Landless or masterless peasant soldiers or samurai who through dishonor or the loss of their masters were forced to wander Japan until some other lord would accept their services.

It was difficult for ronin to find new employment.

\Ro"nin"\, noun: In Japan, under the feudal system, a samurai who had renounced his clan or who had been discharged or ostracized and had become a wanderer without a lord; an outcast; an outlaw. a lordless samurai, esp. one whose feudal lord had been deprived of his territory. The Japanese word “ronin” (pronounced rô-nçn) refers to a roving, mercenary samurai who serves no master or warlord.

Samurai Jack

Japanese slang for a college dropout or somebody who failed the college entrance exam.

1. Masterless Samurai traditional japanese

2. from a type of KULT members, the modern equivelent - a soldier who fights for causes felt honourable - without any in command of tse. A collection of Ronin are dangerous in that their ideals are persued until you kill/take down every last one of them, compared to a modern/postmodern military in that if you take a command structure down, the army falls apart. since there is no command structure, each ronin attempts to use their respective resources to accomplish whatever is desired. bound by the ronin bushido, a document sworn to by old school KULT ronins