10 little-known facts about samurai that are silent in literature and cinema

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Japanese samurai have an almost mythical reputation. The idea of warriors mastering a katana and adhering to a noble code is incredibly romantic. In addition, it was backed up by legends and films. But in fact, many of the real facts about the samurai are silent, as this would destroy the romantic flair created by cinema and literature.

1. Capes "good"

The samurai wore massive 2-meter khoro capes that were stuffed with lightweight materials and soared around the samurai's body in the slightest wind. Horo were supposed to protect the samurai from arrows. And the good were also the main status symbol of the war. An enemy killed in battle, on whom he was wearing a good, was buried with honors.

2. Samurai swords

In the 13th century, when the Mongols attacked Japan, the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun first encountered an army equipped with heavy armor. Their swords at that moment did not stand up to criticism. Thin Japanese weapons got stuck in Mongolian leather armor, and often simply broke in half. These slender samurai swords broke so often that they were forced to abandon them and begin to make larger and heavier swords to resist the Mongols.

3. Samura - "sissies"

In feudal Japan, it was believed that a man who spends the night with a woman is a sissy. The samurai believed that sex with women had a “feminizing” effect on the mind and body of a man. The samurai married if it was necessary for him to procreate, but he never allowed himself to be carried away by his wife. If a samurai was seen kissing his wife in public, then his masculinity was called into question. At the same time, homosexual relationships were perceived as something commonplace.

4. Surety-lover

When the boy was studying the art of samurai, he often paired with a mature man. The elder taught the boy martial arts, etiquette, code of honor, and in return used him to satisfy lust. It was called "sudo", which means "the path from boy to teenager." When a boy was 13 years old, he usually swore allegiance to the teacher and lived with him for the next six years. This was considered completely normal. One Japanese poet wrote: "A young man without a senior guarantor-lover is like a young girl without a groom." It was really treated like a marriage.

5. Immediately and with a witness

If a samurai was treated disrespectfully by someone from the lower class, then he could kill that person on the spot. However, there were several rules. The samurai had to do it immediately and in front of witnesses. Moreover, it was considered shameful not to do such a thing.

6. Right leg only

Samurai became paranoid about their bathroom after the case of the daimyo Uesugi Kenshin, who was killed in the toilet in the 16th century. The assassin made his way to the toilet and stabbed Uesugi Kenshin with a spear, catching him by surprise with his pants down. After that, his rival Takeda Shingen worried that someone might do something similar to him, and took action. Since then, all martial artists have begun to teach adepts to go to the toilet with the right leg fully lowered to ensure their freedom of action. Samurai bathrooms were planned to be protected from assassins.

7. Death smell

A legendary samurai named Shigenari Kimura fought his last battle in 1615, defending a castle in Osaka. He boldly led his troops to the battlefield, having carefully cut his hair and fumigated his helmet with incense. Kimura knew that he would not survive and decided to "take care" of his future killer, leaving him a fragrant corpse. He knew that his head would be someone's trophy and wanted it to smell good.

8. Dog in armor

Today, at least one set of custom-made samurai armor for the dog survives. Details are no longer known as to how the dog armor was used, but scholars believe that the armor was probably not intended for combat, but rather was used during parades or was simply ordered by some collector. However, at one point in history, a samurai walked the streets of a Japanese city with a dog dressed in full combat armor.

9. Shakuhachi

One of the strangest types of samurai weapons is the shakuhachi - bamboo flutes. Initially, these were just musical instruments played by Buddhist monks. Over time, the flutes were transformed when a group of Buddhists called komuso began walking with baskets on their heads, playing the flute and preaching. The samurai realized that these people with baskets on their heads were just perfect disguises and began to pretend to be them. The samurai spies who were sent to quell the uprisings looked like monks in komuso. At the same time, the samurai flutes had spikes for use as a weapon of self-defense.

10. Loyalty to the samurai

The samurai code didn't really exist until the 1600s, and before that, samurai constantly betrayed their masters. Even after that, the samurai's loyalty existed only on paper, not in real life. If the owner did not care about the samurai and did not adequately reward the warrior who protected him, then the samurai, as a rule, used every chance to kill him and go to serve the one who pays the most. When Western missionaries first came to Japan, they were shocked at how many betrayals and murders they saw in the back.

And in continuation of the Japanese theme, we publish 28 rare historical snapshots of Japanese everyday life in the late 19th century.