Hello Chris, hi everyone.
I would like to address some of the questions pointed by Chris on the
herein below message. I hope they will add in a positive manner to this
conversation.
May it please the fellow list members (smile)
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1. Did samurai exist before they were made into a class?
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It depends on your concept of Samurai. This step supercedes mere lexical
speculation. Defining a term avoids ambiguity and rhetoric usage of words
("doublespeak", as in "1984"). For this brief discussion, I hold "Samurai"
as a social class, and, hence, any statement containing to members of a
Samurai class before its ascension unto a social class cannot be considered
valid. If you define "Samurai" as "retainer", then there were members of a
Samurai class before it was turned into a social class. What should be
avoided, if possible, is the usage of the word "Samurai" with both meanings,
under a single context.
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2. Why is legitimacy by the government so important to the abolishment of
the class of samurai?
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Please consider the "Language Systems" Philosophical School of Thought, if
you will. Think of any given "due process of law" - if the highest court in
a country utters "the sky is yellow", no matter any what other language (as
the scientific) holds, the sky is yellow, because the State will have the
power to enforce the ruling. Will it make the sky turn yellow before other
language systems (as the ones pertaining to human perception)? Definitely
not. However, the given State may enforce the ruling, for, before the Legal
Language System, "the sky is yellow".
That´s why the person uttering the language is so important: dynamic
validity arises from the utterance process and uttering person. Static
validity - the contents of the ruling - is assessed at a later stage. Sure,
this may be unjust, unfair, incorrect and inefficient - however valid,
nonetheless.
Such School of Thought, although supported by many researchers, is not an
unanimity. Please do not take me as a zealot for it, but it is an
interesting tool of investigation which should be considered.
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3. Why did some samurai families hide their swords instead of obeying the
government?
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Sorry, I do not hold enough data in order to address this topic.
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4. When the WW II officers carried swords did they, the military, or
anyone else consider them samurai?
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Again, sorry, but I do not hold enough data in order to address this
topic.
Again, I hope those ideas are proper to this tread.
Cheers,
Thiago
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From: Chris Ketterling
To:
samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 5:43 PM
Subject: [samuraihistory] Trying to learn
I'm trying to grasp the whole "There are no Samurai" argument by patching
up some holes in my thought process.
1. Did samurai exist before they were made into a class?
2. Why is legitimacy by the government so important to the abolishment of
the class of samurai?
3. Why did some samurai families hide their swords instead of obeying the
government?
4. When the WW II officers carried swords did they, the military, or
anyone else consider them samurai?
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