The Samurai

Swords, Shoguns and Seppuku

Ben Hubbard

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780750955898
• eBook ISBN: 9780750957250
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Japanese History
• Index: History

The true nature of the Japanese samurai warrior is an elusive and endlessly fascinating enigma for those in the West. From their inauspicious beginnings as barbarian-subduing soldiers, the samurai lived according to a code known as bushido - or 'way of the warrior'. Bushido- advocated loyalty, honour, pride and fearlessness in combat. Those who broke the code were expected to perform seppuku, or suicide through stomach-cutting. By its very design, seppuku aimed to restore honour to disgraced warriors by ensuring the most painful of deaths. However, the bushido- virtues of loyalty and honour fell into question as the samurai grew powerful enough to wrest control from the emperor himself. Accompanied by vivid colour illustrations, The Samurai offers a complete, concise account of samurai history and culture. It tells the story of the rise of the samurai as a martial elite, the warriors' centuries long struggle for power and their long slide into obsolescence.

1

TheWay of the Warrior

THE LEGENDARY SAMURAI

Perhaps the greatest samurai who ever lived was Miyamoto Musashi. He was something of an eccentric – he paid little attention to his appearance, was often described as ‘unwashed’ and was frequently late to his duelling bouts. Musashi was cultivated and accomplished in calligraphy, painting and sculpture, and had killed many men before he had left his teens. He was a swordfighting strategist and dispatched more warriors in duels than any other known samurai, often fighting with sticks, branches and even the oar from a boat. However, his skill with a samurai blade was such that he could split a grain of rice on a man’s forehead without drawing blood.

Musashi recorded his accomplishments in The Book of Five Rings, a manual on swordfighting strategy:

I went from province to province duelling with strategists of various schools, and not once failed to win, even though I had as many as sixty encounters. This was between the ages of thirteen and twenty-eight or twenty-nine.1

Shinmen Musashi no Kami Fujiwara no Genshin was born in 1584, although he later took the name Miyamoto Musashi after his mother’s clan. By the time he was 7 years old, both of his parents had died and Musashi went to be raised and educated by his uncle, Dorin. Musashi’s first duel was against a travelling samurai called Arima Kihei, who had posted a public notice seeking opponents. Musashi wrote down his name and the challenge was accepted. Dorin was horrified by the news and tried to call off the duel by explaining to Kihei that his nephew was only 13 years old, but Kihei insisted that, for his honour to remain intact, the duel would have to proceed unless Musashi showed up at the scheduled time to prostrate himself. Instead, on the morning of the duel, Dorin arrived to apologise on Musashi’s behalf. As this was happening, Musashi strode into the hall, grabbed a quarterstaff and charged at Kihei, killing him instantly.

Two years later, the 15-year-old Musashi embarked on a warrior pilgrimage of the country, and it did not take long for his reputation to reach mythological proportions – the young samurai had won more duels than anyone in the history of Japan. Musashi also seemed able to turn virtually any object into a lethal weapon, often favouring the wooden bokken over a steel sword.

At the age of 21 Musashi arrived in Kyoto, where he set about challenging the masters of the nearby Yoshioka school. He had soon killed every one of them, leaving only 12-year-old Matashichiro as head of the Yoshioka family. Despite the school’s dwindling numbers, a challenge was issued to Musashi for a final duel at the Ichijoji Temple on Kyoto’s outskirts, but instead of meeting another samurai warrior, Musashi was to be ambushed by the remaining Yoshioka clan, armed with bows and arrows, swords and arquebuses.

Up until that point, Musashi had been late for every one of the Yoshioka duels, much to the disgust of his opponents. On the day of the final duel, however, he arrived some hours early, suspecting he had pushed the Yoshioka family into a surprise act of retribution. Musashi hid himself and lay in wait. Soon afterwards, a number of armed warriors arrived to make preparations for their ambush. Musashi then leapt from his hiding place and slaughtered a path through the Yoshioka samurai to Matashichiro himself, whom he killed before escaping unharmed. The battle left the Yoshioka school without a leader, students or family – and certainly without a reputation.

At the age of 28, Musashi fought his most legendary duel against his deadliest opponent yet – samurai master Sasaki Kojirō, who was known for his skill with a long straight sword, or nodachi, which he called ‘the laundry drying pole’. Kojirō taught swordplay at his school, where students would learn his signature stroke – the ‘swallow cut’. This consisted of a horizontal slashing movement that was so fast and precise that it looked like a swallow’s tail in flight. Kojirō was known to have killed many foes with this stroke.

The duel had been scheduled for the morning of 3 April 1612 on Funajima Island. Musashi was running late as usual, and there was no sign of him or his boat as Kojirō paced the island’s shore. Musashi had overslept and, when finally roused, he only had time to run to the boat which was waiting to row him to the island. However, as soon as the boat set off, Musashi realised that he was only carrying his short wakizashi sword and had left his main katana sword behind. Instead of turning back, the samurai set about carving himself a bokken from a spare oar as the boat continued across the water.

Kojirō’s fury at his opponent’s late arrival quickly turned to mirth when he saw Musashi’s crudely fashioned weapon, but Musashi did not appear ruffled by Kojirō’s taunts and simply held his weapon forward as a sign to let battle commence. The bout was as short as it was decisive. Kojirō made the first move, charging at Musashi and unleashing his swallow cut, which came so close to Musashi’s head that it sliced off his topknot. At the same moment, Musashi delivered a fatal blow with his oar. Kojirō fell forward onto his knees and then slumped backwards, his skull cracked open.

The episode represented the zenith of Musashi’s duelling career, which he gave up, aged 30, for a quieter life of reflection:

When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools’ strategy was inferior. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realise the ‘Way of Strategy’ when I was fifty.2

Musashi retired to live in a cave at the age of 60, and it is here that he wrote The Book of Five Rings. He died in 1645 – his body found sitting bolt upright with his wakizashi at the ready in his belt.

Musashi has been the subject of countless plays, poems, movies and books, not just because of his duelling prowess, but because he was the paragon of the samurai ethos. His books on strategy swordplay and the philosophy of the ‘way of the warrior’ are still studied today.

BUSHIDŌ

Bushidō or the ‘way of the warrior’ was the code of ethics that every samurai was encouraged to live and die by. It advocated a martial spirit of courage and fearlessness, alongside the virtues of loyalty, honour, rectitude, respect, benevolence, obedience, honesty, duty, filial piety (duty to one’s family and ancestors) and self-sacrifice. These ideals were heavily influenced by the belief systems of Buddhism, Zen, Confucianism and Shintō. Buddhism taught a warrior not to be scared of death, as he would be reincarnated in the next life. Zen helped a warrior ‘empty his mind’ and maintain clarity in battle. Confucianism encouraged morality and self-sacrifice. Finally, Shintō advocated loyalty, patriotism and ancestor-worship.

The ideology behind bushidō began its development from the ninth century onwards, when a warrior’s most valued attributes were his military skills and fortitude in war. Nevertheless, it was not long before the samurai were expected to be more than just good fighters. The best warriors were eulogised in a twelfth-century war chronicle, the Heike Monogatari (Tale of the Heike), as self-sacrificing, dutiful, respectful and utterly devoted to their clan. By the fourteenth century, chivalric virtues began to make an appearance in Japanese texts and, from then on, samurai were encouraged to couple their courage and military prowess with kindness, frugality, honesty and rectitude. These principles became an integral part of the samurai code, which from the fifteenth century was known as bushidō.

This ‘way’ was often laid out for samurai in a simple set of rules and regulations, such as the following sixteenth-century Precepts of Katō Kiyomasa:

Codes which all samurai should follow, regardless of rank:

One should not be negligent in the way of the retainer. One should rise at four in the morning, practise sword technique, eat one’s meal, and train with the bow, the gun, and the horse. A well-developed retainer should become even more so.

If one should want diversions, he should make them outdoor pastimes such as falconry, deer-hunting and wrestling.

For clothing, anything between cotton and natural silk will do. A man who squanders money for clothing and brings his household finances into disorder is fit for punishment. Generally one should concern oneself with armour appropriate for his social position and use his money for martial affairs.

When associating with one’s ordinary companions, one should limit the meeting to one guest and one host, and the meal should consist of plain brown rice. When practising the martial arts, however, one may meet with many people.

As for decorum at the time of a campaign, one must be mindful that he is a samurai. A person who loves beautification where it is unnecessary is fit for punishment.

The practice of Noh Drama is absolutely forbidden. When one unsheathes his sword, he has cutting a person down on his mind. Thus, as all things are born from being placed in one’s heart, a samurai who practises dancing, which is outside of the martial arts, should be ordered to commit seppuku.

One should put forth great effort in matters of learning. One should read books concerning military matters, and direct his attention exclusively to the virtues of loyalty and filial piety. Reading Chinese poetry, linked verse, and waka [Japanese poetry] is forbidden. One will surely become womanised if he gives his heart knowledge of such elegant and delicate refinements. Having been born into the house of a warrior, one’s intentions should be to gras...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 The Way of the Warrior
• 2 Seppuku
• 3 The Heian Period
• 4 The Genpei War
• 5 Medieval Japan
• 6 Samurai Battles
• 7 The Warriors
• 8 Popular Culture
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Plates
• Copyright