A.) samurai
The samurai formerly referred to as bushi, worked as the military force for daimyo or the lords of the Japanese feudal system.
Each daimyo or lord owned large portions of land and needed to protected their lands from other daimyo. They did this by employing samurai as a military force. The samurai were the equivalent to knights in the European feudal system. The samuari held to a code referred to as bushido which guided their status and group norms.