1. Armor :
Depending on your status and time period, this changes---as everyone else has said.
2. The sword was not the samurai's most prized possession. My family, which is samurai descendants from 2 sides, values the lifes of the family members, the Buddhist Dharma, and the family knowledge alot more than some sharpened piece of metal.
The 'sword is the samurai soul' was an attempt to neuter the samurai during the Edo period. Marx called it "aienation of the species being"... does that make sense?
The samurai's soul is the Clan... not some over-sized knife.
3.) Why so much care about swords? You do understand that some samurai used spears right? Some used guns ... swords are so over-played these days. In my own experience, the cord of your sword seems to have more uses than the blade itself !
4.) What are all swords used for ?
5.) Bushido means, when you get to the heart, giving your life for the person whom you've sworn your service to. It means proving the principle of the warrior beyond your own selfish fears.
But... in reality--- "bushido" is really a system the Tokugawa Shogunate created to keep a country of jittery samurai in check. Let's be honest.. it was really a system of social control.
So, you have TWO bushido.. the actual historical bushido, which was a social control device... and the "philosophical bushido"... which is an every-changing definition of what it means to be a warrior.
85% of what you hear about samurai is Edo Period castration doctrine OR Post-Meiji bullshito.. either neutering the samurai or whoring the samurai out to the commoners..
I mean.. how DARE the northern imposter dare use Kusunoki Masashige during WW2 ? Telling all the commoners to associate themselves with a Southern Court hero ? Because the northern pretenders lack virtue, the outcome of WW2 was inevitable ..
... there is some real bushido for you.
Now, because of this pretender.. there are no samurai anymore.. the southern court does not sit on the throne..
.. the country is doomed.
That is bushido.
Does that make sense?
--- On Fri, 4/16/10, BRIAN LAMPE wrote:
> From: BRIAN LAMPE
> Subject: Re: [samuraihistory] I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SAMURAI...................
> To: samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Friday, April 16, 2010, 8:01 AM
> 1.
> ���CAN YOU DESCRIBE ARMOR ?
> To be honest, the armour varies somewhat by period.
> Is there a specific type of armour that you’re looking for
> a description of?
>
> 2.���WHY WAS THE SWORD THE SAMURAI'S MOST
> PRIZED MOST POSSESSUIN ?
> Again this varies by period. At times only the samurai
> class were permitted to carry a katana so it was a status
> symbol. Some were very expensive or family
> hairlooms. Depending on the period, samurai could have
> been engaged in combat or could have been simply
> bureaucrats. So the katana’s significance really
> depends.
>
> 3. WHAT WERE THE 2 SWORDS THAT THE SAMURAI CARRIED ?
> The 2 swords together are called daisho. The shorter
> is the wakizashi, the longer is the katana.
>
> 4.WHAT WERE THE 2 SWORDS USED FOR ?
> The wakizashi was a companion sword. It had a few uses but
> was typically the sword worn indoors since it’s
> shorter. The longer katana was the main dueling/battle
> sword
>
> 7. WHAT IS BUSHIDO ?
> Bushido roughly translated means ‘way of the
> warrior’. It’s essentially a code of conduct where
> followers adhered to principles of rectitude, loyalty,
> courage, respect, benevolence, honesty & honour.
>
> I’m responding from work so I apologize for the lack of
> detail. Pretty much all of the answers to your
> questions can be found in greater detail through a google
> search.
>
> Cheers!
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Daniel Seo
> Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:50 pm
> Subject: [samuraihistory] I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT
> SAMURAI...................
> To: samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
>
> > 1.���CAN YOU DESCRIBE ARMOR ?
> >
> > 2.���WHY WAS THE SWORD THE SAMURAI'S
> MOST PRIZED MOST
> > POSSESSUIN ?
> >
> > 3. WHAT WERE THE 2 SWORDS THAT THE SAMURAI
> CARRIED ?
> >
> > 4.WHAT WERE THE 2 SWORDS USED FOR ?
> >
> >
> > 7. WHAT IS BUSHIDO ?
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
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