More than warriors

Samurai look very impressive in their full armour. These elitist warlords from Japan face the Chinese on the opposite side of the ´Franklin Mint Emperors of the Orient’ chessboard. April is the month in which Japan turns into a sea of pink blossom, so it seems like a good time to dig a little deeper into the history of Japanese martial arts.

Samurai ruled Japanese society for 700 years, although they only constituted five per cent of the population. In the 11th century, two warrior families emerged who were famous for their imperial lineage. These warriors served the emperor in Kyoto and, being the ruling class, were involved in the Administration. They didn´t belong to the Imperial Court nobility, though. This doesn´t mean that they were barbaric hooligans. Naturally, the samurai came into contact with the refined court culture, rich in poetry, calligraphy and other fine arts. The biggest difference between the court aristocracy and the samurai was that above all, the warriors were loyal to their master and willing to die for him.

Tea-drinking samurai
Samurai trained hard to be disciplined in their martial art and to not fear death. A quote by samurai captain Uesugi Kenshin from the 16th century reflects this perfectly: “Go headfirst into battle, confident of victory, and you will return. Engage in combat, fully determined to die, and you will get out alive. If you wish to merely survive the battle then you will surely meet death.”

But samurai did more than fighting. The ceremonial pouring of tea, cha-no-yu, was meant to refresh the spirit of the warrior and infuse him with calmness before going into battle. Portuguese Jesuit father Rodrigues (1562-1633), who lived in Japan for over 30 years, described, in awe, how simple the tea ceremony was. The purpose of cha-no-yu, according to Rodrigues, was the promotion of courtesy, chivalry, discretion, modesty, serenity, peace of body and soul, without any pride or arrogance, averse to all demonstrations of pomp and circumstance.

Superb weaponry

If he did have to go to war, the samurai´s most important weapons were his two swords. The forging of swords was a religious act: the blacksmith washed himself daily according to certain rituals and closed himself off from the outside world for weeks on end to make a sword. These swords were considered the soul of the samurai and the cult surrounding this weapon was very important. These were some of the best swords ever made and in addition to that, they were a sacred work of art.

Samurai were known for their striking and intimidating weapon equipment with its helmet, the kabuto, as its master piece. The helmets were decorated with horns or antlers for an intimidating look. The complete equipment consisted of at least 23 parts, from the loincloth to the spear holder. The helmet, mask, chest armour, thigh protectors, gloves and shin guards were the six most important parts. The armour remained basically the same for seven centuries.

From battlefield to ceremonial space
In the 17th century, when Japan closed itself off from the rest of the world, a long period of domestic peace began. Samurai lost their role as warriors but continued to train body and mind in case of any battles. During ceremonies at the court they showed their skills and in everyday life samurai served as an example of a respectable life.

In this period of peace a series of lectures by Master Yamaga Soko (1622-1685) was published under the title Shido, ‘The way of the Warrior’. This guide for the behaviour of samurai, based on the Neo-Confucian doctrine, would be the most influential directive in the centuries that followed. There was also an edition for women, Onna Daigaku, literally: ‘Great knowledge for women’. However, this book mainly described the duties of women. Just like the warriors, the wife of a samurai accepted the Confucian principle of submission. Not only did she have to surrender herself to the emperor, but also to her parents-in-law, her husband, her male adult children and grandchildren. According to the Onna Daigaku: “She must sew the clothes of her parents-in-law and prepare their food. She must always be attentive to her husband´s needs, fold his clothes, clean his mat, raise his children, do the laundry, always occupy herself with the housekeeping and not go outside unnecessarily.

A new era
Halfway through the 19th century, overseas powers with a zest for expansion could no longer be kept away from Japan. The samurai disagreed among themselves on how to act against these strangers and their ways. Between 1853 and 1868 there were three different parties among the samurai: the conservatives, the moderate reformists and the radicals. After 1868, it was the radicals, including the hotheads who proclaimed loudly that all barbarians had to be thrown out of the country, who emerged the victors of the internal battle. But it was precisely these warriors who became the founders of modernisation and cooperated openly and in harmony with the foreigners.

Samurai were still the representatives of Japanese virtues and morality and so it seemed only sensible to the Japanese that they took control of the transition of a feudal to a national society. Samurai dominated the new government, joined the police force or became businessmen. This last development was the most surprising one since there had always been a profound aversion to participation in trade and industry. But slowly it became clear that this was also an honourable way to serve the emperor and that trade and industry were in the best interest of the nation.

The virtues of the samurai now spread beyond the traditional ruling class and slowly became common heritage. Education helped to achieve this by promoting essential elements of the samurai doctrine such as loyalty, self-sacrifice and respect for martial arts. At the beginning of the 20th century, all of the Japanese had become somewhat of a samurai.

By Marjolein Overmeer