Now Kyle, I like that. You have been fair with all of us by
explaining what you meant.
I do have some thoughts about the whole lineage thing. I'm not an
expert, so I hope Tony will correct me if I'm way off. I do believe
the practice of one on one combat existed in the early samurai
period. Even in the Gempei war many challanges were shouted to foes
based on the existing honor system. Many Samurai did call out their
lineage before a battle. Although it seems silly to us now, we have
to remember how isolated Japan was from the rest of the world. They
had a system of fighting wars that was very different than any
other...Until the Mongols invaded. Then the Samurai began to wise
up. "Hey, these Mongols don't really care about our family do they?"
My understanding is that the Japanese were totally unprepared to
fight a war with an organized mongolian military machine. The
Kamikaze came and literally saved Japan. But the samurai were
prepared the second time, and the preparations/strategic philosophies
that followed changed the face of Samurai warfare.
Into the Sengoku is when Ashigaru are much more apparent in the
armies. Long after the lineage practice had been proven unwise by
the Mongols (I know, they were actually Korean and Chinese
conscripts). So at this point I can't see them doing it either.
Many years later, after a couple hundred years of peace, under the
Tokugawa bakufu, Hagakure was written. This is about the point that
Bushido is crystalized into what we know today. Prior to the
peaceful Edo Jidai, much of the "honor sytem" wasn't based on those
high and holy precepts that everyone thinks the samurai lived by. It
was only in the last years of the samurai that the bushido code would
influence the population.
I guess, I too get a little sick of generalizations. I recently went
to a banquet that had a presentation on Samurai and Kensei. We were
informed that the Samurai lived by the Bushido code. They were
warriors and role models that were bound by honor to better society.
They helped everyone gain greater understanding by standing for
peace, justice, and the American way (well, they didn't really say
that, but they might as well have). Upon hearing this, I could hear
Tony's voice with a resounding "Bunk!" There were good and bad
Samurai. They didn't all live honorable and they Bushido code didn't
affect most of the samurai period. Surely, you must agree that they
had some system of honor. How else could we quantify a good or bad
samurai? But it wasn't "Bushido" persay. Since "Bushido" did not
exist in the Sengoku, it probably wasn't used to keep the troops in
line. I am sure that daimyo did manipulate their troops but it may
have been much more simple and less dubious than you presume.
Promises of fame and fortune, political status, social status, pride,
and land are other methods that could be used to obtain loyalty.
In short, I don't think that there was a universal conspiracy by
leaders of the time, to devise a system to keep a brotha down. That
was not the "purpose" of honor or bushido, although it (like anything
else) could be perverted and warped to serve sinister means.
Brandon
--- In
samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com, "Kyle Segall" <
klancesegall@y...> wrote:
> Try a little more than Shogun. Akechi Mitsuhide wouldn't have been
> thought so poor had he actually succeeded in becoming Shogun (his
> alliances not fallen apart, the mori finding out about nobunaga's
> death before hideyoshi). Don't kid yourself into think he really
did
> anything special. Just dumb.
> The daimyo used bushido to keep troops loyal. Yes, some samurai
> really believed in it. Obviously, take a look at the Hagakure to
see
> that. But these guys weren't the soldiers, they were the
> peacekeeping semi-beurocrats of the Edo jidai.
> You claim that all of Japan followed a system of honor... its true
> that confucian principles were generally followed, but thats far
> from a system of honor, especially what you're thinking about.
Think
> about it; if you're a farmer, and you toil all day and sleep what
> little time you have off, what room is there for the "honor" that
> you think everyone followed? that they were too tired to ever do
> anything but be subserviant like the samurai the hagakure preaches
> about may be true... but that wasn't really out of a sense of
honor.
>
> I don't recall all samurai calling out challenges... only the noble
> ones. I doubt an ashigaru wielding a spear was shouting, "I am so-
> and-so, from so-and-so village! Come get some!"
>
> And sorry about the snappy remarks... I'm just SICK of all these
> kids thinking the Hagakure is the book of every samurai for every
> age, and that Akechi Mitsuhide was a unique person for his actions.
> Only famous for who he killed and how dumb he was in doing it.
>
>
>