Japanese samurai warriors (bushi) are skillful warriors of medieval Japan. As a rule, they were secular feudal lords, princes and small estate nobility. The term bushi means "warrior" and has a broader meaning, it should not always be attributed to samurai. The term samurai comes from the verb "saberu" meaning "to serve". Japanese warriors were fluent in sword, bow and hand-to-hand combat, followed the strictest code of bushido or "the way of the warrior."

The occupation of Japanese warriors was not only waging war, they were often the personal bodyguards of their master - daimyo, which literally translates as "big name", and in peacetime samurai were ordinary servants. The samurai have always been considered the elite in Japanese society, and the daimyo has been considered the elite among the samurai.

In this article, we have collected for you the most interesting facts about samurai.

10. About female samurai. When we pronounce the word samurai, the image of a male warrior immediately comes, however, in ancient Japanese chronicles there are many references to female samurai, who were called onna-bugeisha. In bloody battles, women and samurai girls took part on a par with male warriors. The naginata (long sword) is the weapon they used most often. The ancient Japanese melee weapons with a long handle (about 2 meters) had a curved blade of one-sided sharpening (about 30 centimeters long), almost an analogue of melee weapons - glaives.

There is practically no mention of female samurai in historical chronicles, because of this, historians assumed that there were very few of them, but the latest research on historical chronicles has shown that female warriors contributed to battles much more often than is commonly believed. In 1580, a battle took place in the town of Senbon Matsubaru. According to the results of excavations, out of 105 bodies found at the battle site, according to the results of the DNA analysis, 35 belong to the female sex. Excavations in other places of ancient battles gave approximately the same results.

9. Armor of the samurai. Unlike the knightly armor of medieval Europe, the armor of the samurai was created taking into account mobility, it must be very strong, but at the same time remain flexible enough not to hamper the movements of a warrior. Samurai armor was made of metal or durable lacquered leather plates. The plates were neatly tied together with leather cords. The arms were protected by shoulder pads - small rectangular shields, as well as armored sleeves.

An interesting detail of the samurai armor is a bowl-shaped helmet assembled from metal plates fastened together with rivets. The face of the warrior was protected by armor, which was attached to the back of the head, under the helmet. An interesting detail of the samurai headdress is the balaclava, which is very reminiscent of the mask of Darth Vader ( interesting fact: The design of the shape of the helmet of the character of the movie "Star Wars" Darth Vader is taken precisely from the shape of the helmet of Japanese warriors). This piece of armor protected the warrior from arrows and swords struck at small angles. Warriors fastened masks of combat masks - mengu, to the helmet, protecting the warrior and frightening the enemy.

8. Sex and samurai. Sexual relations between the warriors of Japan can be called free. Approximately the same relationship between the warriors took place in ancient Sparta. Same-sex relationships usually arose between more experienced samurai masters (mentors) and young warriors who were just starting to train (novices). This practice of same-sex relationships was called wakashudo (the path of youth). Found documentary evidence says that almost the entire class of samurai passed through the "path of youth".

7. Samurai-Europeans. Ancient Japanese chronicles say that under special conditions, a person, not a Japanese, could well fight along with the samurai, and becoming one of the samurai was considered a special honor. Such a warrior was given weapons and armor, and was also called by a new name, Japanese. This honor could only be bestowed by very powerful leaders, such as a daimyō, or by the person who actually ruled Japan for most of the time - a general, that is, a shogun.

In history, there is a mention of four men who were honored to receive the title of samurai:

An English navigator and the first Briton to reach the shores of Japan, William Adame, also known as Miura Anjin, played a major role in the development of trade relations between Japan and Holland and Japan with England.

The Dutch navigator and merchant Jan Josten van Lodestein, known as Yayosu, acted as an adviser to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu on foreign policy and trade issues.

French naval officer Eugene Collache also adopted the title of samurai. The Japanese name is unknown. Upon arrival in France, he was dismissed by court-martial as a deserter. He wrote the book Adventures in Japan 1868-1869, which was published in 1874.

Dutch-born and arms dealer Edward Schnell, Japanese name Hiramatsu Buhei. He was a Japanese military instructor and weapons supplier.

6. The number of samurai. There is an opinion that samurai were chosen warriors and there were very few of them. In reality, the samurai were armed servants close to the nobility. Subsequently, the samurai became associated with the bushi class - warriors of the middle and upper class. A simple conclusion suggests itself - there were much more samurai than is commonly believed, more than 10% of the population of Japan were samurai. And since there were many of them, they had a significant impact on the history of the empire; it is believed that today in every Japanese there is a particle of the blood of great warriors.

5. Samurai clothing. Samurai were, in a sense, standards, and the warrior's clothing style had a significant impact on the fashion of an entire era. Samurai almost never dressed outrageously. All of their clothing was designed to fit the needs of a warrior. It was intended for freedom of movement and should not have hampered movement.

Samurai clothing consisted of several basic elements: hakama (wide trousers similar to bloomers), kimono (traditional clothing in Japan, as a rule, was silk), and hitatare (a kind of cape, ceremonial clothing that was worn under armor). Such a suit did not constrain movements and left hands free. From shoes, samurai wore shoes made of wood and simple sandals.

Perhaps the most characteristic feature was the hairstyle of the samurai - hair gathered in a bun. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is more convenient to wear a helmet with such a hairstyle.

4. Samurai weapon. Being warriors, samurai were fluent in many types of weapons. The most ancient sword worn by Japanese warriors was the chokuto sword. This was the name of all swords of the ancient type that appeared among the warriors of Japan in the 2nd-4th centuries AD. They were straight and had one-sided sharpening.

The weapon continued to improve. In the future, the swords became more curved and eventually turned into the legendary Japanese sword, known to us as a katana - a curved Japanese two-handed sword with a single-sided blade and a blade length of more than 60 centimeters. Without a doubt, the Japanese katana sword is a symbol of the samurai, because, as the samurai code says, the soul of a warrior lives in his sword. Together with the katana, the samurai wore a smaller sword - seto, 33-66 centimeters long. Shoto were only allowed to be worn by samurai. Together, the large and small swords were called daisho, which literally translates as "big-small."

In the arsenal of the samurai was also a long bow - yumi, more than two meters long. A bow is made from puffed bamboo, wood, leather is also used in the work - this manufacturing method has not changed for centuries. The practice of archery among the samurai reached almost fanaticism. Also in battle, Japanese warriors used a spear - yari, a Japanese pole weapon with many modifications. But the spear for the samurai was, for the most part, a symbol of personal courage.

3. Samurai education. The vast majority of samurai, in addition to being skilled warriors, had an excellent education. Bushido, the samurai code, said that a warrior must always improve and improve himself in any way, even if it is not related to war. Japanese warriors wrote poetry, painted pictures, held tea ceremonies, studied calligraphy, many mastered the art of arranging bouquets - ikebana, read literature and had excellent knowledge in mathematics.

2. The image of a samurai. The armor and weapons of the samurai created a rather impressive appearance, and now in many films Japanese warriors are shown just like that. In reality, it was not like that. Their height in medieval Japan was approximately 160-165 centimeters, and their physique was thin. In addition, there are many references that, it is likely that the samurai originated from the ethnic group of the small Ainu people. They were much taller and stronger than the Japanese, their skin was white, and their appearance largely coincided with that of Europe.

1. Ritual suicide by ripping open the abdomen - seppuku or hara-kiri - is a direct attribute of the samurai. Seppuku was performed at the moment when the warrior was not able to follow the bushido code, or when he was captured by the enemy. Ritual suicide was committed not only in good faith, but also used as a punishment, but in any case it was an honorable way of death.

The seppuku ritual is a fairly lengthy ritual. It began with a bathing ceremony. After bathing, the warrior was dressed in all white and his favorite food was brought. Immediately after eating, a short sword was placed on an already empty dish. Then the samurai wrote a dying poem - a tanka (a five-line Japanese poetic form, consisting of 31 syllables). After that, the samurai took a short sword, wrapped the blade with cloth so as not to cut his hand, and committed suicide by cutting his stomach.

A nearby person had to finish off the samurai by cutting off his head. In most cases, this was the closest friend, who was given the greatest honor, he was assigned an honorary role. The greatest skill of the assistant was to cut off the head so that it hung on a small strip of skin and remained in the arms of the already dead samurai.

In modern popular culture, Japanese samurai are portrayed as medieval warriors, similar to Western knights. This is not quite the correct interpretation of the concept. In fact, the samurai were primarily feudal lords who owned their own land and were the backbone of power. This estate was one of the key in the Japanese civilization of that time.

The birth of the estate

Around the 18th century, those same warriors appeared, whose successor is any samurai. Japanese feudalism emerged from the Taika reforms. The emperors resorted to the help of the samurai in their struggle against the Ainu - the indigenous inhabitants of the archipelago. With each new generation, these people, who regularly served the state, acquired new lands and money. Clans and influential dynasties that owned significant resources were formed.

Approximately in the X-XII centuries. in Japan, a process similar to the European one took place - the country was shaken by the feudal lords fought against each other for land and wealth. At the same time, imperial power was preserved, but it was extremely weakened and could not prevent civil confrontation. It was then that the Japanese samurai received their code of rules - bushido.

Shogunate

In 1192, a political system arose, which was later called a complex and dual system of governing the entire country, when the emperor and the shogun ruled simultaneously - figuratively speaking, the chief samurai. Japanese feudalism relied on the traditions and power of influential families. If Europe overcame its own civil strife during the Renaissance, then the distant and isolated island civilization lived for a long time according to medieval rules.

This was the period when the samurai was considered the most prestigious member of society. The Japanese shogun was omnipotent due to the fact that at the end of the 12th century the emperor granted the bearer of this title the monopoly right to raise an army in the country. That is, any other pretender or peasant uprising could not arrange a coup d'état due to the inequality of forces. The Shogunate lasted from 1192 to 1867.

Feudal hierarchy

The samurai class has always been distinguished by a strict hierarchy. At the very top of this ladder was the shogun. Next came the daimyo. These were the heads of the most important and powerful families in Japan. If the shogun died without leaving an heir, then his successor was chosen just from among the daimyo.

At the middle level were the feudal lords, who had small estates. Their approximate number fluctuated around several thousand people. Next came the vassals of vassals and ordinary soldiers without property.

During its heyday, the samurai class made up about 10% of the total population of Japan. Members of their families can be attributed to the same layer. In fact, the power of the feudal lord depended on the size of his estate and the income from it. Often it was measured in rice - the main food of the entire Japanese civilization. With the soldiers, including paid off with a literal ration. For such "trade" even had its own system of measures and weights. Koku equaled 160 kilograms of rice. Approximately this amount of food was enough to satisfy the needs of one person.

To understand the value of rice in it is enough to give an example of a samurai salary. So, those close to the shogun received from 500 to several thousand koku of rice a year, depending on the size of their estate and the number of their own vassals, who also had to be fed and maintained.

Relationship between shogun and daimyō

The hierarchical system of the samurai class allowed the feudal lords who served regularly to climb very high on the social ladder. From time to time they rebelled against supreme power. The shoguns tried to keep the daimyo and their vassals in check. To do this, they resorted to the most original methods.

For example, in Japan for a long time there was a tradition according to which daimyo had to go once a year to their master for a reception. Such events were accompanied by long journeys across the country and at great expense. If the daimyo was suspected of treason, the shogun could actually take hostage a family member of his objectionable vassal during such a visit.

Bushido Code

Along with the development of the shogunate, the best Japanese samurai appeared as the authors. This set of rules was formed under the influence of the ideas of Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism. Most of these teachings came to Japan from the mainland, more specifically from China. These ideas were popular with samurai - representatives of the main aristocratic families of the country.

Unlike Buddhism or the doctrine of Confucius, Shinto was ancient pagan. It was based on such norms as the worship of nature, ancestors, the country and the emperor. Shintoism allowed the existence of magic and otherworldly spirits. In bushido, the cult of patriotism and faithful service to the state first of all passed from this religion.

Thanks to Buddhism, the code Japanese samurai included such ideas as a special attitude towards death and an indifferent look at life's problems. Aristocrats often practiced Zen, believing in the rebirth of souls after death.

Samurai philosophy

A Japanese samurai warrior was trained in bushido. He had to strictly follow all the prescribed rules. These norms concerned both public service and private life.

The popular comparison of knights and samurai is wrong just from the point of view of comparing the European code of honor and bushido rules. This is due to the fact that the behavioral foundations of the two civilizations were extremely different from each other due to isolation and development in completely different conditions and societies.

For example, in Europe there was a well-established custom to give your word of honor when agreeing on some agreements between feudal lords. For a samurai, that would be an insult. At the same time, from the point of view of the Japanese warrior, a sudden attack on the enemy was not a violation of the rules. For a French knight, this would mean the perfidy of the enemy.

military honor

In the Middle Ages, every inhabitant of the country knew the names of Japanese samurai, since they were the state and military elite. Few who wished to join this estate could do it (either because of their ingenuity or because of inappropriate behavior). The closeness of the samurai class consisted precisely in the fact that strangers were rarely allowed into it.

Clanism and exclusivity strongly influenced the norms of warriors' behavior. For them, self-esteem was at the forefront. If a samurai brought shame on himself by an unworthy act, he had to commit suicide. This practice is called hara-kiri.

Every samurai had to answer for his words. The Japanese code of honor prescribed several times to think before making any statement. Warriors were required to be moderate in food and avoid licentiousness. A real samurai always remembered death and reminded himself every day that sooner or later his earthly path would end, so the only important thing is whether he was able to maintain his own honor.

Attitude towards family

Family worship also took place in Japan. So, for example, a samurai had to remember the rule of "branches and trunk." According to customs, the family was compared to a tree. The parents were the trunk, and the children were just the branches.

If a warrior treated his elders with contempt or disrespect, he automatically became an outcast in society. This rule was followed by all generations of aristocrats, including the very last samurai. Japanese traditionalism existed in the country for many centuries, and neither modernization nor a way out of isolation could break it.

Attitude towards the state

Samurai were taught that their attitude to the state and legitimate authority should have been as humble as to their own family. For a warrior, there were no interests higher than his master. Japanese samurai weapons served the rulers to the very end, even when the number of their supporters became critically small.

Loyal attitude towards the overlord often took the form of unusual traditions and habits. So, the samurai did not have the right to go to bed with their feet towards the residence of their master. Also, the warrior was careful not to aim the weapon in the direction of his master.

Characteristic of the behavior of the samurai was a contemptuous attitude towards death on the battlefield. It is interesting that obligatory ceremonies have developed here. So, if a warrior realized that his battle was lost, and he was hopelessly surrounded, he had to give his own name and die calmly from the weapons of the enemy. The mortally wounded samurai, before dying, pronounced the names of Japanese samurai of senior ranks.

Education and customs

The class of feudal warriors was not only a militaristic stratum of society. Samurai were well educated, which was a must for their position. All warriors studied the humanities. At first glance, they could not be useful on the battlefield. But in reality it was exactly the opposite. The Japanese could not protect their owner where literature saved him.

For these warriors, it was the norm to be fond of poetry. The great fighter Minamoto, who lived in the 11th century, could spare a defeated enemy if he read him a good poem. One samurai wisdom said that weapons are right hand warrior, while literature is leftist.

The tea ceremony was an important part of everyday life. The custom of drinking a hot drink was of a spiritual nature. This ritual was adopted from Buddhist monks, who meditated collectively in this way. Samurai even held tea drinking tournaments among themselves. Each aristocrat was obliged to build a separate pavilion in his house for this important ceremony. From the feudal lords, the habit of drinking tea passed into the peasant class.

Samurai training

Samurai have been trained in their craft since childhood. It was vital for a warrior to master the technique of wielding several types of weapons. The skill of fisticuffs was also highly valued. Japanese samurai and ninja had to be not only strong, but also extremely hardy. Each student had to swim in a turbulent river in full dress.

A real warrior could defeat the enemy not only with weapons. He knew how to suppress the opponent morally. This was done with a special battle cry, from which it became uncomfortable for unprepared enemies.

Everyday wardrobe

In the life of a samurai, almost everything was regulated - from relationships with others to clothing. She was also a social marker by which aristocrats distinguished themselves from peasants and ordinary townspeople. Only samurai could wear silk. In addition, their things had a special cut. Kimono and hakama were obligatory. Weapons were also considered part of the wardrobe. The samurai carried two swords with him at all times. They were tucked into a wide belt.

Only aristocrats could wear such clothes. Such a wardrobe was forbidden to peasants. This is also explained by the fact that on each of his things the warrior had stripes showing his clan affiliation. Every samurai had such coats of arms. Translation from Japanese language motto could explain where he comes from and whom he serves.

Samurai could use any item at hand as a weapon. Therefore, the wardrobe was selected for possible self-defense. The samurai fan became an excellent weapon. It differed from ordinary ones in that the basis of its design was iron. In the event of a sudden attack by enemies, even such an innocent thing could cost the lives of the attacking enemies.

Armor

If ordinary silk clothes were intended for everyday wear, then each samurai had a special wardrobe for battle. The typical armor of medieval Japan included metal helmets and breastplates. The technology for their production originated during the heyday of the shogunate and has remained virtually unchanged since then.

Armor was worn on two occasions - before a battle or a solemn event. The rest of the time they were kept in a specially designated place in the samurai's house. If the soldiers went on a long campaign, then their vestments were carried in a wagon train. As a rule, servants watched over the armor.

In medieval Europe, the main distinguishing element of equipment was the shield. With the help of it, the knights showed their belonging to one or another feudal lord. Samurai didn't have shields. For identification purposes, they used colored cords, banners, and helmets with engraved designs of coats of arms.

Samurai were a much more complex class than representation modern society about the selfless military class. Although they were sometimes legendary warriors who put honor above all else, they also included mercenaries who hunted for gold, pirates, travelers, Christians, politicians, assassins, and vagabonds.

10 Samurai Wasn't So Elite

Despite the fact that we think of the samurai as an elite fighting force, the majority of Japan's military were foot soldiers called ashigaru, and it was foot soldiers who won wars.

Ashigaru started out as a general rabble of people brought in from the rice fields, but when the daimyo realized that a well-trained standing army was better than random untrained warriors, they trained them to fight. In ancient Japan, there were three types of warriors: samurai, ashigaru and ji-samurai. Ji samurai were samurai only when needed, working as farmers for the rest of the year.

When a ji samurai decided to become a full-fledged samurai, he joined the ashigaru, not the ranks of his wealthier colleagues. Ji-samurai were certainly not as respected as true samurai, but their assimilation into ashigaru was hardly a downgrade. Japanese ashigaru were almost on an equal footing with the samurai. In some areas, the two classes could not even be distinguished.

Military service as an ashigaru was one way to climb the social ladder of feudal Japan, culminating in the fact that Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the son of an ashigaru, rose so high that he became the preeminent ruler of Japan. He then knocked the ladder out from under those who were not then samurai, thus freezing the distribution of Japan's social classes.

9 Christian Samurai


Photograph: Boac Marinduque

The arrival of Jesuit missionaries in southern Japan led some daimyo to convert to Christianity. Their conversion may have been more practical than religious, for connection with Christendom meant access to European military equipment. A converted daimyō, Arima Harunobu fielded European cannons to use against his enemies at the Battle of Okita-Nawate. Because Harunobu was a Christian, the Jesuit missionary was present at the battle and recorded as his samurai, rather mistakenly kneeling and reciting the Lord's Prayer before every shot they fired from their precious cannons.

Allegiance to Christianity prevented the daimyō Dom Justo Takayama from acting like any other samurai commander during his reign. When Japan kicked out Christian missionaries and forced Japanese Christians to renounce their faith, Takayama chose to flee Japan with 300 other Christians rather than renounce his faith. Currently, the issue of giving Takayama the status of a Catholic saint is being considered.

8. Ceremonies for Inspection of Severed Heads


The enemy's head was proof of the samurai's duty done. After the battle, the heads were collected from the shoulders of their dead owners and presented to the daimyo, who enjoyed a relaxing head-viewing ceremony to celebrate their victory. Their heads were thoroughly washed, and their hair was combed and their teeth blackened, which was a sign of nobility. Each head was then mounted on a small wooden holder and marked with the names of the victim and the killer. If time was short, a hasty ceremony was arranged during which the heads were placed on the leaves so that they would absorb the blood.

In one case, viewing the heads won resulted in the daimyō losing his own. After taking the two forts, Oda Nobunaga, daimyō Imagawa Yoshimoto led the march to the head-viewing ceremony and musical performance. Unfortunately for Yoshimoto, the rest of Nobunaga's forces advanced and made a surprise attack while the heads were preparing for viewing. Nobunaga's forces crept right up to Yoshimoto's army and attacked after an occasional thunderstorm. Yoshimoto's severed head then became the centerpiece of his enemy's head-viewing ceremony.

The system of reward based on severed heads was operated in a black manner. Some samurai said that the head of an enemy infantryman was actually the head of a great hero and hoped no one would find out the truth. After the samurai actually removed the valuable head from his shoulders, he could leave the battlefield, since the money was already in his pocket. The situation became so serious that the daimyo sometimes even forbade the taking of heads so that their warriors would focus on winning rather than getting money.

7. They retreated during battles


Many samurai preferred to fight to the death rather than live in dishonor. The daimyo, however, knew that good military tactics included retreat. Tactical and true retreats were as common in ancient Japan as elsewhere, especially when daimyo were in danger. In addition to being one of the first samurai clans to use firearms, the Shimazu clan of southern Japan was famous for using feigned retreat warriors to lure their enemies into a vulnerable position.

When retreating, the samurai used a billowing cloak called a horo, which protected them from arrows while fleeing on horseback. Well pouted like Balloon, and its protective insulation also protected the horse. Killing a horse was easier than aiming at a rider, who could quickly die as soon as he was pinned down by his own killed horse.

6 The Samurai Were Great


Photo: Samurai Antique World

In the early years, samurai made long speeches describing the bloodlines of warriors prior to one-on-one battles. Later, the Mongol invasions and the inclusion of the lower classes in the war made the proclamation of samurai bloodlines impractical in combat. Wanting to maintain their important status, some warriors began wearing flags on their backs that detailed their lineage. However, since opponents were probably not interested in reading family histories in the heat of battle, the practice never caught on.

In the 16th century, warriors began wearing sashimono, small flags that were meant to be worn on the back of a samurai to represent their personality. Samurai went to great lengths to stand out from the crowd, and sashimono weren't limited to flags, they also included items such as fans and wooden sunbeams. Many went even further and marked their identity with ornate helmets with deer horns, buffalo horns, peacock feathers - everything that helped to attract a worthy opponent, whose defeat provided them with honor and wealth, was used.

5 Samurai Pirates


Around the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongol invasion pushed Korean army. A poor harvest left Japan with little food left, and given the fact that the capital was far to the east, the unemployed ronin in the west began to desperately need income with little oversight. All this led to the birth of the era of Asian piracy, the main players of which were the samurai.

The pirates, who were called wokou, caused so much chaos that many of the international disputes between China, Korea, and Japan began because of them. Despite the fact that wokou eventually began to include everything more other nationalities, the early raids were carried out primarily by the Japanese and continued for many years as the pirates were under the protection of local samurai families.

Korea eventually came under the control of the Mongols. After that, Kublai Khan became an enemy of the wokou, who was informed by the Korean ambassadors that the Japanese were "cruel and bloodthirsty" and the Mongols began to invade the Japanese coast.

The invasion failed, but it helped put a stop to further wokou raids well into the 14th century. By that time, the wokou were a mixed group of people from different parts of Asia. However, because they made their numerous invasions of Korea and China from the Japanese islands, Emperor Ming threatened to invade Japan if she failed to solve her pirate problem.

4. Harakiri was actively condemned


Harakiri, or ritual suicide, was the samurai's way of preserving his honor after a certain defeat. Everyone was after him anyway, and he had nothing to lose except for nerves before the procedure of dumping his intestines on the floor. However, while the samurai were willing to commit suicide in this honorable way, the daimyo were more concerned about saving their armies. The most famous historical examples of mass suicides overshadow the simple truth that there was no point in losing talented warriors. The daimyo who won the battle often wanted their enemies to swear allegiance to them, rather than commit hara-kiri.

One type of hara-kiri was junshi. By committing this type of suicide, the samurai followed their fallen lord into the afterlife. This was very problematic for the Vladyka's heir. Instead of inheriting his father's samurai army, he ended up with a court full of the corpses of the best warriors. And given the fact that the new daimyo was honored to financially support the family of the fallen samurai, junshi was also an unattractive financial prospect. Eventually, the practice of junshi was banned by the Tokugawa shogunate, although this did not stop some samurai from following it.

3. Samurai Abroad


While samurai in service rarely left their daimyō's territory except to invade foreign territories, many ronin sought their fortunes abroad. Among the first foreign countries who began to hire samurai was Spain. In a plot to conquer China for Christendom, Spanish leaders in the Philippines added thousands of samurai to a multinational invasion force. The invasion never began due to lack of support from the Spanish crown, but other mercenary samurai often served under the Spanish flag.

Fortune samurai especially distinguished themselves in ancient Thailand, where a Japanese samurai garrison of approximately 1,500 men assisted in military campaigns. The colony consisted mainly of ronin who sought their fortune abroad and Christians fleeing the shogunate. The military support given to the Thai king by leader Yamada Nagamasa earned him both a princess and a title of nobility. Nagamasa was given power over a region in southern Thailand, but after choosing the losing side in a succession war, he died from his wounds in battle. After his death, the Japanese presence in Thailand quickly dwindled as many fled to neighboring Cambodia due to the anti-Japanese attitude of the new king.

2 Late Samurai Were Poor And Could Kill Peasants


Photo: PHGCOM/Wikimedia

After Japan was unified, the samurai, who made a living participating in their country's endless civil wars, found themselves with no one to fight. No war meant no heads. And no heads meant no money, and the lucky few of the thousands of Japanese samurai who kept their jobs now worked for daimyo who paid them rice.

By law, samurai were forbidden from working to support themselves. Trading and farming were considered peasant work, which made the samurai's only source of income a fixed payment of rice in an economy rapidly shifting to trading with coins. It was no longer possible to buy as much sake for a handful of rice as it was possible in the old days, so the samurai were forced to exchange their rice for real money. Unfortunately for the under pressure of the upper class, giving good gifts, possessing quality items, and wearing stylish clothes was part of the job of a samurai. Therefore, during the Edo period, many samurai fell into a black hole of debt from creditors.

This may explain why they were given the right to kirisute gomen, the legal right to kill defiant commoners. This was a tempting right for the ruined samurai, who could now pay off their debts with the sword. However, documented cases of the use of this right are practically non-existent, so it seems that in general the samurai did not use this right.

1. How it all ended


Over the last 250 or so years of their existence, the samurai gradually evolved into poets, scholars, and officials. Hagakure, possibly greatest book about being a samurai was the commentary of a samurai who lived and died without taking part in any war.

However, the samurai remained Japan's military class and despite the prevailing world, some of Japan's best swordsmen were from the Edo era. Those samurai who didn't want to change their katana for a feather trained diligently in swordsmanship, fought duels to win enough fame to open their own martial schools. The most famous book on Japanese warfare, The Book of Five Rings, appeared during this period. The author Miyamoto Musashi was considered one of Japan's greatest swordsmen, participating in two of the few major battles of the period, as well as numerous duels.

Meanwhile, those samurai who stepped into the political arena steadily rose in power. Eventually, they gained enough power to challenge the shogunate. They managed to overthrow him by fighting in the name of the emperor. By overthrowing the government and installing a figurehead emperor, they essentially seized control of Japan.

This move, along with numerous other factors, marked the beginning of Japan's modernization. Unfortunately for the rest of the samurai, the modernization included a Western-style draft army, which drastically weakened Japan's military class.

The growing frustrations of the samurai finally culminated in the Satsuma Rebellion, very loosely depicted in The Last Samurai. Although the actual rebellion was vastly different from how it was portrayed in Hollywood, it's safe to say that the samurai, true to their martial spirit, ended their existence in a flash of glory.

Oleg and Valentina Svetovid are mystics, experts in esotericism and occultism, authors of 14 books.

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Samurai

Surnames and names of samurai

Samurai- This is the Japanese military-feudal estate. The word "samurai" comes from the ancient Japanese verb "samurau", which means "to serve a person of the highest class". That is, "samurai" means "servant man, servant." Samurai in Japan are also called "bushi", which means "warrior".

Samurai appeared in Japan in the 7th-8th centuries AD. Mostly men from wealthy peasant families, as well as representatives of the middle and lower aristocracy (petty nobles), became samurai. From warriors, samurai gradually became armed servants of their feudal lord, receiving housing and food from him. Some samurai received land plots with peasants, and themselves turned into feudal lords.

The beginning of the allocation of samurai as a special class usually dated to the period of rule in Japan by the feudal house of Minamoto (1192-1333). The protracted, bloody civil war that preceded this between the feudal houses of Taira and Minamoto created the prerequisites for the establishment of the shogunate - the rule of the samurai class with the supreme commander (shogun) at the head.

Bushido- the code of honor of the samurai, the set of precepts "Way of the Warrior" in medieval Japan. The code appeared in the period of the XI-XIV centuries and was formalized in the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate. If a samurai did not follow the rules of conduct, he was expelled from the ranks of the samurai in disgrace.

Education and training of a samurai were based on mythical tales of legendary heroes, indifference to death, fear, pain, filial piety and loyalty to one's feudal lord. The mentor took care of the formation of the character of the future samurai, helped to develop courage, courage, endurance, patience. Future samurai were raised fearless and courageous, developed in them qualities that were considered among the samurai as the main virtues, in which a warrior could neglect his life for the life of another. To develop patience and endurance, future samurai were forced to do unbearably hard work, spend nights without sleep, walk barefoot in winter, get up early, limit themselves to food, etc.

After the establishment of peace under the Tokugawa shogunate, a huge number of samurai who only knew how to fight turned out to be a burden for the country, many of them were poor. At that time, books appeared that developed the idea of ​​Bushido (samurai code of honor), a large number of schools of martial arts, which for many samurai were the only means of subsistence.

The last time the samurai took up arms in civil war 1866-1869, during which the Tokugawa government was overthrown. In this war, the samurai fought on both sides.

In 1868, the Meiji Restoration took place, the reforms of which also affected the samurai. In 1871, Emperor Meiji, who decided to reform the state according to the Western model, issued a decree on the formation of the Japanese army by conscription, not only from the samurai class, but from all others. The last blow to the samurai was an 1876 law prohibiting the carrying of swords. Thus ended the era of the samurai.

Surnames and names of samurai

Abe Masahiro

Abe no Muneto

Azai Nagamasa

Aizawa Seishisai

Akamatsu Mitsusuke(older)

Akamatsu Norimura

Akechi Mitsuhide

Amakusa Shiro

Aoki Shuzo

Asakura Yoshikage

Asakura Kagetake

Asakura Takakage

Ashikaga Yoshiakira

Ashikaga Yoshimasa

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu

Ashikaga Yoshimochi

Ashikaga Yoshinori

Ashikaga Yoshitane

Ashikaga Yoshihide

Ashikaga Yoshihisa

Ashikaga Takauji

Watanabe Hiromoto

Goto Shojiro

Date Masamune

Yoshida Shoin

Ii Naosuke

Imagawa Yoshimoto

Ise Soun

Kawaii Tsugunosuke

Kawakami Gensai

Kato Kiyomasa

Kido Takayoshi

Kita Narikatsu

Kobayakawa Hideaki

Konishi Yukinaga

Kusunoki Masashige

Mamiya Rinzō

Matsudaira (Yuki) Hideyasu

Matsudaira Kiyoyasu

Matsudaira Sadanobu

Matsudaira Tadanao

Matsudaira Hirotada

Matsumae Yoshihiro

Matsumae Takahiro

Maeda Keiji

Maeda Toshiie

Maeda Toshinaga

Mizuno Tadakuni

Minamoto no Yoriie

Minamoto no Yorimasa

Minamoto no Yoritomo

Minamoto no Yoshimitsu

Minamoto no Yoshitomo

Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Minamoto no Sanetomo

Minamoto no Tametomo

Minamoto no Yukiie

Mogami Yoshiaki

Mori Arinori

Mori Motonari

Mori Okimoto

Mori Terumoto

Mori Hiromoto

Nabeshima Katsushige

Nabeshima Naoshige

Nagao Tamekage

Nakano Takeko

Nitta Yoshisada

Oda Katsunaga

Oda Nobukatsu

Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobutada

Oda Nobutaka

Oda Hidekatsu

Oda to Hidenobu

Oki Takato
Okubo Toshimichi

Omura Masujiro

Omura Sumitada

Otani Yoshitsugu

Outi Yoshinaga

Outi Yoshioki

Outi Yoshitaka

Outi Yoshihiro

Outi Masahiro

Prince Moriyoshi

Sagara Sozo

Saigo Takamori

Saito Dosan

Saito Yoshitatsu

Saito Hajime

Sakamoto Ryoma

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro

Sanada Yukimura

Sassa Narimasa

Shibata Katsuie

Shimazu Yoshihiro

Shimazu Iehisa

So Yoshitoshi

Sogano Iruka

Sogano Umako

Sogano Emishi

Soejima Taneomi

Sue Harukata

Tairano Kiyomori

Tyrano Masakado

Takasugi Shinsaku

Takeda Nobushige

Takeda Nobutora

Takeda Nobuhiro

Takeda Shingen

Tanya Tateki

Tanuma Okitsugu

Chosokabe Moritika

Chosokabe Motochika

Toyotomi Hidetsugu

Tokugawa Yorinobu

Tokugawa Yorifusa

Tokugawa Yoshinao

Tokugawa Iemitsu

Tokugawa Iemochi

Tokugawa Ietsuna

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Nariaki

Tokugawa Nobuyoshi

Tokugawa Tadayoshi

Tokugawa Tadateru

Tokugawa Hidetada

Ukita Hideie

Uesugi Kagekatsu

Uesugi Kagetora

Uesugi Kenshin

Uesugi Norimasa

Fujiwara no Yorimichi

Fujiwara no Kamatari

Fujiwara no Sumitomo

Fukushima Masanori

Harada Sanosuke

Hasegawa Yoshimichi

Hatano Hideharu

Hayashi Razan

Hijikata Hisamoto

Hojo Ujimasa

Hojo Ujinao

Hojo Ujitsuna

Hojo Ujiyasu

Hojo Yasutoki

Hosokawa Yoriyuki

Hosokawa Katsumoto

Hosokawa Masamoto

Hosokawa Sumimoto

Hosokawa Tadaoki

Hosokawa Tadatoshi

Hosokawa Takakuni

Hosokawa Fujitaka

Hosokawa Harumoto

This is Shimpei

Yamana Mochitoyo

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Samurai. Surnames and names of samurai

MUGEN-RYU HEIHO

Katana sword owned by Tokugawa Ieyasu himself

In the samurai times in the Land of the Rising Sun there were many beautiful swords and many excellent masters who brilliantly mastered the art of swordsmanship. However, the most famous sword masters in the samurai tradition were Tsukahara Bokuden, Yagyu Mune-nori, Miyamoto Musashi and Yamaoka Tesshu.

Tsukahara Bokuden was born in Kashima, Hitachi Province. The first name of the future master was Takomoto. His own father was a samurai, a retainer of the daimyo of Kashima province, and taught his son how to use the sword from the very beginning. early childhood. It seemed that Takamoto was a born warrior: while other children played, he practiced with his sword - first wooden, and then real, fighting. Soon he was sent to be raised in the house of the noble samurai Tsukahara Tosonoka-mi Yasumoto, who was a relative of the daimyo himself and brilliantly wielded a sword. He decided to transfer his art, along with his surname, to his adopted son. In him he found a grateful student who was determined to become a master on the "path of the sword."

The boy trained tirelessly and with inspiration, and his perseverance paid off. When Boku-den was twenty, he was already a master of the sword, although few people knew about it. and when a young man dared to challenge the famous warrior from Kyoto, Ochiai To-razaemon, many considered this a daring and rash trick. Ochiai decided to teach the impudent youth a lesson, however, to everyone's surprise, Bokuden defeated the eminent opponent in the very first seconds of the duel, but saved his life.

Ochiai was very upset by the shame of this defeat and decided to take revenge: he tracked down Bokuden and attacked him from an ambush. But the sudden and insidious attack did not take the young samurai by surprise. This time, Ochiai lost both his life and his reputation.

This duel brought Bokuden great fame. Many daimyo tried to get him as a bodyguard, but the young master rejected all these very flattering offers: he set out to further improve his art. For many years he led the life of a ronin, wandering around the country, learning from all the masters with whom fate confronted him, and fighting with experienced swordsmen. The times were then dashing: the wars of the Sengoku jidai era were in full swing, and Bokuden had to participate in many battles. He was entrusted with a special mission, both honorable and dangerous: he challenged enemy commanders (many of whom were first-class swordsmen themselves) to a duel and killed them in front of the entire army. Bokuden himself remained undefeated.

Pedinok on the roof of the temple

One of his most glorious duels was the duel with Kajiwara Nagato, who was reputed to be an unsurpassed master of the naginata. He also did not know defeat and was so skillful with weapons that he could cut a swallow on the fly. However, against Bokuden, his art was powerless: as soon as Nagato swung his halberd, Bokuden killed him with the first blow, which from the outside looked easy and simple. In fact, it was a virtuoso technique of hitotsu-tachi - a style of one blow, which Bokuden honed throughout his life.

The most curious "duel" of Bokuden was the incident that happened to him on Lake Biwa. Bokuden at that time was over fifty, he already looked at the world differently and did not want to kill people for the sake of meaningless fame. As luck would have it, in the boat, where Bokuden was among the other passengers, there was one frightening-looking ronin, stupid and aggressive. This ronin boasted of his swordsmanship, calling himself the best swordsman in Japan.

A boasting fool usually needs a listener, and the samurai chose Bokuden for this role. However, he did not pay any attention to him, and such disrespect infuriated the ronin. He challenged Bokuden to a duel, to which he calmly remarked that a true master seeks not to defeat, but, if possible, to avoid senseless bloodshed. Such an idea turned out to be indigestible for the samurai, and he, inflamed even more, demanded that Bokuden name his school. Bokuden replied that his school was called Mutekatsu-ryu, literally, "the school for achieving victory without the help of hands", that is, without a sword.

This angered the samurai even more. "What nonsense are you talking about!" he said to Bokuden, and ordered the boatman to dock at a tiny secluded island so that Bokuden could practically show him the advantages of his school. When the boat approached the island, the ronin was the first to jump ashore and draw his sword. Bokuden, on the other hand, took the pole from the boatman, pushed off from the shore and in one fell swoop took the boat away from the island. “This is how I achieve victory without a sword!” - said Bokuden and waved his hand to the fool left on the island.

Bokuden had three adopted sons, and he trained all of them in the art of the sword. Once he decided to give them a test and for this he placed a heavy block over the door. As soon as the door was opened, the log fell on the person entering. The eldest son was invited first by Bokuden. He sensed a catch and deftly picked up the block of wood that fell on him. When the block fell on the middle son, he managed to dodge in time and at the same time pull out the sword from the scabbard. When the turn came to the youngest son, he in the twinkling of an eye drew his sword and with a magnificent blow cut the falling log in half.

Bokuden was very pleased with the results of this "exam", because all three were on top, and the youngest also demonstrated excellent instant strike technique. However, Bokuden named his eldest son his main successor and the new head of his school, because in order to achieve victory he did not have to use the sword, and this most of all corresponded to the spirit of Bokuden's teachings.

Unfortunately, the Bokuden school did not outlive its founder. All his sons and best students died in battles against the troops of Oda Nobunaga, and there was no one left who could continue his style. Among the students was the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru himself, who brilliantly wielded a sword and worthily gave his life in an unequal battle with the killers surrounding him. Bokuden himself died in 1571 at the age of eighty-one. All that remains of his school are many legends and a book of one hundred verses known as the Bokuden Hyakushu. In the verses of the old master, it was about the path of the samurai, which runs along a thin line, like a sword point, separating life from death...

The one-hit technique developed by Bokuden and the idea of ​​achieving victory without the help of a sword were brilliantly embodied in another school of ken-jutsu called Yagyu-Shinkage Ryu. The founder of the Shinka-ge school was the famous warrior Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, whose swordsmanship was appreciated by Takeda Shingen himself. His best student and successor was another famous swordsman, Yagyu Muneyoshi.

Miyamoto Musashi with two swords. From a painting by an unknown artist of the 17th century

Muneyoshi, who had achieved considerable skill even before meeting Nobutsuna, challenged him to a duel. However, Nobutsuna suggested that Muneyoshi fight first with bamboo swords with his student, Hikida Toyogoroo. Yagyu and Hikida met twice, and twice Hikida delivered swift blows to Yagyu, which he did not have time to parry. Then Nobutsuna himself decided to fight Yagyu Muneyoshi, who had suffered an obvious defeat, but when the opponents met their eyes, lightning seemed to strike between them, and Muneyoshi, falling at the feet of Nobutsuna, asked to be his student. Nobutsuna willingly accepted Muneyoshi and taught him for two years.

Muneyoshi soon became his best student, and Nobutsuna named him his successor, initiating all the secret techniques and all the secrets of his skill. Thus, the Yagyu family school merged with the Shinkage school, and a new direction arose, Yagyu-Shinkage Ryu, which became a classic in the art of ken-jutsu. The fame of this school spread throughout the country, and the rumor of the famous Yagyu Muneyoshi reached the ears of Tokutawa Ieyasu himself, who at that time was not yet a shogun, but was considered one of the most influential people in Japan. Ieyasu decided to test the already aged master, who said that a sword was not at all necessary to win a victory.

In 1594, Ieyasu invited Muneyoshi to his place to test his skills in practice. Among the bodyguards of Ieyasu there were many samurai who wielded a sword superbly. He ordered the best of them to try to cut down the unarmed Muneyoshi with a sword. But every time he managed to dodge the blade at the last moment, disarm the attacker and throw him to the ground so that the unfortunate crawled away on all fours or could not get up at all.

In the end, all the best bodyguards of Ieyasu were defeated, and then he decided to personally attack Muneyoshi. But when Ieyasu raised his sword to strike, old master managed to dive under the blade and push its hilt with both hands. The sword, describing a sparkling arc in the air, fell to the ground. Having disarmed the future shogun, the master brought him to the throw. But he didn’t quit, only slightly “pressed”, and then politely supported Ieyasu, who had lost his balance. He acknowledged the complete victory of Muneyoshi and, admiring his skill, offered him the honorary position of personal fencing instructor. But the old master was about to leave for the monastery and offered instead of himself his son Munenori, who later also became a wonderful sword master.

Munenori was a fencing teacher both under the shogun Hidetada, son of Ieyasu, and under his grandson Iemitsu. Thanks to this, the Yagyu-Shinkage school soon became very famous throughout Japan. Munenori himself glorified himself in the battle of Sekigahara and during the assault on Osaka Castle - he was among the shogun's bodyguards and killed enemy soldiers who were trying to break through to Tokutawa's headquarters and destroy Ieyasu and his son Hideta-du. For his exploits, Munenori was elevated to the rank of daimyo, lived in honor and wealth, and left behind a lot of works on swordsmanship.

The Yagyu-Shinkage school paid special attention to the development of an intuitive sense of an approaching enemy, an unexpected attack, and other danger. The path to the heights of this art in the Yagyu-Shinkage tradition begins with comprehending the technique of the correct bow: as soon as the student lowered his head too low and stopped monitoring the surrounding space, he immediately received an unexpected blow to the head with a wooden sword. and so it went on until he learned to elude them without interrupting his bow.

In the old days, the art of the warrior was taught even more ruthlessly. In order to awaken in the student the qualities necessary for survival, the master fed him with slaps in the face 24 hours a day: he quietly sneaked up to him with a stick when he was sleeping or doing housework (usually the students in the master’s house did all the dirty work), and beat him mercilessly. In the end, the student, at the cost of bumps and pain, began to anticipate the approach of his tormentor and think about how to avoid blows. From that moment came new stage apprenticeship: the master no longer took a stick in his hands, but a real samurai sword and taught already very dangerous fighting techniques, suggesting that the student had already developed the ability to think and act simultaneously and with lightning speed.

Some sword masters have perfected their art of zanshin to near-supernatural levels. An example of this is the samurai test scene in Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. The subjects were invited to enter the house, behind the door of which a guy was hiding with a club at the ready and unexpectedly hit the people on the head. One of them missed the blow, the others managed to dodge and disarm the attacker. But the samurai was recognized as the best, who refused to enter the house, because he sensed a catch.

Yagyu Munenori himself was considered one of the strongest zanshin masters. One fine spring day, he and his young squire admired the cherry blossoms in his garden. Suddenly, he began to feel that someone was preparing to stab him in the back. The master examined the entire garden, but found nothing suspicious. The squire, amazed at the strange behavior of the master, asked him what was the matter. He complained that he was probably getting old: he began to let down the feeling of zanshin - intuition speaks of danger, which in fact turns out to be imaginary. and then the guy admitted that, standing behind the back of the gentleman admiring the cherries, he thought that he could very easily kill him, inflicting an unexpected blow from behind, and then all his skills would not have helped Munenori. Munenori smiled at this and, pleased that his intuition was still on top, forgave the young man for his sinful thoughts.

Miyamoto Musashi fights against several opponents armed with spears

The shogun Tokutawa Iemi-tsu himself heard about this incident and decided to test Munenori. He invited him to his place supposedly for a conversation, and Munenori, as a samurai should, respectfully sat down at the feet of the ruler on a mat spread on the floor. Iemitsu spoke to him, and during the conversation, he suddenly attacked the master with a spear. But the shogun's movement was not unexpected for the master - he managed to feel his "bad" intention much earlier than he carried it out, and therefore immediately made Iemitsu a cut, and the shogun was overturned, without having time to understand what had happened, and not swinging your weapon...

The fate of Yagyu Munenori's contemporary, the lonely warrior Miyamoto Musashi, who became the hero of samurai legends, turned out quite differently. He remained a restless ronin for most of his life, and in the battle of Sekigahara and in the battles at Osaka Castle he was on the side of the losing opponents of Tokutawa. He lived like a real ascetic, dressed in rags and despised many conventions. All his life he honed his fencing technique, but he saw the meaning of the “path of the sword” in comprehending the impeccability of the spirit, and this was what brought him brilliant victories over the most formidable opponents. Since Miyamoto Musashi shunned society and was a lone hero, little is known about his life. The real Miyamoto Musashi was eclipsed by his literary counterpart - the image derived in the popular adventure novel of the same name by the Japanese writer Yoshikawa Eji.

Miyamoto Musashi was born in 1584 in the village of Miyamoto, located in the town of Yoshino, Mima-saka province. His full name was Shinmen Musashi no kami Fujiwara no Genshin. Musashi was a master of the sword, as they say, from God. He took his first fencing lessons from his father, but honed his skills on his own - in exhausting training and dangerous duels with formidable opponents. Musashi's favorite style was nito-ryu - fencing with two swords at once, but he was no less deft with one sword and a jitte trident, and even used any means at hand instead of a real weapon. He won his first victory at the age of 13, challenging the famous sword master Arima Kibei, who belonged to the Shinto Ryu school, to a duel. Arima did not take this duel seriously, for he could not admit that a thirteen-year-old boy could become a dangerous opponent. Musashi entered the duel, armed with a long pole and a short wakizashi sword. When Arima tried to strike, Musashi deftly intercepted his hand, made a throw and hit with a pole. This blow was fatal.

At the age of sixteen, he challenged an even more formidable warrior, Tadashima Akiyama, to a duel and defeated him without much difficulty. In the same year, young Musashi participated in the Battle of Sekigahara under the banner of the Ashikaga clan, who opposed the Tokutawa troops. The Ashikaga detachments were utterly defeated, and most of the samurai laid down their violent heads on the battlefield; young Musashi was also seriously wounded and, most likely, should have died if he had not been pulled out of the thick of the battle by the famous monk Takuan Soho, who came out of the injured young man and had a great spiritual influence on him (as stated in the novel, although this, of course, artistic creation).

When Musashi was twenty-one years old, he went on a musya-shugo - military wanderings, looking for worthy opponents to hone his swordsmanship and take it to new heights. During these wanderings, Musashi wore dirty, torn clothes and looked very untidy; even in the bath he bathed very rarely, because one very unpleasant episode was connected with it. When Musashi nevertheless decided to wash himself and climbed into an o-furo, a traditional Japanese bath - a large barrel of hot water, he was attacked by one of his opponents, who tried to take advantage of the moment when the famous warrior was unarmed and relaxed. But Musashi managed to “get out of the water dry” and defeat the armed enemy with his bare hands, but after this incident he hated swimming. This incident, which happened in the bath with Musashi, served as the basis for the famous Zen koan, asking what a warrior should do in order to defeat the enemies surrounding him, who caught him standing naked in a barrel of water and deprived not only of clothing, but also of weapons.

Sometimes they try to explain Musashi's sloppy appearance with a kind of psychological trick: misled by his worn dress, the rivals looked down on the tramp and were not ready for his lightning attacks. However, according to the closest friends of the great warrior, from early childhood his entire body and head were completely covered with ugly scabs, so he was embarrassed to undress in public, could not wash in the bath and could not wear the traditional samurai hairstyle when half his head was shaved bald. Musashi's hair has always been disheveled and untidy, like a classic demon from Japanese fairy tales. Some authors believe that Musashi suffered from congenital syphilis, and this serious disease, which tormented the master all his life and eventually killed him, determined the character of Miyamoto Musashi: he felt different from all other people, was lonely and disfigured, and this disease , which made him proud and withdrawn, moved him to great achievements in the art of war.

For eight years of wandering, Musashi fought in sixty duels and emerged victorious from them, defeating all his opponents. In Kyoto, he had a series of brilliant duels with representatives of the Yoshioka clan, who served as fencing instructors for the Ashikaga family. Musashi defeated his older brother, Yoshioka Genzae-mon, and hacked his younger brother to death. Then he was challenged to a duel by the son of Genzaemon, Hanshichiro. In fact, the Yoshioka family intended, under the pretext of a duel, to lure Musashi into a trap, attack him with the whole crowd and kill him for sure. However, Musashi found out about this venture and himself ambushed behind a tree, near which the treacherous Yoshioka gathered. Suddenly jumping out from behind a tree, Musashi cut down Hanshichiro and many of his relatives on the spot, while the rest fled in fear.

Musashi also defeated such famous warriors as Muso Gonnosuke, the hitherto unsurpassed master of the pole, Shishido Baikan, who was reputed to be a master of kusari-kama, and the master of the spear monk Shuji, who was hitherto reputed to be invincible. However, the most famous duel of Miyamoto Musashi is considered to be his duel with Sasa-ki Ganryu, fencing teacher of the influential Prince Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the best swordsman in all of northern Kyushu. Musashi challenged Ganryu to a duel, the challenge was readily accepted and received the approval of the daimyo Hosokawa himself. The duel was scheduled for the early morning of April 14, 1612 on the small island of Funajima.

The first blow is the final blow!

At the appointed time, Ganryu arrived at the island with his men, he was dressed in a scarlet haori and hakama and girded with a magnificent sword. Musashi was late for several hours - he frankly overslept - and all this time Ganryu nervously walked back and forth along the coast of the island, acutely experiencing such humiliation. Finally, the boat brought Musashi too. He looked sleepy, his clothes were wrinkled and tattered like a beggar's rags, his hair was matted and tousled; as a weapon for the duel, he chose a fragment of an old oar.

Such a frank mockery of the rules of good manners infuriated the exhausted and already angry opponent, and Ganryu began to lose his cool. He drew his sword with lightning speed and furiously aimed a blow at Musashi's head. At the same time, Musashi hit Ganryu on the head with his piece of wood, stepping back. The lace that tied his hair turned out to be cut by a sword. Ganryu himself fell to the ground, unconscious. Recovering his senses, Ganryu demanded the continuation of the duel, and this time, with a deft blow, he managed to cut through his opponent's clothes. However, Musashi defeated Ganryu on the spot, he fell to the ground and did not get up again; blood gushed from his mouth, and he immediately died.

After the duel with Sasaki Ganryu Musashi has changed a lot. Duels no longer appealed to him, but he became passionate about Zen painting in the Suiboku-ga style and gained fame as an excellent artist and calligrapher. In 1614-1615. he participated in the battles at Osaka Castle, where he showed miracles of courage and military skill. (It is not known, however, on whose side he fought.)

For most of his life, Musashi wandered around Japan with his adopted son, and only at the end of his life agreed to serve the daimyō Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the same one whom the late Ganryū had once served. However, Tadatoshi soon died, and Musashi left the Hosokawa house, becoming an ascetic. Before his death, he wrote the now famous "Book of Five Rings" ("Go-rin-no shu"), in which he reflected on the meaning of martial arts and the "way of the sword." He died in 1645, leaving a memory of himself as a sage and philosopher who went through fire, water and copper pipes.

Any tradition - including the tradition of martial arts - knows periods of prosperity and decline. History knows many examples when, due to various circumstances, traditions were interrupted - for example, when the master did not know to whom to transfer his art, or the society itself lost interest in this art. It so happened that in the first decades after the Meiji restoration, Japanese society, carried away by restructuring in a European way, lost interest in its own national tradition. Many beautiful groves, once glorified by poets, were ruthlessly cut down, and factory buildings smoky with chimneys arose in their place. Many Buddhist temples and ancient palaces were destroyed. The survival of the traditions of samurai martial arts was also threatened, for many believed that the era of the sword had irrevocably passed, and sword exercises were a completely pointless waste of time. Nevertheless, the samurai tradition, thanks to the asceticism of many masters, managed to survive and find a place for itself in the transformed Japan and even splashed out beyond its borders.

One of these masters, who saved the noble art of the sword from extinction, was Yamaoka Tesshu, whose life fell on the period of the fall of the Tokutawa regime and the sunset of the "golden age" of the samurai. His merit lies in the fact that he managed to lay the bridge on which the samurai martial arts passed into a new era. Yamaoka Tesshu saw the salvation of the tradition in making it open to representatives of all classes who wish to dedicate their lives to the "path of the sword."

Master Yamaoka Tesshu was born in 1835 into a samurai family and, as usual, he received his first sword skills from his father. He honed his skills under the guidance of many masters, the first of which was the famous swordsman Chiba Shusaku, the head of the Hokushin Itto Ryu school. Then Tesshu, at the age of 20, was adopted into the Yamaoka samurai family, whose representatives from generation to generation were famous for the art of the spear (soojutsu). Having married the daughter of the head of this family, Tesshu took the surname Yamaoka and was initiated into the innermost secrets of the family school of swordsmanship.

Combining all the acquired knowledge and inspired by Zen ideas, Tesshu created his own style of swordsmanship, calling it Muto Ryu - literally, "style without a sword"; to his own hall for fencing exercises, he gave the poetic name “Sumpukan” (“Hall of the Spring Wind”), borrowed from the poems of the famous Zen master Bukko, who lived in the 13th century, the very one who helped Hojo Tokimune repel the Mongol invasion. By the way, the image of the wind - fast, knows no barriers and can instantly turn into an all-destroying hurricane - has become one of the most important mythologies that reveal the image of a sword master that has been developing for centuries.

In his twenties, Tesshu became famous for his brilliant victories over many skilled swordsmen. However, he had one opponent, from whom Tesshu was constantly defeated, - Asari Gimei, the head of the Nakanishi-ha Itto Ryu school. Tesshu eventually asked Asari to be his teacher; he himself trained with such perseverance and ruthlessness to himself that he received the nickname Demon. However, despite all his tenacity, Tesshu could not defeat Asari for seventeen years. At this time, the Tokutawa shogunate fell, and in 1868 Tesshu participated in the hostilities of the "Boshin War" on the side of the Bakufu.

Zen Buddhism helped Tesshu to rise to a new level of mastery. Tesshu had his mentor, the Zen master monk Tekisui of the Tenryu-ji temple. Tekisui saw the reason for Tesshu's defeats in the fact that he was inferior to Asari not so much in swordsmanship (he had perfected it to the limit), but in spirit. Tekisui advised him to meditate on this koan: “When two sparkling swords meet, there is nowhere to hide; be coldly calm, like a lotus flower blooming in the midst of a raging flame and piercing the Heavens! Only at the age of 45 Tesshu managed to comprehend in meditation the secret, inexpressible in words, the meaning of this koan. When he again crossed swords with his teacher, Asari laughed, threw away his blade and, congratulating Tesshu, called him his successor and the new head of the school.

Tesshu became famous not only as a master of the sword, but also as an outstanding mentor, who left behind many students. Tesshu liked to say that he who comprehends this art of the sword comprehends the essence of all things, for he learns to see both life and death at the same time. The master taught his followers that true purpose the art of the sword is not to destroy the enemy, but to forge one's own spirit - only such a goal is worthy of the time spent on achieving it.

This philosophy of Tesshu was also reflected in the system of so-called seigan developed by him, which is still widely used in various Japanese traditional types martial arts. Seigan in Zen Buddhism means a vow that a monk gives, in other words, a severe test in which strength of mind is manifested. According to the Tesshu method, the student had to train continuously for 1000 days, after which he was allowed to the first test: he had to fight 200 fights in one day with only one short break. If the student passed this test, then he could pass the second, more difficult one: in three days he had to participate in three hundred fights. The third, final test involved going through 1,400 fights in seven days. Such a test went beyond the usual understanding of swordsmanship: in order to withstand such a load, just mastering the technique of fencing was not enough. The student had to combine all his physical strength with the strength of the spirit and achieve a mighty intention to pass this test to the end. Those who passed such an exam could rightfully consider themselves a real samurai of the spirit, which was Yamaoka Tesshu himself.