Kirby Super Star and Story of the Dream Spring DX/Nightmare in Dreamland
Japanese History
Samurai Kirby was the Kirby Superstar equivalent of the wild west spoof, “Quick Draw” in Kirby’s Adventure. As a mini game, the two players waited for a certain noise to sound, then the first player to hit the game button will win the match. Their score was ranked in milliseconds. Unlike the Wild West Spoof that came before it (where Kirby was the sheriff), in this Kirby, Waddle Doo, Wheelie, Cook Kawasaki, King Dedede, and Meta Knight donned traditional Japanese gear.
Samurai Kirby is, as the name states, a samurai. The word comes from the Japanese verb ‘to serve’. Samurai have high moral and ethical standards. They often carried their weapons around in public, and travelled with merchants and tax collectors to help keep thieves and bandits at bay. The first Samurai were in the late 8th and early 9th century. They were around until 1871, when Emperor Meiji made baring weapons in public illegal. That is around 1000 years!
About Samurai
In the early 9th century, the Emperor’s knights were not able to keep Japan under guard, since villages were often far apart from each other. The first Samurai became travelling knights and mercenaries to solve this problem. They were made into three classes, the lowest being the foot soldier, the highest being a mounted knight. Low class samurai did not wear much armour, but higher classes sometimes wore iron cuirasses. As the years progressed, during the Heian Period in particular, they gained political power. Two rival Samurai clans eventually formed, and they opposed each other for trying to gain power in Japan’s government. One of them (the one led by Minamoto) eventually won over, and its leader became a Shogun and the new ruler of Japan.
A samurai has two weapons, a long sword called a ‘Katana’ and a short sword called a ‘Wakizashi’. Since their lifestyles are so demanding, they often don’t have much time to meet women. Marriages are often arranged by their superiors. If a Samurai went into debt, it was seen as a sign of honour that he didn’t care much for money and other greed-related things. If this happened, his wife was often the person to take care of finance. His wife could also become a Samurai too, using a pole-arm as a weapon to defend their home from harm while their husbands were travelling.
Samurai were also expected to be well educated (though not required) enough to be able to read and write in both hiragana and katakana, as well as know math. They were also supposed (though not required) to have interests in other arts like Dancing, Poetry, Literature, and Tea.
