| Samurai Movies (34) |
June 1, 2022
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| [Rochu] In this country people like to use '-do', like 'judo', 'sado', and 'kado'. Figuratively 'Sado' means tea ceremony, 'Kado' means flower arrangement. Literally, 'do' means 'road'; figuratively, 'do' means the feeling of reaching the end of the road, pursuing the best way. In 'do', they emphasize manners and customs. 'Budo' is how to fight, including sword play, karate, archery, etc. Maybe this country's people feel comfortable when they are pursuing something. Maybe it was influenced by the Edo Period. At that time, people's professions were fixed, the society was peaceful, so maybe people were bored and used their time to pursue something, improve something, enhance something. If samurai could have earned money by themselves. Samurai were of the ruling class and they could have used their power to get money. If the ruling class were rich, citizens would feel envious against them and citizen-led revolutions might happen, like in other countries. But, samurai weren't rich. Each han was poor, even the Tokugawa Shogunate was poor. Some rich merchants and farmers could have bought into the class of samurai by paying money, it was called samurai-stock. In the latter part of the Edo Period, the Tokugawa Shogunate and a lot of other hans sold this stock to get money, but only a few  merchants and farmers bought this stock because being a samurai was not so attractive. If they became samurai, they would have to follow a lot of samurai rules ~wearing this, living here, holding a katana all the time, not being able to this and that ... . High ranking samurai had to employ a certain number of retainers and servants, to have horses, and to join ceremonial events using lots of money. The expenses were always more than the income. In the first place, why couldn't samurai earn money or do business by themselves? Why couldn't they change the rules if they needed to? Some researchers said that it was because of Confucianism. Confucianism taught that being a merchant, doing business, getting money was a vulgar thing. So, why did the Tokugawa Shogunate highly recommend learning and following Confucianism? Some researchers said that because Confucianism taught that loyalty was very important. It meant the loyalty toward the Tokugawa Shogunate. And maybe the Tokugawa Shogunate had to be the leading model for other hans. The Tokugawa Shogunate used to be a plain han like the other 270 hans. Confucianism taught that rules should have high virtue. And if the Tokugawa Shogunate started to gain money from business, they couldn't say to the other hans not to do business. If other hans started to do their own businesses, some of them might gain a lot of money and get more power. Then, these hans might fight against the Tokugawa Shogunate. Because the Tokugawa Shogunate had to be the leading model, the executives of the governments in each generation must have felt a lot of pressure because, if they failed, their Tokugawa Shogunate system would collapse. There were 15 Shoguns in the Edo Period. Their executives, the highest ranking samurai, were called 'rochu'. Normally, there were 5 'rochu' in each government. The first Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, invented the 'rochu' system. He thought that if 5 'rochu' could balance the policies and check the Shogun, the policies would become suitable, stable, and sustainable, therefore a peaceful society would last. His prediction came true. The peaceful Edo era lasted for almost 300 years. One of the most famous 'rochu' was Tanuma Okitsugu. When he was a junior high school student, his favorite TV drama was set in the Edo Period. One of the main roles was Tanuma Okitsugu. (To be continued ...) |
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No.480
*figuratively :象徴的に、修辞的に、比喩的に
*enhance :高める
*vulgar :野蛮な、俗悪の
*virtue :徳、徳目