There were more than 300,000 Christian converts in Japan around 1600. After the failed Shimabara Rebellion led by a Christian samurai, 37,000 Christian rebels and sympathizers got beheaded by the shogunate forces. -u/spinnybingle https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/search/?q=samurai&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1

Samurai Yanagizawa Yoshisato helped his samurai clan pay off their debts by selling goldfish. He took his best goldfish breeders over to the town of Koriyama so they could use its plentiful waters for this. His clan made goldfish more available to the general public and not just the rich. -u/dilettantedebrah

White face paint worn by geisha and samurai in ancient times was lead-based and lead can be detected in their bones. -u/VegetableNo1079

Takayama Ukon was known as "The Samurai of Christ," who along with 300 other people, were exiled to the modern-day Philippines, Manila after refusing to renounce his faith. -u/Prismquill

Having long and wild facial hair was important for samurai due to it being a symbol of manliness and that those without it were made fun of. This caused some samurai to fake their beards. -u/dilettantedebrah

In 1860 a group of 76 Samurai went on a diplomatic tour of the United States. They were the toast of New York. -u/fdguarino

Samurai in the Edo Period would dismember cadavers and even live convicts to "test cut" their swords. Bamboo and straw are used today as a humane alternative because they have about the same density as the flesh and bone of a human arm or leg. -u/DivineBanana

The mascot of Hikone,Japan is called Hikonyan, a white cat wearing a samurai helmet. He was created to celebrate the 400 year founding of Hikone Castle. His design was inspired by the daimyo who helped build the castle and the legend of a cat saving him from being hit by lightning. -u/dilettantedebrah

Samurai took the heads of their enemies as proof of their kills. This practice was part of the Bushido code, with strict rules on maintaining and presenting the heads. Once presented, these kills were then recorded in the official 'Book of Heads'. -u/JRHEvilInc

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a Japanese military leader who unified Japan and became the de facto leader of Japan, was never granted the title of Shogun because he had no traceable samurai lineage, and his father was an ashigaru – a peasant employed by the samurai as a foot soldier. -deleted user

After the samurai class was dismantled in Japan, some samurai became farmers. These samurai were given apple seedlings in the town of Aomori so that they could produce them. Aomori would later become Japan's apple capital. -deleter user

Samurai would do the infamous haircut of shaving the top of their head and keep the back long otherwise known as “Chonmage” in order to keep them cool while fighting in the humid months but also to still keep their helmet secure on their head with the hair in the back. -u/AdventureBegins

Around 650 residents in the town of Coria del Río, Spain have the surname Japón (Japan). They are the descendants of 6 samurai who traveled to Europe in the early 17th century and set up an embassy. -u/Legitimate_Twist

William Adams was a shipwrecked 17th century English captain who, while initially imprisoned, was promoted to Samurai and gifted a fief in Japan. He remained an advisor to the Japanese emperor until his death 20 years later. -u/Lieutenant_Hawk

Samurai fled to California and founded a colony in 1869. The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony is believed to be the first permanent settlement and the only settlement by samurai outside of Japan. It was founded by Japanese (mainly Samurai) immigrants fleeing the Samurai's disbanding. -u/bribridude130

Taira no Masakado, a samurai, was the first to lead a revolt against the Japanese government. After death, people were so impressed/terrified by his actions, that they deified him in a shrine. Today, his shrine occupies one of the most costly real-estate in Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace. -u/The_Blue_Bomber

The wealth of a samurai in feudal Japan was measured in terms of koku; one koku, supposed to be the amount of rice it took to feed one man for a year, was equivalent to around 180 liters. -deleted user

Samurai in Japan had the right to execute commoners who paid them disrespect. This right continued until the 1870s, when the Samurai were abolished, as Japan modernized its military into a national fighting force modeled on Western standards. -u/jcd1974

Tom Cruise's character in "The Last Samurai" was based on a real Frenchman who fought alongside the warriors of a doomed "samurai democracy" in 1869. -u/fevredream

Mt. Limori monument is an ancient Italian column that survived Pompeii and was donated to Japan by Mussolini in 1928 to honor nineteen teenage samurai who mistakenly committed suicide on the mountain in 1868 after falsely believing their domain had lost a battle in the Japanese Revolution. -u/vvavva69

A slave from Mozambique called Yasuke was the first black samurai in the history of Japan. -u/braziliass

Samurai would poop with one leg completely out of their pant leg in case they needed to fight during a visit to the bathroom. -u/hellhellbean

In 1872, a Japanese samurai and politician Shinpei Eto established a wanted photograph distribution system. Its first subject was Shipei Eto himself. The circulation of wanted photographs aided his swift arrest. He was executed at the age of 41. -u/shortshortago

Female samurai Tomoe Gozen, from the late 12th century, served under Minamoto no Yoshinaka. She was recorded as remarkable for her beauty and deadliness. Surviving the Genpei War and the initial conflicts that lead to the first Shogunate she lived until the age of 90. -u/Grey_Matter_Mutters

Takayama Ukonas is a 1500s Japanese Daimyo who converted to Catholicism and is a candidate for Sainthood in the Vatican. If canonized, Takayama will be the first Samurai saint, the only Daimyo saint, and since he was exiled to the Philippines for being a Christian, the third Filipino saint. -u/Khysamgathys