Soga no Emishi died in 645.

Soga no Emishi was born in 587.

Takashi Takahashi has written:

'Sakanoue no Tamuramaro'

'Emishi' -- subject(s): History

The Samurai were an elite group of warriors in Japan. Their origins go back to the Heian Period were they were used to sudue the native population of the Emishi people. They protected the leaders and the villagers.

Without a timeframe, this is very subjective. I would argue that the countries whose people were completely exterminated by either disease and/or invasion suffered the most, like the Tasmanian Parlevar, the Japanese Emishi, the central Asian Khodynts, and the Argentine Capayán. There is no suffering so complete as erasure from history.

The Neolithic Jomon people of Japan (who invented the first pottery ever), were at Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles in 11,000 BC. They got all they way to Tierra Del Fuego. It is thought that a significant amount of South American Indians living on the west coast of that continent have Jomon blood. The Jomons (or Emishi) were related to today's Hmong people.

Archaeological research indicates that the earliest inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago migrated over land bridges from Asia about 35,000 years ago; they were Australoids. Negritos may also have been there at that time.

The first pottery in the world was made by the Jomon culture, who came to Japan around 15,000 BC; they had a Mesolithic and Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle of pit dwelling and a rudimentary form of agriculture. In historic times they were known as the Emishi. They were followed by the Proto-Korean Jins in 1000 BC, the Caucasoid Ainus from the north Urals in 700 BC, Proto-Polynesians from Luzon and the Marianas in 500 BC (who formed the Kumaso, Hayato, and other tribes), a huge Altaic/Austric Wa migration from Jiangsu in 350 BC which brought rice paddy agriculture and the ruling dynasty (most famously Queen Himiko), and a final large Korean-related Buyeo migration (Kofun) from south Manchuria through Baekche to Japan in 270 AD; this was led by Ungjin (Ojin), who took over the dynasty. It was this last that formed Japan into the country that we know today. So the answer is around 35,000 years old.

A refugee Chinese nobleman of the Wu Clan started it in 175 BC. His name was Hong Yi, but the Emishi knew him as Honinigi.

2nd (Real) Answer:

The first people who came to Japan did so about 17,000 years ago. The Ainu people were a stoneage group that populated all of Japan. Later, people from Siberia (Including some that were of the same group as our American Indians), Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, South China, Tibet, and the Philippines as early as the Ice Age. Due to the Ice Age, the ocean was so low that Japan was connected to Siberia, Korea, China, Taiwan and the Philippines. The various tribes crossed the land connections at this time. These people drove the Ainu out of the southern islands of Japan into the northern island, where about 25,000 of them still live.

The original inhabitants of Japan are known as the Jomon culture. This cultural period is dated by pottery to have started sometime around the 14th century BCE. Subsistence was derived from fishing, hunting, and light agriculture and they clearly had a complex culture for the period based on the intricate artifacts found. Around 1000 BCE, an infusion of culture and technology that spread gradually west across the islands of modern Japan from mainland East Asia likely along with a population known today as the Yaoyi people. It was this new population or more likely a blend between the Jomon and Yaoyi peoples who were the ancestors of the modern Japanese population.

For much of the early history of the Japanese Empire (600-1200 CE), there were references to a population known by them as the "Emishi" on the frontier in northern Honshu. Though it is unclear exactly who they were, it is safe to assume based on Japanese and non-Japanese historical records that the Emishi were a post-Jomon culture that were related to those original peoples of Japan. For example, it is clear that they did not speak Japanese and that they resisted the expansion of Imperial control into the region, fighting several wars.

Hokkaido, the northernmost main island plays host to what is most likely the modern decedents of both of these groups, the Ainu. Only recently recognized as a distinct indigenous group from the Japanese ethnicity by the Japanese government, they have historically suffered harsh cultural and physical oppression ever since Japan began moving a significant presence into Aniu-populated areas. They are still frequently discriminated against by Japanese people despite the official government position so it is suspected many Ainu, most of whom are not 'pure Ainu' so to speak, do not claim their ancestry. While official numbers stand at around 24-25,000 it is believe that there are about 200,000 people with significant Ainu ancestry on Hokkaido, the Sakhalin Islands, and the Kuril Islands. Note that some of this territory is occupied by Russia.

A refugee Chinese nobleman of the Wu Clan started it in 175 BC. His name was Hong Yi, but the Emishi knew him as Honinigi.

2nd (Real) Answer:

The first people who came to Japan did so about 17,000 years ago. The Ainu people were a stoneage group that populated all of Japan. Later, people from Siberia (Including some that were of the same group as our American Indians), Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, South China, Tibet, and the Philippines as early as the Ice Age. Due to the Ice Age, the ocean was so low that Japan was connected to Siberia, Korea, China, Taiwan and the Philippines. The various tribes crossed the land connections at this time. These people drove the Ainu out of the southern islands of Japan into the northern island, where about 25,000 of them still live.

It depended on the time period. The earliest version of samurai came about in the 8th and 9th century when Emperor Kammu was attempting to crush a rebellion of the Emishi people in Japan. Since his army was mostly made up of untrained and undisciplined conscripts, the campaign was largely a failure. To that end, he introduced the title of Shogun, who was to be to leader of several regional clans of warriors who were charged with putting down the Emishi rebellion. After the campaign was over, and over the next few hundred years, these clans grew in power and influence, although the title of shogun largely faded away. They assumed positions and titles of ministers, and others in their family or in their good graces would buy or otherwise obtain titles of power and influence in the regions that these warrior-clans controlled. Through a combination of protection agreements between one another, political marriages, and force, they attained a large degree of political influence and power. They accumulated a great deal of wealth by imposing taxes on the farmers who lived on the lands under their control. As greater wealth was needed to bolster their military power as well as make deals with other clan leaders and politicians, these taxes could be quite heavy. This caused a large numbers of farmers to end up landless, and essentially tied to the clan leaders that were in control of their region. This laid the foundation for the Japanese feudal system. However, in some cases, these farmers would band together in the same manner that the regional clansmen had done initially. By allying themselves with other farming communities, some of these groups were able to resist being controlled by the existing regional clans, and essentially became similar entities themselves. Around this time, the foundation of Samurai beliefs was laid: the principles of Bushido. Arguably, this is when the first true Samurai 'emerged' in that they were a warrior class who followed the ideal of Bushi. Also during this time, the clans amassed enough wealth, manpower, resources, and political influence to rival if not surpass the aristocracy. There were a number of clashes between the Samurai clans after this time, while they essentially vied for supremacy with one another. Two notable clans in the 12th century were the Tairo clan and the Minamoto clan, which clashed twice, both of which had influential results. The Tairo clan emerged victorious after the first clash, and the leader of that clan, Tairo no Kiyomori, became the first Samurai to hold the title of imperial advisor. He later seized control of the government, after which point the Emperor became primarily a figurehead title. This was the first time that the government had been dominated by the Samurai. Later, when the Tairo and Minamoto clans clashed again, Minamoto was the victor. He declared himself Shogun, and was in every relevant way the head of the Japanese government. It was during this time that the Samurai began to adopt (and adapt) some of the features of the aristocracy; when they engaged in things such as art, calligraphy, music, and poetry. The popular view of Samurai as noblemen, the counterpart of Western knights, stems from this period onward. Thus, to 'become' a Samurai between the 8th and 15th centuries, one essentially had to be born into or absorbed somehow into one of these warrior clans. By the time Samurai has established themslves as the leaders of the Japanese government, the title was largely hereditary. People didn't simply become Samurai. This however, would change in the centuries to follow. From the 15th to the 17th centuries, Japan was embroiled in a series of many, many conflicts between regional lords (Daimyo). This was known as the Sengoku Jidai, or the warring states period. Essentially, because the government was headed by Samurai, there were warriors in control of every province of Japan. These provinces were headed by feudal lords, or Daimyo. These Daimyo had their own ranks of Samurai who were loyal explicitly to them. For many different reasons, these Daimyo clashed with each other in efforts to gain more wealth, power, influence, or resources. Such a long and sustained period of conflict led to a need for more and more warriors. Thus, individuals who were skilled warriors essentially could become Samurai by performing in the service of a Daimyo. By the end of the warring states period, the distinction between Samurai and non-Samurai was almost non-existant. Most adult men of almost every social class were at some point serving in a military, and military (as well as many aspects of social) life was dictated by the ideals of Bushido. A large number of Samurai families which lasted until the late 1800s sprang up during this time period. Thus, to become a Samurai during the warring states period was comparatively easy. One could do it through distinguished service in the military, or in some cases service in the administration of the government. The warring states period ended after a series of three powerful Daimyo unified Japan. The first, Oda Nobunaga, was the Daimyo largely responsible for unifying many if not most of Japan's Daimyo under his banner. He was in turn murdered by one of his generals, which opened the opportunity for another of his generals, Toyotomi Hideyoshi to take control. Hideyoshi continued the process of unifying the Daimyo and consolidating his power. However, he died somewhat suddenly. Before he did, he appointed a council of the five most powerful Lords in Japan, who were to rule until Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son was old enough to rule. Before that happened, one of the appointed lords died, and Ieyasu was accused of disloyalty to the established rule of the Toyotomis. This prompted a battle, which Ieyasu won, and he established what would become known as the Tokugawa Shogunate. This would be the military government of Japan until the Meiji restoration, when Japan underwent a thorough and rapid period of modernization and westernization. Under Tokugawa, the ability of common people to ascend to the rank of Samurai was ended. Samurai became a restricted and hereditary title, and furthermore was reserved only for those Samurai families who had followed Nobunaga, Toyotomi, and himself. Many other samurai were either killed or largely abandoned their titles and became reabsorbed into the non-samurai population. Many others became Ronin, or masterless Samurai. So, from the 17th century on, no one could become a Samurai without being born into one of the families which had been established by law by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Not even Tom Cruise.