Interesting facts about the warriors of Japan - the great samurai. Who is a samurai? Japanese samurai: code, weapons, customs
Japanese culture appears to Western people as a collection of ideas and colorful images. And the most striking of them is the image of a samurai warrior. He has a heroic halo and is considered a kind of symbol of courage and fortitude in battle. But do we all know about samurai? How different is the truth about these warriors from legends and myths?
Samurai: definition of the word
In the understanding of Europeans, any Japanese warrior taking part in a battle is a samurai. In fact, this statement is fundamentally wrong. The samurai is a special class of feudal lords who have received a special education, have undergone a ritual of initiation and have a distinctive sign - a Japanese sword. The purpose of such a warrior's life was to serve his master. He must be devoted to him with all his being and unquestioningly carry out any orders.
This goal can be traced in the very definition of "samurai". The meaning of the word translated from Japanese sounds like the verb "to serve". Therefore, it is not surprising that the life of a samurai is closely related to the life of his master, the daimyo. Many Europeans believe that a samurai is a servant person who can be called the Japanese word "bushi". But this is also an erroneous opinion; these two words should not be confused.
The samurai has a broader and more comprehensive meaning, in wartime he was the best protection for the master, and in peacetime he was an ordinary servant. Bushi, on the other hand, belong to the class of simple warriors who could be hired for a while. Payment for services was made in money, but most often the feudal lords paid for the services of soldiers with rice.
Samurai History: A Brief Historical Background
Samurai as an estate originated in the seventh century. During this period, Japan experienced feudal fragmentation, and every major feudal lord needed well-trained professional warriors. They were the samurai.
Young warriors were often starved to death and forced to stay awake for several nights in a row. They did all the hard work around the house, walked barefoot at any time of the year, and woke up with the first rays of the sun. In order for the future samurai not to fear death, they were often taken to watch executions, and at night they had to come to the bodies of the executed and leave their mark on them. Often they were sent to places where, according to legend, ghosts lived, and left there without food or drink for several nights. As a result, the young men developed fearlessness and amazing composure, they could think soberly in any situation.
In addition to the martial arts, samurai were taught writing and history, but these disciplines were not what a samurai should actually do. It was just an add-on that could help in battle in one way or another.
By the age of sixteen, the young man was considered fully trained and could begin the rite of initiation and initiation into the samurai.
Rite of passage into warriors
The samurai teacher and his future daimyo, with whom vassal relations were consolidated, had to be present at the initiation ceremony. The ceremony was accompanied by obtaining their own set of swords - daise, shaving their heads and getting new clothes for an adult samurai. In parallel, the young man went through several tests that were supposed to show his strength and skills. At the end of the ceremony, he was given a new name, replacing the one given at birth. It was believed that this day is the birthday of the samurai, and under the new name he will be known throughout his independent life.
Could a commoner become a samurai?
In the European view, the legend of the samurai, which belongs to the upper class of Japanese society, has a set of all positive qualities and crystal clear thoughts. In fact, this is the most common myth about feudal warriors. Indeed, in reality, a samurai is not necessarily a person from high society; absolutely any peasant could become a warrior. There was no difference between the origins of the samurai, they studied in the same way and subsequently received absolutely equal salaries from the master.
Therefore, samurai quite often changed their masters, feeling that they were losing the battle. It was quite normal for them to bring the head of the old one to the new master, thus deciding the outcome of the battle in their favor.
Samurai women: myth or reality?
In historical sources and Japanese literature of the Middle Ages, practically nothing is mentioned about female warriors, but they quite often became samurai. There were absolutely no restrictions on this in the code of honor.
Girls were also brought up from a family at eight years old and underwent initiation rites at sixteen. As a weapon, a samurai woman received a short dagger or a long and sharp spear from the teacher. In battle, it was capable of cutting through enemy armor with ease. The popularity of military affairs among women is evidenced by the studies of Japanese scientists. They made a DNA test on the remains of the bodies of samurai who died in battles found at the excavation, to their surprise, 30% of the soldiers turned out to be women.
Bushido Code: Brief Provisions
The samurai code of conduct was formed from numerous laws and regulations that were collected into a single source around the thirteenth century. During this period, samurai were just beginning to form as a separate class of Japanese society. By the sixteenth century, bushido had finally taken shape and began to represent the real philosophy of the samurai.
The warrior's code covered almost all spheres of life, each had its own special rule of behavior. For example, according to this philosophy, a samurai is someone who knows exactly how to live and die. He is ready to boldly go alone on a hundred enemies, knowing that death awaits him ahead. Legends were made about such brave men, their relatives were proud of them and put in the house portraits of samurai who died in battle.
The samurai's code of honor ordered him to constantly improve and train not only the body and mind, but also the spirit. Only a strong spirit could be a warrior worthy of a fight. In case of the order of the lord, the samurai had to commit hara-kiri and die with a smile and gratitude on his lips.
In Japan, the story of the samurai is still successfully used; it brings fabulous money to the country's tourism industry. After all, everything connected with this period in the history of the country was romanticized by the Europeans. Now it is already difficult to find grains of truth among the numerous legends, but one is quite difficult to argue with: the samurai is as vivid a symbol of modern Japan as a kimono or sushi. It is through this prism that Europeans perceive the history of the Land of the Rising Sun.
The samurai were a much more complex class than modern society's notion of a 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 weren't that elite
Although we think of the samurai as an elite fighting force, most of the Japanese army were foot soldiers called ashigaru, and it was the infantry who won the wars.
Ashigaru started out as a bunch of motley people brought 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. V ancient japan there were three types of warriors: samurai, ashigaru and ji-samurai. Ji-samurai were samurai only when necessary, working as farmers for the rest of the year.
When a ji-samurai decided to become a full-fledged samurai, he joined the ashigaru, and not the ranks of his wealthier colleagues. Ji-samurai, of course, were not as respected as true samurai, but their assimilation into ashigaru was hardly a demotion. The 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 event that Toyotomi Hideyoshi, son of an ashigaru, rose so high that he became a prominent ruler of Japan. Then he knocked the ladder out from under those who at that time were not samurai, thus freezing the distribution of social classes in Japan.
9. Christian samurai
Photo: Boac Marinduque
The arrival of Jesuit missionaries in southern Japan led some daimyo to convert to Christianity. Their conversion was arguably more practical than religious, since a connection with Christendom meant access to European military equipment... A Christian daimyo, Arima Harunobu deployed European cannons to use against his enemies at the Battle of Okita-Nawate. Since Harunobu was a Christian, the Jesuit missionary was present at the battle and recorded as his samurai, rather mistakenly knelt down and recited the Lord's Prayer before each shot they fired with their precious cannons.
Allegiance to Christianity prevented the daimyo Dom Justo Takayama from acting like any other samurai warlord during his reign. When Japan expelled Christian missionaries and forced Japanese Christians to renounce their faith, Takayama chose to flee Japan with 300 other Christians, but not give up his faith. Currently, the question of giving Takayama the status of a Catholic saint is being considered.
8. Ceremonies for the inspection of severed heads
The enemy's head was proof of a samurai's accomplishment. After the battle, the heads were collected from the shoulders of their dead owners and introduced to the daimyo, who enjoyed a relaxing ceremony of viewing the severed heads 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 placed on a small wooden holder and marked with the names of the victim and killer. When time was short, a hasty ceremony was arranged, during which the heads were placed on the leaves to absorb the blood.
In one case, viewing the conquered heads resulted in the daimyo losing his own. After the capture of the two forts of Oda Nobunaga, daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto marched for a head-viewing ceremony and a musical performance. Unfortunately for Yoshimoto, the rest of Nobunaga's forces moved forward and launched a surprise attack while the heads readied for viewing. Nobunaga's forces crept right up to Yoshimoto's army and attacked after an accidental thunderstorm. Yoshimoto's severed head then became the centerpiece for the head-viewing ceremony of his enemy.
The severed head reward system was operated in a black manner. Some samurai said that the head of the 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 daimyo sometimes even forbade accepting 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 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 daimyos were in danger. In addition to being one of the first samurai clans to use firearms, the Shimazu clan in southern Japan was famous for using troops of warriors who made false retreats to lure their enemies into a vulnerable position.
In retreating, the samurai used a billowing cloak called a horo, which protected them from arrows while fleeing on horseback. Horo was inflated like a 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 pressed 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 before 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 to wear flags on their backs, which detailed their ancestry. However, since the opponents were probably not interested in reading family stories in the heat of battle, the practice never caught on.
In the 16th century, warriors began wearing sashimonos, small flags that were designed to be worn on the back of a samurai to reflect their personality. The samurai went to great lengths to stand out from the crowd, and the sashimonos weren't limited to flags, they also included items such as fans and wooden sunburst designs. Many went even further and celebrated their personality with ornate helmets with deer, buffalo antlers, peacock feathers - everything that helped 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 the Korean army off its coast. The poor harvest left little food in Japan, and with the capital far to the east, the unemployed ronin in the west were desperate for income and with little supervision. 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 they caused many international disputes between China, Korea and Japan. Although the wokou over time began to include an increasing number of other nationalities, the early raids were carried out primarily by the Japanese and continued for many years as the pirates were protected by local samurai families.
Korea eventually came under the control of the Mongols. After that, the enemy of the wokou became Kublai Khan, to whom the Korean ambassadors informed that the Japanese were "cruel and bloodthirsty" and the Mongols began an invasion of Japanese shores.
The invasion was unsuccessful, however, it helped to halt further wokou raids until the 14th century. By that time, the wokou were a mixed group of people from different parts of Asia. However, due to their numerous incursions into Korea and China from the Japanese islands, Emperor Ming threatened to invade Japan if she could not solve her problem with the pirates.
4. Harakiri was actively condemned
Harakiri, or ritual suicide, was the samurai's way of retaining his honor after a certain defeat. Everyone was hunting him anyway, and he had nothing to lose except his nerves before the procedure of dumping his guts on the floor. However, while the samurai were willing to commit suicide in this honorable manner, daimyos were more worried about preserving their armies. The most famous historical examples of mass suicide overshadow the simple truth that there was no point in losing talented warriors. The victorious daimyo often wanted their enemies to swear allegiance to them rather than commit hara-kiri.
One type of hara-kiri was junshi. While committing this type of suicide, the samurai followed his fallen master into the afterlife. This was very problematic for the heir to the lord. Instead of inheriting his father's samurai army, he had a courtyard full of the corpses of the best warriors. And given the fact that the new daimyo had the honor to financially support the family of the fallen samurai, Junshi was also an unattractive financial prospect. Ultimately, the practice of junshi was banned by the Tokugawa shogunate, although this did not stop some samurai from following it.
3. Samurai abroad
While the samurai in service rarely left their daimyo's territory, except for incursions into foreign territory, many ronin sought their fortune abroad. Among the first foreign countries who started hiring samurai was Spain. In a conspiracy to conquer China for Christendom, Spanish leaders in the Philippines added thousands of samurai to the multinational invasion force. The invasion never began due to lack of support from the Spanish crown, but other samurai mercenaries often served under the Spanish flag.
Samurai of fortune especially distinguished themselves in ancient Thailand, where the Japanese garrison of samurai, consisting of approximately 1,500 people, helped in military campaigns. The colony consisted mainly of ronin seeking 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 an area in southern Thailand, but after choosing the losing side in the succession war, he died of his wounds in battle. After his death, the Japanese presence in Thailand quickly diminished as many fled to neighboring Cambodia, due to the opposition of the new king to the Japanese.
2. Late samurai were poor and could kill peasants 
Photo: PHGCOM / Wikimedia
After Japan was unified, the samurai who made their living by participating in endless civil wars of his country, it turned out that there was no one to fight with. 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 daimyos who paid them in rice.
By law, samurai were forbidden to work in order to support themselves. Trade and Agriculture were considered peasant work, due to which the only source of income for the samurai was fixed payments in rice in an economy that quickly switched to trade 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 had to exchange their rice for real money. Unfortunately for top class under strong pressure to give good gifts Possessing quality items, and wearing stylish clothing 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 insolent commoners. This was a tempting right for the ruined samurai, who could now pay off their debts with the sword. However, there are practically no documented cases of the use of this right, so it seems that in general samurai did not use this right.
1. How it all ended
Over the past 250 years or so of their existence, samurai have gradually evolved into poets, scholars, and officials. Hagakure, arguably the greatest book on how to be a samurai, was the commentary of a samurai who lived and died without ever taking part in any war.
However, samurai remained the military class of Japan and despite the prevailing world, some of Japan's finest swordsmen were from the Edo era. Those samurai who did not want to exchange their katana for a feather, diligently trained in swordsmanship, fought in duels to win enough fame to open their own fighting schools. The most famous book on Japanese warfare, The Book of Five Rings appeared during this period. Author Miyamoto Musashi was considered one of Japan's greatest swordsmen and fought in two of the several major battles of the period, as well as numerous duels.
Meanwhile, those samurai who stepped into the political arena steadily grew in power. In the end, they gained enough strength to challenge the shogunate. They managed to overthrow him by fighting in the name of the emperor. By overthrowing the government and installing a nominal emperor, they effectively 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 conscript army, dramatically weakening Japan's military class.
The growing frustrations of the samurai finally culminated in the Satsuma Rebellion, portrayed very loosely in The Last Samurai. While the actual rebellion was vastly different from the way it was portrayed in Hollywood, it's safe to say that the samurai, true to their martial spirit, ended up in a flash of glory.
In modern popular culture, Japanese samurai are portrayed as a medieval warrior, similar to Western knights. This is not entirely correct interpretation of the concept. In fact, the samurai were primarily feudal lords who owned their own land and were the mainstay of power. This class was one of the key ones in the Japanese civilization of that time.
The origin of the estate
Around the 18th century, the very same warriors appeared, the successor of which is any samurai. Japanese feudalism arose as a result of 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 were formed, possessing significant resources.
Approximately in the X-XII centuries. in Japan, a process similar to the European one took place - the country was shaken. Feudal lords fought against each other for land and wealth. At the same time, the imperial power remained, but it was extremely weakened and could not interfere with civil confrontation. It was then that the Japanese samurai received their own code of rules - bushido.
Shogunate
In 1192, a political system emerged, which was later called a complex and dual system of government for the entire country, when the emperor and the shogun - figuratively speaking, the main samurai - ruled at the same time. Japanese feudalism relied on the traditions and power of influential families. If Europe overcame its own feuds during the Renaissance, then the distant and isolated insular civilization for a long time lived 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 holder of this title a monopoly right to collect an army in the country. That is, any other challenger or peasant uprising could not stage a coup d'etat due to the inequality of forces. The shogunate existed from 1192 to 1867.
Feudal hierarchy
The samurai class has always been distinguished by a strict hierarchy. At the very top of this staircase 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 elected from among the daimyo.
At the middle level were feudal lords who owned small estates. Their approximate number fluctuated in the region of several thousand people. Next came 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 stratum. In fact, the power of the feudal lord depended on the size of his estate and the income from it. It was often measured in rice, the staple food of all Japanese civilization. The soldiers were also paid with literal rations. For such a "trade" even had its own system of measures and weights. Koku was equal to 160 kilograms of rice. About 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. Thus, 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 needed to be fed and maintained.
The relationship between shogun and daimyo
The hierarchical system of the samurai class allowed regularly serving feudal lords to rise very high up the social ladder. From time to time they rebelled against the supreme power. The shoguns tried to keep 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 to their master for a solemn reception once a year. Such events were accompanied by long travels across the country and high costs. If the daimyo was suspected of treason, the shogun could, during such a visit, actually take a family member of his unwanted vassal hostage.
Bushido Code
Along with the development of the shogunate, the authors of which were the best Japanese samurai. This set of rules was formed under the influence of the ideas of Buddhism, Shinto 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, Shintoism was ancient pagan. It was based on such norms as the worship of nature, ancestors, the country and the emperor. Shinto allowed the existence of magic and otherworldly spirits. The cult of patriotism and faithful service to the state first of all passed from this religion to bushido.
Thanks to Buddhism, the code of the Japanese samurai included ideas such as a special attitude towards death and an indifferent view of life's problems. Aristocrats often practiced Zen, believing in the rebirth of souls after death.
Samurai philosophy
A Japanese samurai warrior was brought up in bushido. He had to strictly follow all the prescribed rules. These norms applied to both public service and personal life.
The popular comparison of knights and samurai is wrong precisely from the point of view of comparing the European code of honor and the rules of bushido. 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 their honestly when agreeing on some kind of agreement between the feudal lords. For a samurai, that would be an insult. At the same time, from the point of view of the Japanese warrior, a surprise attack on the enemy was not a violation of the rules. For a French knight, this would mean the treachery of the enemy.
Military honor
In the Middle Ages, every resident of the country knew the names of Japanese samurai, since they were the state and military elite. Few who wanted to join this class could do it (either because of thinness, or because of inappropriate behavior). The closeness of the samurai class was precisely the fact that strangers were rarely allowed into it.
Clannishness and exclusivity strongly influenced the norms of behavior of warriors. For them, the main place was own dignity... If a samurai incurred shame by an unworthy act, he had to commit suicide. This practice is called hara-kiri.
Every samurai had to answer for his words. Japanese Code honor ordered to think several times before making any statement. Warriors were required to be moderate in food and avoid licentiousness. A real samurai always remembered death and every day reminded himself that sooner or later his earthly path will end, so the only thing that matters is whether he was able to preserve his own honor.
Family attitude
Family worship also took place in Japan. So, for example, the samurai had to remember the rule of "branches and trunk". According to custom, the family was compared to a tree. The parents were the trunk, and the children were only the branches.
If a warrior treated his elders contemptuously or disrespectfully, he automatically became an outcast in society. This rule was followed by all generations of aristocrats, including the very last samurai. Japanese traditionalism has existed in the country for many centuries, and neither modernization nor a way out of isolation could break it.
Attitude towards the state
The samurai were taught that their attitude towards the state and legal authority had to be as humble as towards their own family. For the warrior there were no interests above his master. Japanese samurai weapons served the rulers until the very end, even when the number of their supporters became critically small.
A loyal attitude towards the overlord often took the form of unusual traditions and habits. So, samurai did not have the right to go to bed with their feet in the direction of the residence of their master. Also, the warrior made sure not to aim his weapon in the direction of his master.
A characteristic of the samurai's behavior was a contemptuous attitude towards death on the battlefield. It is interesting that there are obligatory rituals here. So, if a warrior realized that his battle was lost, and he was hopelessly surrounded, he had to give his own name and calmly die from the enemy's weapons. The mortally wounded samurai, before giving up his ghost, pronounced the names of senior Japanese samurai.
Education and customs
The estate of feudal warriors was not only a militaristic stratum of society. The samurai were highly 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 everything was exactly the opposite. The Japanese could not protect their owner where literature saved him.
For these warriors, poetry was the norm. The great fighter Minamoto, who lived in the XI century, could spare a defeated enemy if he read him a good poem. One samurai wisdom held that the weapon is the warrior's right hand, while literature is the left.
The tea ceremony was an important part of everyday life. The custom of drinking a hot drink was spiritual. This ritual was adopted from Buddhist monks who meditated in a collective manner. The 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 to 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 fistfighting was also highly valued. Japanese samurai and ninja had to be not only strong, but also extremely hardy. Each student had to swim in stormy river fully clothed.
A real warrior could defeat the enemy not only with weapons. He knew how to suppress an opponent morally. This was done with the help of a special battle cry, which made unprepared enemies uncomfortable.
Casual 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 clothing. In addition, their clothes had a special cut. Kimono and hakama were obligatory. Weapons were also considered part of the wardrobe. The samurai always carried two swords with him. They were tucked into a wide belt.
Only aristocrats could wear such clothes. For peasants, such a wardrobe was prohibited. 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. A Japanese translation of the motto could explain where he was from and who he served.
Samurai could use any handy item as a weapon. Therefore, the wardrobe was also selected for possible self-defense. The samurai fan became an excellent weapon. It differed from ordinary ones in that iron was the basis of its design. 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. Typical armor of medieval Japan included metal helmets and breastplates. The technology of their production originated during the heyday of the shogunate and since then has practically not changed.
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 warriors set off on a long campaign, then their vestments were carried in a wagon train. As a rule, servants watched over the armor.
In medieval Europe, a shield was the main distinguishing element of equipment. With the help of him, the knights showed their belonging to one or another feudal lord. The samurai did not have shields. For identification purposes, they used colored cords, banners, and helmets with engraved emblems.
Japan is a country of brave samurai and brave shoguns. The whole world knows about the valor and courage of the Japanese warriors. 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". This word also has several other meanings - "serve", "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 high 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. It was enough times of peace, therefore, 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 probably 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 conducted 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 the samurai - rebels, were simply killed, finally 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 with early years... 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, from childhood, the child was instilled 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, 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. There they were closed and not fed for a long time. Some fathers forced their sons to 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 a 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 title of samurai in medieval Japan was hereditary. The son, as a rule, followed in the footsteps of his father, becoming a professional warrior, a representative of the class of the military service nobility, and remained in the feudal clan of which his parent was a member. Therefore, in samurai families, special attention was paid to educating the younger generation from early childhood in the spirit of bushido. The main task of the mentors of the young bushi was to develop in him that complex of features that were considered necessary in the samurai profession, i.e. the upbringing of a physically strong person, fully proficient in the art of war, armed with knowledge of the moral principles of the ruling class.
The son of a samurai from birth was surrounded by exceptional care. He was the continuer of the family, keeper and heir of its traditions. He had the right to perform religious rites for the worship of ancestors. (According to Shinto and Confucian teachings, only men could perform rituals and offer gratitude to the spirits of their ancestors, “calming” their souls.) Based on this, the birth of a male child in a Japanese family was considered a holiday. WITH special attention belonged to the first son, since, according to the law, from the moment of birth, he was considered the heir of the house, the entire state of the family and the name of the samurai. In addition, the son inherited the land or rice ration, for which his father served with the feudal lord.
Therefore, if a samurai without an heir in the family (in 1615 the samurai were allowed to adopt heirs from among their relatives bearing the same family name) for some reason could not take a concubine for himself or if the latter could not give birth to his son, the feudal lord confiscated from the busi put it on and deprived of the generic name. This meant that the samurai was losing his place in social structure and became a ronin. This measure was often practiced by feudal lords under the first Tokugawa shoguns due to the fact that the land was under their direct control. Between the times of Kencho (1601) and Keinan (1651), about 60 feudal families lost their fiefs for this reason.
In the first days after the birth of the child, relatives came to the samurai's house, bringing gifts to the boy, among which there were two fans curved, considered as harbingers of the warrior's two swords and as a symbol of bravery.
After a few years, the warrior's son received one or two (depending on the rank of the father) small toy swords carved from wood. This taught the young samurai to love his weapons - swords, belonging to the class of warriors.
To develop a military spirit and respect for military valor (shobu) in the children of samurai, the annual boys' holidays - "tango no sekku", celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the lunar calendar, and then became widespread in the Edo period, were called upon. (Tango no sekku is one of the traditional Japanese holidays that is celebrated throughout Japan today). During the festival, boys were exhibited in the house of skillfully made miniature armor, sometimes worn on dolls specially made for this purpose (kabuto ningyo), swords, bows and arrows, banners, thus trying to educate in the future samurai belligerence, respect and reverence for the military equipment and to the very craft of the samurai. Children were forbidden to play with such swords and armor, they could only look at them, since the demonstration of toys was equated with the samurai practice of showing swords and armor. An indispensable accessory at the boys' festival was koinobori - an image of carps made of colored fabric or paper and raised on bamboo poles above every house where one or more boys lived. (The number of hanged carps corresponded to the number of boys in the family). Carps were designed for the same purpose as toy weapons. They symbolized "courageous virtue", which meant "military virtue". In Japan, carps are still considered samurai among fish. They are seen as a symbol of energy, courage and unyielding toughness. The children of the warriors were taught that they were required of the same perseverance in achieving the goal, which the carp shows, overcoming the stormy streams, the same stoicism and fearlessness that, according to the samurai, this fish “shows” on the cook's table, without shying away or flinching from blow of a knife. It is possible that it was these "qualities" of carp that caused the appearance of its amulets in the temple of the god of war Hachiman.
Samurai youth also joined the warrior profession during the holidays in honor of victories over the Ainu and in other battles of the Middle Ages, when they exhibited and carried samurai equipment around the city, demonstrated the art of bushi and told stories of heroism (gundan). Confucianism exerted a significant influence. According to one of his principles, children should have treated their parents with reverence and respect, cherish them, love them, not oppose their will, not cause them grief and anxiety, even if “the parents, by their desires, were bad people and treated bad to children. "
In bushido, this attitude of children towards their parents was mediated by the principle of kettlebells, which conditioned the respect for age (respect for parents and elders in general) and explained such actions as sacrificing oneself for the sake of parents.
Careful parenting of children at home meant reading them moralizing stories from books of a Confucian character. Instructive stories of this kind served as a guide to practical action, were a kind of code of moral rules. So, in one of these stories, it was said about how a boy lay down in the cold on the ice of a frozen river in order to melt him with the warmth of his body and get fish for his stepmother; in the other, how the boy slept at night, not covering himself with anything in order to distract the mosquitoes from his parents on himself.
However, the ultimate goal of raising a sense of filial duty (oyakoko) in a child was not only respect and love for parents and elders, shown in action. The highest point of moral training of samurai youth in the spirit of the teachings of Confucius was the development of loyalty to the sovereign, who was also considered the father of a warrior. The filial duty, thus, served as a basis for loyalty and was equated with the loyalty of a vassal to the overlord. An example is the statement about the duties of a vassal of one of the rulers of Tokugawa Japan, Prince Mito Mitsukuni (1628-1700). He said: “If your father is guilty (of high treason), I will not induce you to betray him; to do so would be to sin against justice (weight). Filial love and loyalty are the same virtues, so you personally must know how to act in such a case, I represent the solution to such a question of your conscience. "
The teacher of the young samurai enjoyed no less respect than his father. The authority of the mentor was very high, his orders were carried out without question. A popular saying was: "The parent is the one who gave birth to me, the teacher is the one who makes me human." Another saying says: "Your father and mother are like Heaven and Earth, your teacher and master are like the sun and the moon." The spiritual service of a teacher (often a priest) in education was considered invaluable. For the upbringing of a person, it was impossible to give material reward, since the intangible and immeasurable cannot be measured, for him one should endlessly respect and extol his teacher.
Education in the family and the instruction of the teacher were two main factors, the foundation in the education of the youth of the samurai estate, which formed the ideal of a warrior, based on mythical legends, Buddhist indifference to death, the Confucian cult of filial piety, and a purely Japanese basis - loyalty to his feudal lord. The family and mentor primarily cared about the development of the character of a teenager, developed courage and courage, endurance and patience.
They tried to raise future samurai fearless and courageous, in other words, they developed qualities that were considered among the samurai to be the most important virtues, in which a warrior could neglect his own life for the sake of the life of another, especially the life of his patron and master. This character was developed by reading stories and stories about the bravery and belligerence of legendary heroes, famous military leaders and samurai, watching theatrical performances. Often, the father ordered the future warrior to go at night to a cemetery or a place known for its ill fame (where devilry, perfume, etc.). It was practiced for boys to visit public punishments and executions, as well as to examine the severed heads of criminals at night, on which the samurai's son had to leave his sign, proving that the young bushi really came to the place indicated to him.
In order to develop patience and endurance in young people, the sons of soldiers were forced to perform unbearably hard work, spend nights without sleep (during the holidays of the gods of learning), walk barefoot in winter, get up early, etc. The unintentional deprivation of food was considered beneficial.
Boys and girls were brought up in the ability to control their actions, to refrain from expressing their feelings with exclamations, from groans and tears. “Why are you crying from such trifles, coward? - said the mother to her crying son. "What will you do if your hand is cut off in battle or you have to do hara-kiri?" From early childhood, bushi children instilled a sense of honor and shame, taught to be truthful and disciplined.
Such upbringing developed composure, calmness and presence of mind, helped the samurai not to lose their clarity of mind during the most serious trials. 
Samurai education
Samurai youth were required to systematically train in order to master the art of war, to be comprehensively prepared for the use of weapons, physically strong and dexterous. Young samurai had to perfectly master the techniques of fencing (with swords and halberds), shoot from a bow, know ju-jutsu, be able to handle a spear, ride a horse (for young men from high-ranking samurai families), and have knowledge of tactics. For this purpose, in each clan, at the court of each feudal lord, magnificent fencing halls, grounds for archery and gymnastic exercises, arenas, where the best experts in their field taught under the direct supervision of the feudal lord, were arranged. Education in these clan schools usually began at the age of eight and lasted until 15. The pedagogical requirements of bushido added to the mastery of the martial arts the study of literature, history, calligraphy, etc. However, the samurai stopped their attention on disciplines extraneous to military affairs only insofar as it concerned the warrior's profession and could be useful in military practice. Special schools in which classical Chinese literature, fine arts, etc. were taught, which were considered a necessary accessory to the feudal lord's estate, rather out of decency, as an imitation of the imperial court in Kyoto, where the emperor was in honorary exile, were despised by samurai and were by no means respected, but only tolerant. In these schools one could see children incapable of mastering the samurai military sciences, sickly and weak, simply physical monsters, or people who voluntarily renounced the world of violence. Mocking and despising such students, the samurai said: "Studying the sciences is the pitiful lot of the pampered, effeminate courtiers of Kyoto, whose poor health does not allow them to use their muscles and deprives them of the pleasant opportunity to exercise in the noble art of samurai." 
Nevertheless, it was from this environment that many national thinkers, famous poets, writers and renowned artists of the Japanese Middle Ages emerged.
At the age of 15, the education of a young samurai was considered complete. He received real combat swords, which he did not have to part with all his life; the girl was given a short dagger - belonging to every woman of the class of warriors. The young man passed into a new age group- a society of adults. Coming of age was accompanied by other initiatory actions called gembuku or genpuku. During the rite of puberty, the initiate, according to an ancient custom, was first given the hairstyle of a samurai - the Sakayaki: shaved off the hair at the forehead and tied a knot of hair (motodori) on the crown of the head. The young man was put on a special high headdress - eboshi, adapted for wearing motodori. The person who during the ceremony put eboshi on the head of a young bushi was called "usiromi", i.e. guardian, or eboshi-oya (literally, "head-dress parent"). In Japan, the initiation rite has been widespread among both the aristocracy and the common people since antiquity. From the Nara period (710 - 794), young men of aristocratic families were ceremonially initiated in a ritual influenced by Chinese customs. This rite was called "ui-koburi", or "kakan" (kakan-no shiki - "wearing the crown for the first time"). In connection with the gembuku, the samurai put on the clothes of an adult for the first time; her set included wide trousers (hakama), similar to a skirt and being a special distinction of the class of warriors. Their first solemn dressing was a family holiday and was associated with a visit to the temple of the deity - the patron saint of the adult clan.
The initiation actions included obtaining an adult name, ceremonial cohabitation with his bride (hod-awase), testing the strength of a samurai, etc. The guardian of the subject of gembuku was usually asked to become a strong and powerful feudal lord, to which the samurai attached great importance and which was considered as the acceptance of mutual obligations of the lord and the bushi. Having received a weapon and having passed the initiation ceremony, the young samurai gained freedom and independence in action, was filled with a sense of self-respect and responsibility. He became a full member of his class.
It goes without saying that, being professional warriors, samurai had to pay main attention to the military craft and recognize it only as the only occupation worthy of a "noble" person, i.e. busi. The whole complex of what each samurai cultivated in himself, all spiritual and physical abilities were ultimately subordinated to the only and main point - the mastery of military skill, without which the very concept of "samurai" would be meaningless. The highest requirement for each warrior depended on the degree of military and physical preparedness of the samurai: the ability to fight (with or without weapons) with the enemy and defeat him. This led to the fact that, preparing themselves for the main thing in life - war, the bushi constantly improved the art of a warrior and physical training from early childhood, exercising in the use of weapons, bringing up physical and spiritual firmness, courage and determination.
A distinctive feature of all Japanese types of martial arts (bugei) is that the main emphasis in mastering them was made primarily on the moral and moral side and the development of "spiritual abilities of the samurai", i.e. mental balance of a warrior, and then only on the formation of a physically developed personality. The moral content of such disciplines as kendo, kyu-do, etc., is shown by a hieroglyph, which in combination with others sounded like "do", being the basis of these words, speaking about the moral principle and also having a deep connection with the religious aspects of the life of the military estates. Moral principle in the military training of Japanese soldiers was driven by the teachings of Confucius. In Confucianism "before" was considered as a certain ethical category. As for the religious aspect, the basis for making was the direct connection "do" with Zen Buddhism.
Cognition of "do" ("the correct true path" or "truth") was considered the main thing in fencing, archery, unarmed wrestling, swimming, etc. (where it was, as it were, the forming ideal of the samurai, the achievement of which meant, in a philosophical sense, the knowledge of oneself), necessary for the harmonious development of the individual.
Eastern philosophical tradition often calls “do” the “path”, which has life-giving forces, emitting rays of light, like the sun. In this regard, "do" is identical to the concept of "Tao", interpreted in the philosophy and aesthetics of China as the eternal and inalienable root cause of all that exists, spiritual and material, and identified by objective idealism with the source of things and phenomena of the world, with the "path" of nature. In accordance with this, theorists of martial arts believed that "do" as a primary substance can once awaken in a person a "valuable" phenomenon, understood only instinctively, mystically, which allows the individual to become involved in the goal of the "great teaching." In the martial arts of the samurai, “do” had the character of a formative ideal and principle, without which these arts were impossible. The goal and essence of the struggle was the achievement and contact of each warrior with "do", that is, fusion of the singular and the whole. In other words, “before” was supposed to help the samurai find “single being in everything,” “come into contact with the divine (deity), catch his presence, see his existence. This is consistent with Zen theses about the "primordial nature of Buddha", which is present in everything (living and inanimate), which is comprehended by a person through satori, finding nirvana on earth, among the living.
Thus, the samurai, knowing the "do", had to achieve military skill, in contact with the "true path", and "enter into perfect harmony with nature", with which a person is an inseparable whole. The internal training of the warrior was of predominant importance, to which more attention was paid than the tension of the external physical forces of the samurai. Meditation was a decisive factor in the development of fortitude. With the help of zazen - the spiritual basis of the military-sports education of samurai, designed, in the words of the interpreters of Zen Buddhism, to help in achieving harmony with "negative nothing", the warriors had to develop a mentally balanced state in order to perform their basic, military functions, as well as for an equally important matter - training in fencing, shooting, etc., which, in turn, acted as rehearsals of the actual combat operations. It was a state of "high alert", which in no way meant "faint-hearted drowsiness."
Despite a number of purely mystical elements, Zen meditation also had a rational grain. First of all, this concerns the setting of correct breathing, which is extremely necessary for any physical exercise. Before the training battle, samurai usually assumed the posture typical of Zen Buddhist monks who prepared for contemplation and tried to breathe deeply and evenly. This prepared the respiratory organs in advance for physical work and facilitated the further rhythmic functioning of the lungs during the very fight with the enemy, when the body's need for oxygen sharply increased. 
The predominant spiritual tension, which contributed to the development of self-control, composure and sobriety of thought in all exercises, however, did not mean that in the martial arts of the samurai the physical factor (strength and endurance) was considered insignificant. Being the second formative element in military disciplines, physical education required from the warrior painstaking perfection of technique, the development of physical strength, endurance, the development of an almost instinctive phenomenal reaction and coordination of movements. All this was achieved as a result of daily and many hours of training.
