Interesting facts about the warriors of Japan - the great samurai. Who is a samurai? Japanese samurai: code, weapons, customs

Samurai originated in the 7th century and existed until the end of the 19th century, when it was abolished as an institution. For many centuries, the samurai were the military feudal nobility of Japan, from which a large number of military and officials of the 20th century came. The brave warriors of the Imperial Army were called samurai until its disbandment in 1947.

He was a ronin, that is, he had no master and was a free warrior. Musashi gained fame as one of the greatest swordsmen, described the tactics, strategy and philosophy of samurai in battle, and also developed and applied in practice a new type of combat with two swords. Musashi's contemporaries called "Kensai", which translates as "Holy Sword" and emphasizes his highest skill in weaponry.

A talented warlord, he formed the strongest samurai army and rallied the largest number of provinces around him. Oda Nobunaga began the campaign to unite Japan by capturing his native province of Owari, after which he began to expand the borders of his possessions. In 1582, when Nobunaga reached maximum power, his enemies from among his own subordinates started a coup d'état. Realizing the inevitability of the end, he committed a ritual murder - seppuku.

The Samurai Code praised such girls "who were able to rise above the imperfections and imperfections inherent in their sex, and to show heroic fortitude that could be worthy of the bravest and noblest men." Several onna-bugeisha entered the history of the country, including Nakano Takeko (1847-1868). Born in what is now Tokyo, she was educated in literature and trained in martial arts. Takeko was directly involved in the defense of Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle during the civil war between supporters of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the pro-imperial forces. During the battle, she commanded a female detachment and received a bullet wound in the chest, after which she asked her sister to cut off her head and bury her so that she would not fall to the enemy. Annually at the site of Takeko's grave, an action is held in her memory.

He became the first shogun whose dynasty ruled the country until the revival of the Meiji dynasty in 1868. This became possible after the samurai defeated the remnants of the armies of Nobunaga and another commander, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who also claimed to rule all of Japan. Ieyasu's policy left an imprint on the entire further existence of the country, which for a long time lived by his decrees.

MUGEN-RYU HEIHO

A katana sword that belonged to Tokugawa Ieyasu himself

In samurai times in the Land of the Rising Sun there were many beautiful swords and many magnificent masters who were brilliant in 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 City, Hitachi Province. The first name of the future master was Takomoto. His own father was a samurai, a vassal of the daimyo of Kashima province and taught his son how to use the sword from early childhood. It seemed that Takamoto was a born warrior: while the other children played, he practiced with his sword - first wooden, and then a real, combat one. Soon he was sent to be raised in the house of the noble samurai Tsukahara Tosonokami Yasumoto, who was a relative of the daimyo himself and brilliantly wielded a sword. He decided to pass his art along with his surname to his adopted son. In him he found a grateful student, determined to become a master on the "path of the sword."

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

Ochiai grieved 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 great fame to Bokuden. 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 the country, learning from all the masters with whom fate faced him, and fighting experienced swordsmen. Times were then dashing: the wars of the Sengoku Jidai era were in full swing, and Bokuden had a chance to participate in many battles. He was entrusted with a special mission, both honorable and so dangerous: he challenged the enemy commanders (many of whom were themselves first-class swordsmen) and killed them in front of the entire army. Bokuden himself remained undefeated.

A duel 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 chop a swallow on the fly. However, against Bokuden, his art turned out to be powerless: as soon as Nagato swung his halberd, Bokuden killed him with the very first blow, which looked easy and simple from the outside. In fact, it was a virtuoso hitotsu-tachi technique, a one-hitting style that Bokuden perfected throughout his life.

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

Usually, a boasting fool needs a listener, and the samurai chose Bokuden for this role. However, he paid no attention to him, and this disrespect infuriated the ronin. He challenged Bokuden to a duel, to which he calmly remarked that the real master seeks not to inflict defeat, but rather to avoid senseless bloodshed. Such a thought turned out to be difficult for the samurai to digest, and he, even more infuriated, 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 moor to a tiny secluded island so that Bokuden could show him in practice the advantages of his school. When the boat approached the island, the ronin jumped ashore first and drew his sword. Bokuden, on the other hand, took the pole from the boatman, pushed off the shore and in one fell swoop took the boat far from the island. "This is how I achieve victory without a sword!" - said Bokuden and waved his hand at the fool left on the island.

Bokuden had three adopted sons, and he taught all of them the art of the sword. One day he decided to give them a test and for this he put a heavy block over the door. As soon as the door opened, the block fell on the person entering. Bokuden was the first to invite his eldest son. He sensed a trick and deftly picked up a block of wood falling on him. When the block fell on the middle son, he managed to dodge in time and at the same time pull the sword out of its sheath. When the turn came to the youngest son, he in the blink of an eye drew his sword and with a magnificent blow cut the falling block in half.

Bokuden was very pleased with the results of this "exam", for all three of them were at their best, and the youngest also demonstrated an excellent technique of instant impact. However, Bokuden named his eldest son his main successor and the new head of his school, because to achieve victory he did not have to act with a sword, and this most of all corresponded to the spirit of Bokuden's teachings.

Unfortunately, the Bokuden school did not outlive its founder. All of his sons and best students died in the 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 gave his life with dignity in an unequal battle with the assassins who surrounded 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 poems known as Bokuden Hyakushu. In the poems of the old master, it was about the path of the samurai, which runs along the thin, like the edge of a sword, the edge separating life from death ...

Bokuden's technique of one blow and the idea of \u200b\u200bachieving victory without the aid 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 sword master, 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 with Nobutsuna, challenged him to a duel. However, Nobutsuna proposed to Muneyoshi to fight first with bamboo swords with his apprentice, Hikida Toyogoroo. Yagyu and Hikida met twice, and twice Hikida struck Yagyu with swift blows that he could not parry. Then Nobutsuna himself decided to fight with the victim of an obvious defeat, Yagyu Muneyoshi, but when the opponents met their gaze, it was as if lightning struck between them, and Muneyoshi, falling at Nobutsun's feet, asked to be his disciple. Nobutsuna willingly accepted Muneyoshi and taught him for two years.

Muneyoshi soon became his best student, and Nobutsuna named him his successor, initiating him into all the secret techniques and all the secrets of his mastery. So 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 about 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 elderly master, who said that a sword was not necessary at all to gain victory.

In 1594, Ieyasu invited Muneyoshi to his place to test his skills in practice. Among Ieyasu's bodyguards, there were many samurai with excellent sword skills. The best of them, he ordered to try to hack to death with a sword unarmed Muneyoshi. But he always managed at the last moment to dodge the blade, disarm the attacker and throw him to the ground so that the unfortunate man crawled away on all fours or could not get up at all.

In the end, all of Ieyasu's best bodyguards were defeated, and then he decided to personally attack Muneyoshi. But when Ieyasu raised his sword to strike, the 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. Disarming the future shogun, the master brought him to the throw. But he didn’t throw it, only slightly "pressed it up", and then politely supported Ieyasu, who had lost his balance. He acknowledged Muneyoshi's complete victory and, admiring his skill, offered him the honorary position of personal fencing instructor. But the old master was going to go to the monastery and offered his son Munenori in his place, who later also became a wonderful master of the sword.

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 storming of Osaka Castle - he was among the shogun's bodyguards and killed enemy soldiers who were trying to break through to the Tokutawa headquarters and destroy Ieyasu and his son Hideta-do. For his exploits, Munenori was elevated to the rank of daimyo, lived in honor and wealth, and left behind many works on the art of fencing.

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 the comprehension of the technique of correct bowing: as soon as the student lowered his head too low and stopped watching the surrounding space, he immediately received an unexpected blow on 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. To awaken in the student the qualities necessary for survival, the master fed him with slaps in the face 24 hours a day: he would sneak up on 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 mercilessly. In the end, the student, at the cost of bumps and pain, began to anticipate the approach of his tormentor and think how to avoid blows. From that moment on, a new stage of apprenticeship began: the master no longer took a stick, but a real samurai sword and taught already very dangerous martial techniques, suggesting that the student had already developed the ability to think and act at the same time and with lightning speed.

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

Yagyu Munenori himself was considered one of the strongest masters of zanshin. One fine spring day, he, along with his young squire, admired the cherry blossoms in his garden. Suddenly he was overcome with the feeling that someone was preparing to stab him in the back. The master examined the entire garden, but did not find anything suspicious. The squire, amazed at the master's strange behavior, asked him what was the matter. He complained that he was probably getting old: the feeling of zanshin began to let him down - intuition speaks of the 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 by striking an unexpected blow from behind, and Munenori would not have been helped then by all his skills. Munenori smiled at this and, glad that his intuition was still at its best, forgave the young man for his sinful thoughts.

Miyamoto Musashi fights against multiple opponents armed with spears

The shogun Tokutawa Iemi-tsu himself heard about this case and decided to arrange a test for Munenori. He invited him to his, ostensibly 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 suddenly suddenly attacked the master with a spear. But the shogun's movement was not unexpected for the master - he was able to feel his "bad" intention much earlier than he realized it, and therefore immediately made Iemitsu a sweep, and the shogun was overturned, never having time to understand what had happened, and did not having time to swing his weapon ...

The fate of a contemporary of Yagyu Munenori, the lone warrior Miyamoto Musashi, who became the hero of samurai legends, developed in a completely different way. He remained a restless ronin for most of his life, and in the Battle of Sekigahara and in the battles of Osaka Castle he was on the side of the losing opponents of the Tokutawa. He lived like a real ascetic, dressed in rags and despised many conventions. Throughout his life, he perfected fencing techniques, 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 was shy of 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 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 a god. He took his first lessons in fencing from his father, but he perfected his skills on his own - in grueling training and dangerous duels with formidable rivals. Musashi's favorite style was nito-ryu - fencing with two swords at once, but he was no less dexterous with one sword, and with a jitte trident, and even used any means at hand instead of real weapons. He won his first victory at the age of 13, challenging the famous sword master Arima Kibei, who belonged to the Shinto Ryu school. Arima did not take this fight seriously, for he could not admit that a thirteen-year-old boy could become a dangerous opponent. Musashi entered the fight, 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 the pole. This blow was fatal.

At 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 took part in the Battle of Sekigahara under the banner of the Ashikaga clan, which opposed the Tokutawa troops. The Ashikaga troops were completely defeated, and most of the samurai laid down their wild heads on the battlefield; the young Musashi was also seriously wounded and, most likely, would have died if the famous monk Takuan Soho had not pulled him out of the thick of the battle, who left the injured young man and had a great spiritual influence on him (this is described in the novel, although this, of course, fictional fiction).

When Musashi was twenty-one years old, he went to musha-shugo - military wanderings, looking for worthy rivals to hone his swordsmanship and raise it to new heights. During these wanderings, Musashi wore dirty, tattered clothes and looked very unkempt; even in the bathhouse, he rarely washed himself, for one very unpleasant episode was associated with her. When Musashi finally decided to bathe and climbed into the o-furo, a traditional Japanese bath - a large barrel of hot water, one of his opponents attacked him, trying to take advantage of the moment when the famous warrior was unarmed and relaxed. But Musashi even then managed to "get out of the water" and defeat the armed enemy with his bare hands, but after this incident he hated bathing. This incident, which happened in the bath with Musashi, served as the basis for the famous Zen koan, asking what a warrior must do in order to defeat the enemies surrounding him, who caught him standing naked in a barrel of water and deprived of not only clothes, but also weapons.

Sometimes they try to explain Musashi's sloppy appearance with a kind of psychological cunning: deceived by his worn-out dress, the rivals looked down on the tramp and turned out to be unprepared for his lightning attacks. However, according to the testimony of the closest friends of the great warrior, his whole body and head from early childhood were completely covered with ugly scabs, so he was embarrassed to undress in public, could not wash in a bath and could not wear a traditional samurai hairstyle when half of his head was shaved bald. Musashi's hair was always disheveled and unkempt, like a classic demon from Japanese fairy tales. Some authors believe that Musashi suffered from congenital syphilis, and this serious illness, 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 ailment , who 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 fought a series of brilliant duels with members of the Yoshioka clan, who served as fencing instructors for the Ashikaga family. Musashi defeated his older brother, Yoshioka Genzae-mona, and hacked the younger to death. Then he was challenged to a duel by Genzaemon's son, Hansichiro. In fact, the Yoshioka family intended, under the pretext of a duel, to lure Musashi into a trap, pounce on him with the whole crowd and kill him for sure. However, Musashi found out about this venture and himself set up an ambush behind a tree, near which the insidious Yoshioka gathered. Suddenly jumping out from behind a tree, Musashi hacked to death Hansichiro 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 pole master, Shishido Baikan, who was reputed to be the master of kusari-kama, and the spear master, the monk Shuji, who was hitherto known as invincible. However, the most famous of Miyamoto Musashi's duels is considered his duel with Sasa-ki Ganryu, the fencing teacher of the influential prince Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the best sword-bearer in all of northern Kyushu. Musashi challenged Ganryu to a duel, the challenge was readily accepted and approved by 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 came to the island with his people, he was dressed in scarlet haori and hakama and girded with a magnificent sword. Musashi was late for several hours - he frankly slept - and all this time Ganryu nervously walked back and forth along the shore of the island, acutely experiencing such humiliation. Finally the boat brought Musashi. He looked sleepy, his clothes wrinkled and tattered like the rags of a beggar, his hair matted and tousled; as a weapon for the duel, he chose a fragment of an old oar.

Such a blatant mockery of the rules of good manners infuriated the exhausted and angry opponent, and Ganryu began to lose his cool. He drew his sword with lightning speed and fiercely directed a blow at Musashi's head. At the same time, Musashi hit Ganryu on the head with his piece of wood, stepping back a step. The string that held his hair turned out to be a cut sword. Ganryu himself fell to the ground unconscious. Coming to his senses, Ganryu demanded to continue the fight and this time with a dexterous blow managed to cut his opponent's clothes. However, Musashi struck Ganryu on the spot, he fell to the ground and never got up; blood gushed from his mouth, and he died immediately.

After the fight with Sasaki Ganryu Musashi changed a lot. Duels no longer attracted him, but with all his heart he was carried away by Zen painting in the suiboku-ga style and gained fame as a magnificent artist and calligrapher. In the years 1614-1615. he participated in the battles at Osaka Castle, where he showed miracles of bravery 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 with daimyo Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the same one whom the late Ganryu once served. However, Tadatoshi soon passed away, and Musashi left the Hosokawa house, becoming an ascetic. Before his death, he wrote the now famous "Book of the Five Rings" ("Go-rin-no shu"), in which he reflected on the meaning of martial arts and the "path 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 restoration of Mei-ji, 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 mercilessly cut down, and in their place there were factory buildings smoking with pipes. Many Buddhist temples and ancient palaces were destroyed. The survival of the traditions of the samurai martial arts was also threatened, for many believed that the era of the sword was irrevocably past, and training with the sword was a completely pointless waste of time. Nevertheless, thanks to the asceticism of many masters, the samurai tradition managed to survive and find a place for itself in the transformed Japan and even spilled 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 decline of the "golden age" of the samurai. His merit is that he was able to lay the bridge over 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 want to devote their lives to the "path of the sword."

Master Yamaoka Tesshu was born in 1835 into a samurai family and, as usual, received his first sword skills from his father. He honed his skills under the guidance of many masters, the first of whom was the famous swordsman Chiba Shusaku, head of the Hokusin 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 (sojutsu). Having married the daughter of the head of this family, Tesshu took the surname Yamaoka and was initiated into the intimate secrets of the family school of fencing skills.

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"; He gave his own hall for fencing exercises the poetic name "Shumpukan" ("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 to repel the Mongol invasion. By the way, the image of the wind - fast, not knowing obstacles and capable of instantly turning into an all-destructive hurricane - has become one of the most important mythologemes that reveal the image of the sword master that has evolved over the centuries.

In his twenties, Tesshu became famous for his brilliant victories over many skilled swordsmen. However, he had one opponent from whom Tesshu constantly suffered defeats - Asari Gimei, head of the Nakanishi-ha Itto Ryu school. Eventually Tesshu asked Asari to become 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 took part in the hostilities of the "Boshin War" on the side of the Bakufu.

Zen Buddhism helped to rise to a new level of mastery of Tesshu. Tesshu had his own mentor, the Zen master monk Tekisui from 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 fencing technique (he was honed to the limit), but in spirit. Tekisui advised him to meditate on this koan: “When two glittering swords meet, there is nowhere to hide; be coldly calm, like a lotus flower blooming amidst a raging flame and piercing Heaven! " Only at the age of 45 did Tessu manage to comprehend the secret, inexpressible meaning of this koan in meditation. When he crossed swords with his teacher again, Asari laughed, threw back his blade and, congratulating Tesshu, named 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, leaving behind many students. Tesshu liked to say that the one 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 the true purpose of the art of the sword is not to destroy the enemy, but to forge their own spirit - only such a goal is worthy of the time spent on achieving it.

This philosophy of Tesshu was reflected in the system of the so-called seigan developed by him, which is still widely used in various Japanese traditional types of martial arts. Seigan in Zen Buddhism means a vow made by a monk, in other words - a severe test in which the strength of the spirit is manifested. According to Tesshu's methodology, the student had to train continuously for 1000 days, after which he was allowed to the first test: he had to conduct 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 1400 fights in seven days. Such a test went beyond the ordinary understanding of the art of fencing: in order to withstand such a load, just mastering the technique of fencing was not enough. The disciple had to combine all his physical strength with the strength of the spirit and achieve the mighty intention to pass this test to the end. Having passed such an exam, he could rightfully consider himself a real samurai of the spirit, which was Yamaoka Tesshu himself.

Japan is a country of brave samurai and brave shoguns. The whole world knows about the valor and courage of Japanese soldiers. Samurai is an integral part of Japanese culture, its distinctive symbol. The loyalty and discipline of the samurai could be the envy of any warrior.

Who are they, servants of their state, desperate warriors or masters of their land?

Samurai is Japanese for "warrior". Also, this word has several other meanings - "to serve", "to support", "servant", "vassal" and "subordinate". That is, a samurai is a warrior who serves his state and fiercely protects it.

It is known from ancient Japanese chronicles that the samurai was a nobleman (nothing to do with European nobles). They were not only engaged in military operations. In peacetime, samurai served as the supreme princes and were their bodyguards.

Samurai history

The first samurai appeared in Japan in the early 12th century. At that time, the state was ruled by the brave shogun Minamoto. These were quite peaceful times, so the number of samurai was relatively small. The warriors took an active part in peaceful life - they grew rice, raised children, taught martial arts.

During the reign of the great Japanese clan of the Tokugawa shoguns, the number of samurai almost tripled. They, it is true, served their shogun, owned considerable plots of land. Under the Tokugawa, these warriors were considered the wealthiest people.

During the Tokugawa era, a large collection of samurai laws was issued. Chief among them was the law "Bushido". It said that a warrior must unconditionally obey his master and boldly look death in the face. In addition, the samurai was endowed with the right to kill an ordinary peasant with impunity, who was unacceptably rude to the soldiers. In times of peace, samurai, it is true, served their shogun, and sometimes took part in suppressing peasant revolts.

There were also some samurai who eventually moved to the ronin class. Rhonin are former warriors who have gotten rid of their vassalage. Such samurai lived like ordinary people: they carried out trade, craft and agricultural activities.

Many samurai became shinobi. Shinobi are assassins for hire, a kind of ninja.

In the middle of the 18th century, the disintegration of the samurai class began. During this period, the Japanese bourgeoisie began to actively progress. Trade, craft and manufacture flourished. Many samurai were forced to borrow from moneylenders. The position of the samurai was becoming unbearable. Their role for the country has become incomprehensible even to themselves. Some tried to adapt to a peaceful life, many fell into religion. Others turned into traders, artisans, and farmers. And samurai - rebels, were simply killed, completely undermining their will and spirit.

Education and formation of a samurai

Raising a samurai is a complex, multi-level process. The formation of a warrior began at an early age. From childhood, the sons of the samurai knew that they were the successors of a kind and reliable guardians of family customs and traditions.

Every evening, before going to bed, the child was told about the history and courage of the samurai, about their exploits. In the stories, examples were given when the legendary samurai bravely looked death in the face. Thus, the child was instilled from childhood with courage and valor.

An important aspect of samurai education was the Bushido technique. She introduced the concept of seniority, the main thing in the family. Boys were taught from an early age that a man is the head of the family, and only he can determine the direction of his child's activities. Another Japanese Iemoto technique was teaching boys discipline and behavior. The technique was purely theoretical.

In addition, boys were taught from childhood to severe trials. They taught various martial arts, pain tolerance, own body control, the ability to obey. Developed willpower, the ability to overcome even the most severe life situations. There were times when boys were given endurance tests. To do this, they were raised at dawn and sent to a cold, unheated room. They were closed there and did not feed them for a long time. Some fathers made their sons go to the cemetery at night. So they instilled in the boys the courage of a valiant warrior. Others took their sons to executions, forced them to do backbreaking work, walk without shoes in the snow, and spend several nights without sleep.

At the age of 5, the boy was given bokken. Bokken is a samurai sword. From that time on, training in the art of fencing began. In addition, the future warrior had to be able to swim perfectly, hold on perfectly in the saddle, be literate in writing, literature and history. The boys were taught self-defense lessons - jiu-jitsu. In addition, they were taught music, philosophy and craft.

At the age of 15, the boy turned into a valiant samurai.

The samurai caste ruled Japan for centuries. Warriors of the upper class, renowned for their ferocity and loyalty to their overlord, they became an integral part of the history and culture of the entire country. The samurai code is partly observed by the Japanese today. These consummate fighters made the Land of the Rising Sun the way the world sees it today.

Masamune's date
Known for his love of violence, Date Masamune was one of the most feared warriors of his era. Blinded in one eye as a child, the young man was forced to make every effort to gain recognition as a full-fledged fighter. The reputation of a brave and cunning commander, Date Masamune, gained by defeating the clan of his opponents, after which he transferred to the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Uesugi Kenshin
Kenshin, aka dragon Echigo, was a ferocious warrior and leader of the Nagao clan. He was known for his rivalry with Takeda Shingen, and supported Oda Nobunaga's military campaign. Kenshin was considered not only a brave fighter, but also an unsurpassed commander.

Tokugawa Ieyasu
The great Tokugawa Ieyasu was originally an ally of Oda Nobunaga. After the death of Nobunaga's successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ieyasu gathered his own army and started a long, bloody war. As a result, he established the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1600, which lasted until 1868.

Hattori Hanzo
The leader of the Iga clan, Hattori Hanzo was one of those rare samurai who were trained as ninja warriors. He was a loyal servant of Tokugawa Ieyasu and saved his master from certain death several times. As he grew older, Hanzo became a Buddhist monk and ended his days in a monastery.

Honda tadakatsu
He was nicknamed "the warrior who conquered death." During his life, Tadakatsu took part in hundreds of battles and was not defeated in any of them. Honda's favorite blade was the legendary Dragonfly spear, which instilled fear in the enemy. It was Tadakatsu who led one of the troops in the decisive battle of Sekigahara, which led to a new era in Japanese history.

Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi was one of Japan's greatest swordsmen. Musashi had his first duel at the age of 13: he fought on the side of the Toyotomi clan against the Tokugawa clan. Miyamoto traveled around the country almost his entire life, meeting great masters in mortal battles. At the end of his life, the great warrior wrote a treatise of the Five Rings, describing in detail the technique of using the sword.

Shimazu Yoshihisa
One of the most famous warlords of the Sengoku period, Shimazu Yoshihisa was from Satsuma province. Shimazu strove to unite Kyushu and won many victories. The general's clan ruled most of the island for many years, but was ultimately defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Shimazu Yoshihisa himself became a Buddhist monk and died in a monastery.