So you want to be a samurai?
First look at the following list and tick which ones you think you will need to master to become a Samurai…
1. Ritual suicide
2. Never surrender
3. Obedience
4. Flower arranging
5. Zen Buddhism
6. Calligraphy
7. Sword skills
8. Making tea
9. Having black teeth
10. Being male
The answer is all of them EXCEPT number 10!
Most Samurai were indeed men but the bushi class they came from did feature women who were trained in a similar way. The women samurai used a naginata… a light spear with a sword like blade. When remains from a 16th century battle were analysed they found that 33% of the bodies found were female!
But didn’t samurai use swords?
Not always! The katana was their weapon of choice and they believed that your soul was inside it. However, they also carried a smaller blade – a daisho – and as times changed were quite happy also using longbows, spears, rifles and even cannons.
Not sure about the teeth, flower arranging, tea making and calligraphy?
Well the Samurai were from the upper class in Japan and so were literate and cultured in all aspects of refined Japanese life. The fashion was to have blackened teeth which was achieved by repeatedly drinking a mixture of tea with iron filings in it!
Bushido
Samurai translates as the way of the warrior and there were eight virtues that you had to live by…
- Justice
- Courage
- Mercy
- Politeness
- Honesty
- Honour
- Loyalty
- Self-control
This will mean obedience of course and ritual suicide if needed to preserve your honour.
Zen Buddhism?
As Zen Buddhism offered peace and enlightenment it appealed greatly to the Samurai class in order to strengthen them both on and off the battlefield.
Might be able to cope with everything so far but not sure about ritual suicide?
Well you have to preserve your honour at all costs. It is called seppuku or hara kiri. You must perform this if you fail to follow bushido or if you are about to be captured by your enemy. It can be voluntary or a punishment but unlike western views which see suicide as something desperately tragic, to a Samurai it is a very honourable way to die.
A quick and urgent seppuku is performed by slicing your stomach open to disembowel yourself. Once done, someone else- a colleague or assistant will decapitate you to end it quickly.
A less urgent and more formal seppuku is a lot more complex. It begins with ceremonial bathing followed by dressing in white robes and eating your favourite meal. Someone will then leave a blade on your empty plate. You will then compose and write your death poem. You then disembowel yourself and someone else will cut your head off ensuring that a small piece of flesh is left in the front so that your head will fall forward into your embrace.
Eternal shame will fall upon the person who does the decapitation if your head comes off completely and flies off towards the spectators watching.