time purely focusing on science and research so much. However, please allow me to remind you: get ready for the change, which is definitely coming. If you want to fight to become a Daimyo, that's great and I wish you the best luck. Meanwhile, please understand, you are not in the Sengoku period; you have a lot of different choices in 21st century. Check them out and prepare yourself for the new direction.
Go to the profile of Chi-Ping Day
Chi-Ping Day
Senior Research Biologist, National Cancer Institute, NIH

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