What is a rōnin in Japan, and how is it different to a samurai?

There are numerous references to rōnin in both Japanese and global culture, from appearances in films by the great director Akira Kurosawa – Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961) – to the Disney+ series, Shōgun (2024). Rōnin have inspired books, artworks, plays and videogames, including Ghost of Tsushima (2020) and Rise of the Rōnin (2024).

What is a rōnin?

A rōnin is a masterless samurai.

If a samurai loses their master, either through the death or overthrow of their lord or their own downfall, they would become a rōnin. According to the samurai code, known as bushidō, losing their status should be followed by committing seppuku, or ritual suicide, in order to escape dishonour.

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If they did not, a rōnin was condemned to becoming a wandering vagrant, unable to find another position or take work carried out by the lowly classes. The word means ‘wave man’ in reference to how they drifted over the land.

What is the difference between a rōnin and a samurai?

The only difference between a rōnin and a samurai is that the latter had a master, such as a feudal lord, or daimyo, whereas a rōnin was masterless.

The difference to their lives, however, was stark. Whereas samurai were in one of the top classes of the strict social hierarchy of feudal Japan, above farmers, artisans and merchants, rōnin lost their prestige and social standing.

How were rōnin regarded in Japanese society?

Rōnin were generally held with disdain, seen as being flung to the fringes of society in their humiliation and dishonour.

Having lost their stipend as well as their master, they had to find ways to put their combat skills to use. This could be legitimate means, such as mercenary work or being bodyguards for merchants, but many turned to crime, becoming bandits or thugs for gangs.

That said, the status of the rōnin did depend on the period they lived in. The Sengoku period of the 15th and 16th centuries, for instance, was a time of continuous civil war and chaos, so there was a high demand for warriors. If a lord died in battle, their samurai could always find employment with another one.

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In the Edo period that came in the late 16th-century, however – a time of stability when Japan was ruled by a military dictatorship, the shogunate – there was less need for experienced fighters. Samurai still served their lords, but more often with administrative duties that martial. A rōnin at this time had few options.

Circumstances shifted again in the 19th century when rōnin found a new purpose: intense nationalism. They banded together to try and expel foreigners who were starting to arrive in Japan in greater numbers. Some samurai even chose to leave their lords so that they could become a revolutionary rōnin.

Do rōnin still exist in Japan today?

Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which brought an end to the shogunate and re-established imperial rule, the samurai lost their privileges, and were eventually abolished. And no samurai meant no rōnin.

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The term still exists today, though. It now most often refers to a high school graduate who has yet to find a place at university – so has to spend a year wandering through their education as it were – or a loyal, hardworking employee, known as a salaryman, who finds themselves without a job.