Jewel made entirely by hand by the Italian craftsman Gianmarco Fontana. This ring made of 925 Silver depicting a Samurai skull is part of the "Skulls" collection.

The name certainly derives from a verb, saburau, which means "to serve" or "to keep to one side" and literally means "one who serves". A more appropriate term would be from the Edo period.

The term is still used to indicate the warrior nobility (not, for example, the ashigaru that is the infantrymen, nor the kuge that is the court aristocrats). Samurai who did not serve a daimyō because he was dead or because they had lost his favor or trust, were called rōnin, literally "wave man", which means "free from constraints", but always takes on a derogatory meaning.

The samurai were a cultured caste, which in addition to martial arts, directly connected with their profession, practiced Zen arts such as cha no yu (tea art) or shodō (art of writing). During the Tokugawa era they gradually lost their military function becoming simple rōnin who often indulged in looting and barbarism. Towards the end of the Edo period, samurai were essentially designated as bureaucrats in the service of the shōgun or a daimyō, and their sword was used only for ceremonial purposes, to emphasize their caste membership.

With the Meiji renewal (late 19th century) the samurai class was abolished in favor of a Western-style national army. Nevertheless the bushidō, the rigid code of honor of the samurai, has survived and still is, in today's Japanese society, a core of moral principles and behavior similar to the role played by religious ethical principles in present-day Western societies.