Editing Caste System of the Okubo Empire (Polesia) (section)

==Samurai==

The highest social caste of the empire is the Samurai. Samurai are feudal nobles who wield nearly all available power in the empire. 
Such power do the samurai have in the empire, that the law clearly states that any commoner who does not make way for a samurai on the street can legally be killed by the offended samurai. 
Samurai are afforded rice stipends by the lands owned by their respective clans and/or families. These foodstuffs are grown by the inhabitants of their lands (their subjects), and are collected as a tax. These foodstuffs are typically sold to the merchant class for gold. As such, each samurai is paid a wage for being a samurai.
Many, though not all, samurai live the life of the noble warrior. (Typically, this is the lifestyle we think of when we hear the word "samurai"). This is not, however, the only life for a samurai. Many samurai become courtiers, wielding blades of social influence as deftly as their warrior counterparts. Some with the talent to speak with the kami spirits become members of the shugenja priesthood. All samurai typically carry a wakizashi, a weapon that is considered the soul of a samurai. 
Nearly all samurai, however, are subject to the virtues of bushido laid down by the Great Kami. This code of conduct is strict and prohibitive, barring samurai from taking part in commerce, and maintaining a regimen of cleanliness and manners, all alongside the most notable restriction: the code of honorable combat. 
Bushido is explained in a separate section: Bushido.