Q 01/05

Which word did Japan give the typhoons that wrecked two Mongol invasion fleets in 1274 and 1281?

A) Kamikaze

B) Tsunami

C) Banzai

D) Sayonara

Answer · why

A) Kamikaze

Kamikaze means 'divine wind', and the name was revived in the Second World War for pilots sent to sweep an enemy from the seas once more.

Q 02/05

Which modern city was known as Edo when the Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan from its castle?

A) Osaka

B) Tokyo

C) Nagoya

D) Yokohama

Answer · why

B) Tokyo

Tokyo means 'eastern capital', a name Edo received in 1868 when the shogunate fell and the emperor moved his residence there.

Q 03/05

Which long, curved sword did samurai of feudal Japan wear thrust through the belt with its edge facing upward?

A) Tachi

B) Tanto

C) Katana

D) Wakizashi

Answer · why

C) Katana

Katana were worn edge-up so that a samurai could draw and strike in a single motion, unlike the older tachi, which hung edge-down.

Q 04/05

The forty-seven warriors who avenged Lord Asano in 1703 are known by which word for a samurai without a master?

A) Hatamoto

B) Ashigaru

C) Daimyo

D) Ronin

Answer · why

D) Ronin

Ronin is written with the characters for 'wave' and 'person', a warrior adrift, and the forty-seven lie buried in front of their lord's tomb at Sengak...

Q 05/05

Which samurai code of honour did Nitobe Inazo introduce to Western readers in his book subtitled The Soul of Japan?

A) Budo

B) Bushido

C) Kyudo

D) Shugendo

Answer · why

B) Bushido

Bushido means 'the way of the warrior', and the word only came into common use around the world after Nitobe's book appeared.