Samurai Culture: the myth

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Samurai Culture the myth?

• Devotion to military arts
• Men of war, experts of weapons
• Sword, dagger, spear
• Longbow, the siege crossbow, arquebus, cannon
• Wear fancy armor and helmets
• Practitioner of Bushido (???)
• Leader take the lead in the battle
• Express death-defying loyalty to ones lord
• Willing to commit seppuku personally, and mass
  suicide
• Kill relentlessly engage in massacres
• Collect enemys chopped-off heads
• Patron of the literary and martial arts?
• Daimyo were more likely trained in both the
  literary art and martial arts
• Tea ceremony, flower arrangement, designs of tea
  house and garden
• Great concern for name (honor, face, fame, pride)

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Samurai Culture New Notion

• The image of the noble Samurai was created by the
  Samurai themselves in the 17th century, when they
  lost their functions in a time of peace.
• Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659-1721) I have found
  that the Way of the samurai is death. This means
  that when you are compelled to choose between
  life and death, you must quickly choose death.
• They portrayed themselves as noble warriors to
  justify their existence
• They promoted the image of bushido , the way of
  the Samurai, which is death, and exaggerate their
  sense of honor and loyalty
• Samurai swerved allegiance
• They were interested in reward and recompense
• Would move from one side to another, depending on
  which side rewarded them more
• They were not willing to die for their lord
• would retreat whenever they experienced
  casualties
• Prevalence of Seppuku has been exaggerated
• In most cases, they did it when they were about
  to be captured and executed
• Samurai rarely used swords in battle 
• Swords were expensive
• Spears were more often used

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Decapitation and disembowelment

• Decapitation
• The samurai was rewarded by taking the head of a
  worthy enemy in battle
• Disembowelment
• The samurai adopted belly-cutting as a means of
  showing courage or avoiding disgrace
• Used to follow ones lord in death

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Famous Civil Wars (I)

• 1185, DAN NO URA
• Minamoto Yoshitsune (850 ships) vs. Taira
  Munemori (500 ships)
• 1189, Koromogawa
• 1219, Shokyu Rebellion
• 1467-1477, Onin War

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Famous Civil Wars (II)

• 1553-1564, Kawanakajima
• Takeda Shingen vs. Uesugi Kenshin (both were
  samurai monks)
• Five battles
• 1561, 4th battle was especially bloody
• 1573, Mikatagahara
• Takeda Shingen vs Tokugawa Ieyasu
• 1574, Takeda Katsuyori vs Ogasawara Ujisuke
  (Tokugawa Ieyasu)
• 1575, Nagashino
• Takeda Katsuyori (Shingens son) vs. Oda Nobunaga
  Tokugawa Ieyasu
• 1583, Shizugatake
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi vs. Shibata Katsuie
• 1584, Komaki and Nagakute
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi vs. Tokugawa Ieyasu
• 1600, Sekigahara
• Tokugawa Ieyasu vs. Toyotomi Hideyoris
  supporters
• 1614-1615, Osaka and Tenoji
• Tokugawa Ieyasu vs. Toyotomi Hideyori

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The Samurai under the Tokugawa

• Tokugawa Ieyasu founded his bakufu in Edo,
  present-day Tokyo, in 1603
• The shogunate lasted for 265 years (1603-1868)
• Two policies helped achieve a long-term peace
• Hostage-taking system
• Called Sankin-kodai, serving the lord in shift
• Codification of hierarchy and behavior
• Division of the entire population into four
  classes samurai, farmers, craftman, and
  merchants
• The samurai, although they ranked the highest,
  were deprived of right to pursue their profession
  of armed violence

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