A real Japanese Samurai archer in 1870 having one last good photo of him before the government ended stipends for the Samurai
The Samurai are still what people think of when they think of Japan, but a few years after this photo was taken the Japanese government divested funds from the Samurai, opting instead to create a military where every citizen could join and defend their country.
Many Samurai had photos of them taken of them in their traditional garb in order to preserve their time as a members of an elite group. At the end of their time as members of the Japanese military with a full stipend, the men who made up the Samurai enjoyed their final years at the top of the hierarchy, but as the country modernized they no longer had a place in the world.
