The Silver Samurai was IchirĀ Yashida - played by Hal Yamanouchi in The Wolverine - an elderly, human Japanese businessman who, having become obsessed with mutants when Wolverine saved him during World War II, started to crave power for himself. Thanks to a combination of technology and stolen mutant power, he became an extremely powerful individual. He used his riches to build the Silver Samurai armour. Not only was it made of adamantium - making it nigh-indestructible - it also had heated adamantium blades that were able to cut through other sources of the metal (such as Wolverine's claws). Moreover, it gave Yashida super-strength and had an in-built life support machine to keep him alive. Its most impressive function, however, was the ability to extract biological material from others - in Wolverine's case, his healing ability. Prior to being defeated, Yashida was essentially an indestructible samurai warrior with a fraction of Wolverine's regenerative powers - that's not someone you want to mess with.
