Both Feudal Japan and Ancient Sparta are renowned for their outstanding soldiery. Each had distinctly different military styles owing to the differences in their lifestyles and beliefs. The Japanese soldier had a balanced view of himself as a whole person, studying both martial and literary techniques, whereas the Spartan soldier was born and raised to become a soldier. Both techniques were extremely successful in developing a fighting force that was the elite of their times.

The Core of feudal japans military force was the samurai. The development of the samurai in ninth-century Japan occurred when the centralized aristocratic government lost power to the local landowners who employed their own armed forces. The heads of these armed forces were known as the "bushi" or "samurai", and were for the most part descended from the old clans (Sato, 1995). The samurai gave their society moral values and acted as sentinels of peace.

During the shogunate of the Tokugawa family the samurai as a class were transformed into military bureaucrats and were required to master leadership skills as well as military arts (Wilson, 1994). This trend became more and more apparent as time went on.

This method of training developed a finely honed soldier that excelled in combat. However, because of the narrow spectrum of skills studied, a Spartan soldier was simply an excellent soldier and nothing else. This could be seen as an advantage or a disadvantage for the Spartan soldier. In one regard he excelled in the art of combat, on the other, he had little to no skill in any other area. "The Spartan soldier was exactly that - a soldier. They had no knowledge of how to do anything else." (Michell, 1952, pg. 183). However, a link does exist between the two civilizations - both were willing to die if necessary to protect their masters.

The same was the case for the samurai. Although the shoguns and the emperor found it necessary to surround themselves with riches, a samurai's life was often very harsh. However, a samurai could, and did during the Tokugawa period, become more influential and gained a title similar to a Baron. Although there was a trend away from the more simplistic life of the earlier samurai, they were still prepared to deal with any situation, no matter the consequences. Their reasons for doing this were very similar to the Spartan soldier, a matter of honour and morals.

This was very similar to the Spartan soldier's willingness to fight for his state, or to die in the process. It is here that a comparison of the two systems can be clearly seen. The ideology of Sparta was oriented around the state. The individual lived and died for the state. Their lives were designed to serve the state from their beginning to the age of sixty. "The Spartan soldier was content to live and die in service of the state." (Michell, 1952, pg. 168). The combination of this ideology, the education of Spartan males, and the disciplined maintenance of a standing army gave the Spartans much needed stability. Although there were great differences in the two methods, the basic premise was the same. The Japanese samurai obeyed his lord unto death, the Spartan soldier obeyed his state unto death.

Clearly, a similarity exists between these two civilizations' climaxed warriors. Both had a very strong sense of duty and honour towards their masters that ultimate

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Approximate Word count = 1471
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)