Portland existed in the shadow of Oregon City, the territorial capital 12 miles upstream at Willamette Falls. However, Portland's location at the Willamette's confluence with the Columbia River, accessible to deep-draft vessels, gave it a key advantage over the older peer. It also triumphed over early rivals such as Milwaukie and Linnton. In its first census in 1850, the city's population was 821 and, like many frontier towns, was predominantly male, with 653 male whites, 164 female whites and four "free colored" individuals. It was already the largest settlement in the Pacific Northwest, and while it could boast about its trading houses, hotels and even a newspaper—the Weekly Oregonian—it was still very much a frontier village, derided by outsiders as "Stumptown" and "Mudtown. It was a place where "stumps from fallen firs lay scattered dangerously about Front and First Streets … humans and animals, carts and wagons slogged through a sludge of mud and water … sidewalks often disappeared during spring floods."

Thankfully, the city has evolved since then.


Fate is in Heaven, the armor is on the breast, success is with the legs. Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death. When you leave the house determined not to see it again you will come home safely; when you have any thought of returning you will not return. You may not be in the wrong to think that the world is always subject to change, but the warrior must not entertain this way of thinking, for his fate is always determined.

~ Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578)

Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.

~ Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

The decisions you make and the actions that follow are a reflection of who you are. You cannot hide from yourself.

~ Samurai Jack’s father

The Akō incident

The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (lord) Asano Naganori had to kill himself by committing seppuku (ritual suicide). He had to do this because he assaulted a court official named Kira Yoshinaka. The ronin waited and planned almost two years, and then killed Kira to avenge their master's honour. They delivered Kira's head to Asano's grave. After that, the ronin had to kill themselves by committing seppuku as they had committed the crime of murder.

One noted Japanese scholar described the tale, the most famous example of the samurai code of honor, bushidō, as the country's "national legend."