HI Chris - a short answer and a long(er) answer. 1) Whenever I write an article, I choose a photograph that corresponds, at least in imagistic form, to the subject of the article (for example, my next article, on Attachment Disorder, has a photograph of a plant with very closely overlapping leaves. The craftsmen who made the mask, and the samurai who wore it, obviously wanted something that would chill the blood. 2) I did not intend any DIRECT relationship to killing with long blades in modern times in my mind, however - I was focusing on the mask, not the blade. [There was an internal pun there, alluding to Herve Cleckey's seminal book on psychopaths, entitled, THE MASK OF SANITY].
A perusal of the medieval codes of the bushi do not show any rules of engagement that forbade the killing of prisoners, women or children. [And lest the accusation comes up from any readers, I am aware that applying modern ideas of morality to archaic humanity is sillly. In this note, I'm simply noting was was and was not].
Jigai, the woman's suicide, was for bushi women, an attempt to evade being "dishonored." What this really meant was being raped. The medieval Japanese warriors' inchoate codes had a kind of morality, but it centered around one's name/reputation and service to one's lord,. The samurai morality, of service, of following orders, reached its epitome (or nadir, depending on one's perspective), n the Korean Invasion where Hideyoshi ordered: "Mow down everyone universally, without discriminating between young and old, men and women, clergy and the laity—high ranking soldiers on the battlefield, that goes without saying, but also the hill folk, down to the poorest and meanest—and send the heads to Japan." So many heads were taken, that they shifted to sending noses and/or ears, and these are interred in "Ear Mounds" in Kyoto, where it is said that Hideyoshi, sentimental like all too many warlords, would stand and pray for the repose of their souls. Again, thanks for reading - and I welcome the "sidelight" question. It's a subject I'm discussing in more detail in my forthcoming (by the end of the year) final book on classical marital arts, entitled ROOTS STILL CRACKING ROCK.
Fascinating article! Very well researched and written. May I ask why the article was headed with a photo of samurai armour and what relevance to the article and topic this was? The reason I ask, is that all too often -almost daily - we read of killings involving "samurai swords" most of which are not samurai swords at all, but machetes and other blades. The linking of spree killings and samurai again brings the samurai caste into disrepute and furthers negative connotations. Other than that, it really was fascinating reading.
HI Chris - a short answer and a long(er) answer. 1) Whenever I write an article, I choose a photograph that corresponds, at least in imagistic form, to the subject of the article (for example, my next article, on Attachment Disorder, has a photograph of a plant with very closely overlapping leaves. The craftsmen who made the mask, and the samurai who wore it, obviously wanted something that would chill the blood. 2) I did not intend any DIRECT relationship to killing with long blades in modern times in my mind, however - I was focusing on the mask, not the blade. [There was an internal pun there, alluding to Herve Cleckey's seminal book on psychopaths, entitled, THE MASK OF SANITY].
A perusal of the medieval codes of the bushi do not show any rules of engagement that forbade the killing of prisoners, women or children. [And lest the accusation comes up from any readers, I am aware that applying modern ideas of morality to archaic humanity is sillly. In this note, I'm simply noting was was and was not].
Jigai, the woman's suicide, was for bushi women, an attempt to evade being "dishonored." What this really meant was being raped. The medieval Japanese warriors' inchoate codes had a kind of morality, but it centered around one's name/reputation and service to one's lord,. The samurai morality, of service, of following orders, reached its epitome (or nadir, depending on one's perspective), n the Korean Invasion where Hideyoshi ordered: "Mow down everyone universally, without discriminating between young and old, men and women, clergy and the laity—high ranking soldiers on the battlefield, that goes without saying, but also the hill folk, down to the poorest and meanest—and send the heads to Japan." So many heads were taken, that they shifted to sending noses and/or ears, and these are interred in "Ear Mounds" in Kyoto, where it is said that Hideyoshi, sentimental like all too many warlords, would stand and pray for the repose of their souls. Again, thanks for reading - and I welcome the "sidelight" question. It's a subject I'm discussing in more detail in my forthcoming (by the end of the year) final book on classical marital arts, entitled ROOTS STILL CRACKING ROCK.
Fascinating article! Very well researched and written. May I ask why the article was headed with a photo of samurai armour and what relevance to the article and topic this was? The reason I ask, is that all too often -almost daily - we read of killings involving "samurai swords" most of which are not samurai swords at all, but machetes and other blades. The linking of spree killings and samurai again brings the samurai caste into disrepute and furthers negative connotations. Other than that, it really was fascinating reading.