Category Archives: Lifestyle

Samurai

 
Samurai was a term for the military aristocracy of middle age’s Japan. The word “samurai” is derived from the ancient Japanese verb “samorau,” changed to “saburau,” meaning “to serve”; thus, a “samurai” is a servant, i.e. the servant of a lord.

The first appearance of the samurai:
Emperor Mommu introduced the law whereby 1 in 3–4 grown males were drafted into the national military. These soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in return were exempted from duties and taxes.

Behind Myth and the Reality:

Most samurai (during the Edo period) were bound by a strict code of honor and were expected to set an example for those below them. A notable part of their code is seppuku which allowed a disgraced samurai to regain his honor by passing into death, where samurai were still beholden to social rules. Whilst there are many romanticized characterizations of samurai behavior such as the script of Bushido in 1905, studies of Kobudo and traditional Budo indicate that the samurai were as matter-of-fact on the battleground as were any other fighters.

Despite the rampant idealism of the 20th century, samurai could be disloyal and treacherous (e.g., Akechi Mitsuhide), cowardly, brave, or overly loyal (Kusunoki Masashige). Samurai were usually loyal to their direct superior, who in turn allied themselves with higher lords. These loyalties to the higher lords often shifted; for example, the high lords allied under Toyotomi Hideyoshi were served by loyal samurai, but the feudal lords under them could shift their support to Tokugawa, taking their samurai with them. There were, however, also notable instances where samurai would be unfaithful to their lord or daimyo, when loyalty to the emperor was seen to have supremacy.

Samurai’s philosophies:

The samurai’s philosophies came from Buddhism and Zen, and to a lesser extent Confucianism and Shinto, prepossess the samurai culture. Zen meditation became an important teaching due to it offering a process to calm one’s mind. The Buddhist concept of reincarnation and rebirth led samurai to abandon torture and needless killing, while some samurai even gave up violence altogether and became Buddhist monks after realizing how fruitless their killings were. Some were killed as they came to terms with these realizations in the battlefield. The most defining role that Confucianism played in samurai philosophy was to stress the importance of the lord-retainer relationship; this is, the loyalty that a samurai was required to show his lord.

Bushidō (a small video and the fact below)

Bushidō (”way of the warrior”) was a term attached to a samurai “code of conduct” or way of life enforced during Edo period by the Tokugawa Shogunate, so that they could control the samurai more easily. Its deceptive simplicity led to countless arguments over its interpretation. Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo is a manual of instruction into the way of the samurai. Even as it was published, it received a number of reviews that criticized its strict and impersonal interpretations. If the lord is wrong, for example if he ordered a massacre of civilians, should he observe loyalty to massacre as ordered or should he observe rectitude to let the civilians escape unharmed? If a man had sick parents but committed an unforgivable mistake, should he protect his honour by committing seppuku or should he show courage by living with dishonor and care for his parents?

The incident of 47 Ronin caused debates about the righteousness of the samurai’s actions and how bushido should be applied. They had defied the shogun by taking matters into their own hands but it was an act of loyalty and rectitude as well. Finally, their acts were agreed to be rectitude but not loyalty to the shogun. This made them criminals with conscience and eligible for seppuku

 

Posted 19 September 2007 † botond § ‡ Comments (2) °

Ronin


 
What do you think about the ronins? What is behind this world? Lot of people use this think without the true knowledge.
At the first I would like to tell you that the ronin status were not a good thing in the middle ages of Japan. They were a warrior who lost their master.
If you read the article below you will learn lot of things about mediaeval Japanese culture and lifestyle.

Who we call ronin?

The rōnin (浪人 rōnin?) was a lord less samurai during the feudal age (1185–1868) of Japan. A samurai who loss his lord from the ruin or fall of his lord, or after the loss of his lord’s favor or privilege.

Etymology

The word rōnin literally means “drifting person”. The term originated in the Nara and Heian ages, when it originally submitted to serfs who had fled or deserted their master’s land. It is also a term used for samurai who had lost their masters in wars.
Status

 
According to the Bushido Shoshinshu (the Code of the Samurai), a ronin was supposed to commit oibara seppuku (also “hara kiri” – ritual suicide) upon the loss of his master. One who chose to not honor the code was “on his own” and was meant to suffer great shame. The undesirability of ronin status was mainly a prejudice imposed by other samurai and by the daimyo (the feudal lords).

A ronin was given like respect to master-sponsored samurai by the common population and were actually preferred by Zen masters, artists, philosophers over their more obedient and nameless samurai counterparts. As completely bound men, most samurai resented the individual freedom enjoyed by wandering ronin. Ronin were the essence of self-determination; independent men who decided their own path in life, answering only to themselves and making decisions as they saw fit. And like regular samurai, some ronin still wore their daisho.

Rōnin might be hired as yōjimbō (bodyguards or mercenary fighters) by villagers, merchants, or others in need of protection.
During the Edo period, with the shogunate’s rigid class system and laws, the number of ronin really increased. Confiscation of fiefs during the rule of the third Tokugawa shogun Iemitsu resulted in an especially large boost. During previous ages, samurai were simply able to move between masters and even between occupations, and marry between classes. However, during the Edo period, samurai were restricted from doing so, and were above all banned to become employed by another lord without their previous master’s permission. Also, low-level samurai, often poor and without decision, were forced to leave or run away their lord.

History

In the Kamakura and Muromachi ages, when warriors held lands that they occupied, a ronin was a warrior who had lost his lands. During these ages, as small-range wars frequently occurred cross Japan, the daimyo needed to increase their armies, so ronin had opportunities to serve new lord. Also, some ronin joined in gangs, engaging in theft and uprisings.
Especially in the Sengoku period, daimyo needed more fighting men, and even if one’s master had fall, a ronin was able to serve a new lord. In difference to the later Edo period, the link between the lord and the samurai was loose, and some samurai who were dissatisfied with their treatment left their masters and sought new lords. Many warriors served a succession of masters, and some even became daimyo. As an example, Tōdō Takatora served ten lords. Additionally, the division of the population into classes had not yet taken place, so it was possible to change one’s occupation from warrior to merchant or farmer, or the reverse. Saitō Dōsan was one merchant who rose through the warrior status to become a daimyo.

 
As Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified more and more larger parts of the country, daimyo found it needless to employ new soldiers. Next, the Battle of Sekigahara resulted in the confiscation or reduction of the fiefs of large numbers of daimyo on the losing side; in effect, many samurai became ronin. As many as a hundred thousand ronin joined forces with Toyotomi Hideyori and fought at the Siege of Osaka. In the ensuing years of peace, there was less need to maintain expensive standing armies, and many surviving ronin turned to farming or became townspeople. A few, such as Yamada Nagamasa, sought adventure overseas as mercenaries. Still, the majority lived in poverty as ronin. Under the third Tokugawa shogun Iemitsu, their number approached half a million.
Initially, the shogunate viewed them as dangerous, and banished them from the cities or restricted the quarters where they could live. They also prohibited serving new masters. As ronin found themselves with fewer and fewer options, they joined in the Keian Uprising. This forced the shogunate to reorganize its policy. It relaxed restrictions on daimyo inheritance, resulting in fewer confiscations of fiefs; and it permitted ronin to join new masters.

Among the most famous ronin are Miyamoto Musashi, the famed swordsman, and the Forty-seven Ronin.
Not having the status or power of employed samurai, ronin were often disreputable, and the group was a target of disgrace or satire. It was undesirable to be a ronin, as it meant being without a stipend.

As an indication of the humiliation felt by samurai who became ronin, Lord Rosedale recorded that a ronin killed himself at the graves of the Forty-Seven Ronin. He left a note saying that he had tried to enter the service of the daimyo of the Chōshū Domain, but was refused. Wanting to serve no other master, and hating being a ronin, he had decided to kill himself.
On the other hand, the famous 18th century writer Kyokutei Bakin renounced his loyalty to Matsudaira Nobunari, in whose service Bakin’s samurai father had spent his life. Bakin became freely a ronin, and finally spent his time writing books (many of them about samurai).

Posted 13 September 2007 † botond § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

A living Japanese life philosophy from the middle ages - Bushido


Bushido, exactly translated “Way of the Warrior,” developed in Japan between the Heian and Tokugawa Ages (9th-12th century). It was a code and way of life for Samurai, a class of warriors same like the knights form middle ages of Europe. The philosophies came from Zen and Confucianism, which are two different schools of thought of those ages. Bushido is not different the chivalry and codes of the European knights. “It puts emphasis on loyalty, self sacrifice, justice, sense of shame, refined manners, purity, modesty, frugality, martial spirit, honor and affection” (Nippon Steel Human Resources Development Co., Ltd. 329)

Where came these philosophie

Bushido comes out of Buddhism, Zen, Confucianism, and Shintoism. The mixture of these schools of thought and religions has shaped the code of warrior values known as Bushido.

From Buddhism, Bushido gets its connection to danger and death. The samurai don’t fear death because they trust as Buddhism teaches, after death one will be reincarnated and may live another life here on world. The samurai are fighters from the time they become samurai until their death; they have no fear of danger. Through Zen, a school of Buddhism one can reach the ultimate “Absolute.” Zen meditation teaches one to focus and reach a level of thought words cannot describe. Zen teaches one to “know thyself” and don’ to limit yourself. Samurai used this as a tool to force out fear, instability and ultimately mistakes. These things could get him killed.

Shintoism, another Japanese religion or philosophy, gives Bushido its loyalty and patriotism. Shintoism includes ancestor-worship which makes the Imperial family the fountain-head of the whole nation. It awards the emperor a god-like reverence. He is the incarnation of Heaven on earth. With such loyalty, the samurai pledge themselves to the emperor and their daimyo or feudal landlords, higher position samurai. Shintoism also provides the backbone for patriotism to their country, Japan. They know the land is not just there for their needs, “it is the sacred abode to the gods, the spirits of their forefathers . . .” (Nitobe, 14). The land is cared for, protected and nurtured through an intense patriotism.

Confucianism gives Bushido its beliefs in relationships with the human world, their environment and family. Confucianism’s stress on the five moral relations between master and servant, father and son, husband and wife, older and younger brother, and friend and friend, are what the samurai follow. However, the samurai do not aceppt strongly with many of the writings of Confucius. They thought that man shouldn’t sit and read books whole day, nor shall he write poems all day. Instead, Bushido believes man and the universe were made to be alike in both the spirit and ethics.
Along with these virtues, Bushido also holds justice, integrity, benevolence, love, honesty, sincerity, and self-control in highest respect. Justice is one of the main factors in the code of the samurai. Curved ways and unjust actions are thought to be poor and inhumane. Love and benevolence were supreme virtues and princely acts. Samurai followed a specific etiquette in every day life as well as in war. Sincerity and honesty were as valued as their lives. Bushi no ichi-gon, or “the word of a samurai,” transcends a pact of complete faithfulness and trust. With such pacts there was no need for a written pledge; it was thought beneath one’s dignity. The samurai also needed self-control and stoicism to be fully honored. He showed no sign of pain or joy. He endured all within no groans, no crying. He held a calmness of behavior and composure of the mind neither of which should be bothered by passion of any kind. He was a true and complete warrior.

These factors which make up Bushido were few and simple. Though simple, Bushido created a way of life that was to nurture a nation through its most problematic times, through civil wars, depression and uncertainty. “The wholesome unsophisticated nature of our warrior ancestors derived ample food for their spirit from a sheaf of commonplace and fragmentary teachings, gleaned as it were on the highways and byways of ancient thought, and, stimulated by the demands of the age formed from these gleanings a new and unique way of life” (Nitobe, 20).

Posted 12 September 2007 † botond § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,