Ancient japan (samurai)?

Question

Did the ancient samurai's religion influence them to have an affinity with death??????

Answer 1

First of all, ancient samurai's were not religious people.  They are just a group of rural peasants trying to protect their farm land from their nabours.

They would pray for the harvest, and victory if they are heading out for a war, but these are more to do with living, not death or after life.

The 'die in honour' business you see on movies nowadays only really started around 17th century, during the Edo period.  Even that's more to do with how to 'live' and 'die' than 'death' itself.

Jumping to the conclusion, samurai's 'die in honour' business has more to do with presenting yourself as being a brave & honorable man, and it is nothing really religious.

Note that kamikaze pilots in WW2 & ancient samurais are of totally different kinds.