| Samurai Movies (33) |
May 26, 2022
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| [Killing 2] Oda Nobunaga first used guns for a battle in 1575, called "Nagashino no tatakai". His army used 3,000 matchlock guns which were obtained from Portuguese merchants. The Tokugawa Shogunate began in 1603 and from them until Admiral Perry came in 1853 a peaceful society lasted. The Tokugawa Shogunate was very afraid that the other 270 hans (lords/domains) would gain power, if they obtained guns, so they made regulations about weapons. Truthfully, it had been a peaceful period, so they didn't need to make any new weapons or improve their own weapons. The Tokugawa Shogunate and the other 270 hans were groups of samurai, i.e. warriors. Warriors are warriors because they have weapons. So, samurai were admitted to have their katana (swords) with them. Samurai were both police officers and administrators. But, during the peaceful era, the samurai of the Tokugawa Shogunate had neglected to train their sword skills, so, by the end of the Edo Period, the Tokugawa Shogunate had to depend on private militias, like the 'Shinsen-gumi' to fight. In the latter part of the Edo Period, training centers for sword skills, called '  dojyo', were prosperous. Chiba Shusaku, who was a famous sword master, had a training center in which there were about 6,000 trainees. Wikipedia added that there was an estimated 500 'dojyo' in the country. Chiba Shusaku's school was called "Hokushin-ittou-ryu". The famous Sakamoto Ryoma was a member. Yoshimura Kanichiro from his han, the Shinsen-gumi, was given a license of teacher from this school. Swords are different from guns. 1. If the samurai used a wooden katana, it wouldn't cost anything for training, like bullets. 2. Even with using a wooden katana, it was easy for masters to see their students' skill level. So, it was easy to classify each student and his ability. 3. Demonstrative fights needed physical strength as well as concentration and mental strength, so it became both mental and physical training. 4. In a real battle, if the samurai killed somebody, he can feel the opponent's skin and bones through his katana, it might give the person some special feeling. In the movie 'Zan', the young ronin was hesitant to fight with a real katana because of this. Originally, samurai took power and authority from the emperor. And so each daimyo competed with each other for status. Thus, they would learn cultural things like calligraphy, making tanka, tea ceremony, 'nou' dancing, and also painting. There was a term to show how samurai should be ~ 'bunbu ryoudou', meaning 'balancing academics and swordmanship'. So a samurai's father would teach their son sword skills and academics, like studying Confucius. This type of tradition was continued throughout the Edo Period and samurai had kept a certain degree of their sword skills, academics as well as cultural learnings. (To be continued ...) |
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No.479
*matchlock gun :火縄銃
*obtain :手に入れる
*admiral :提督
*truthfully :本当のところ
*i.e. :すなわち
*administrator :官僚、役人
*neglect :怠る
*militia :私兵、市民軍
*classify :等級分けする
*hesitant :躊躇した