During the Tokugawa era, samurai increasingly became courtiers, bureaucrats, and administrators rather than warriors. With no warfare after the early 17th century, over time, samurai during the Tokugawa era (also called the Edo period) gradually lost their military function. By the end of the Tokugawa era, samurai were aristocratic bureaucrats for the daimyo, with their daisho, the paired long and short swords of the samurai (http://www.samurai-source.com/samurai-swords/samurai-swords.htm) (cf. 'katana' and wakizashi) becoming more of a symbolic emblem of power rather than a weapon used in daily life. They still had the legal right to cut down any commoner who did not show proper respect; in what extent this right was used, however, is unknown. When the central government forced daimyos to cut the size of their armies, unemployed ronin actually became a social problem.

Bushido was formalized by many samurai in this time of peace much like how Chivalry was formalized after knight as a warrior became obsolete in Europe. The conduct of samurai became a favorable model of a citizen in Edo with the emphasis on formalities. With time on their hands, samurai spent more time on the pursuit of other interests becoming scholars. Bushido still survives in present-day Japanese society, as do many other aspects of their way of life.

Samurai decline during the Meiji restoration