Saya clashing

Hi Nate, and everyone:

Clashing saya was a definite no-no and considered a challenge,
and a challenge could never be refused.

Here's an example:

In 1630 Maeda Higo, grandson of Toshiie, was crossing a bridge
with some friends when they met two samurai, Murase and Sakabe,
coming the other way. Higo and Sakabe's saya bumped together
accidentally as they passed. Higo slapped Sakabe's shoulder
with his fan, and Sakabe drew his sword 'with a shout'. Higo's
friends rallied to his cause, and soon Sakabe and Murase were
killed.

Hearing the news Murase's father rushed to the scene with sword
in hand and killed two of Higo's retainers and injured a third
before he was himself cut down. Sakabe's father came armed with
a spear, but the press of the crowd prevented him from getting
close enough to get involved.

The incident was reported to Lord Maeda, but no-one was
punished. Sakabe's father, ashamed of his failure to exact
revenge, left the city and entered the priesthood.

Higo apparently lived the rest of his life in constant fear of
revenge.
(from 'Taming of the Samurai' by Eiko Ikegami)

Another example shows the stupid lengths peacetime samurai
would go to to protect their pride and prove their courage.
Unfortunately I can't recall the source, and have forgotten the
names of those involved, however:

Two samurai passed on a staircase in (I believe) Edo Castle.
Their sayas clashed as they did so, and each turned angrily on
the other.

Here's the dilemma: The affront demands instant retribution,
but the guy going up the stairs is delivering a message to his
master - if he gets involved in a fight he's placing his own
interests before his lord's, and that carries the death
penalty. If the guy coming down cuts down the man going up, he
is then preventing someone carrying out his master's business,
so both men are caught on the same point.

The simple solution was to arrange a duel at a time convenient
to both - but that's not what happened.

What actually happened is that the guy coming down, determined
to show he was not afraid to die, 'right here, right now,' as
it were, drew his sword and killed himself.

The guy going up, not to be outdone, continued up, delivered
his message, then came back down and he too killed himself on
the same spot!

The Tokugawa problem was how to maintain the 'spirit of the
samurai' as an ideal, which demands instant response to any
quarrel (kenka), no matter its cause, whilst keeping the peace
by a law called kenka ryoseibai, which demanded equally severe
punishment for both parties.

It was a real mess, never fully resolved, and aggravated by the
fact that the Tokugawa bureaucracy was notoriously uneven and
indecisive when making decisions with regard to duels and
vendettas. Sometimes men were beheaded for NOT getting involed
in fights, which was seen as dishonouring their status as
samurai, other times men were beheaded for getting involved
when they should have practiced restraint.

Thomas

yeah, samurai in peace time were what we would call
"hot heads"

They simply were not prepared for peaceful life, they
and there ancestors had been fighting wars for almost
their entire lives. But suddenly, along comes the
Tokugawa and theirs no one left to fight anymore.

Compared to western civilisation in the 16th century,
Japan was immensly "civilised", but how civilised is
it to massacare a group of people for bumping into
you, or being rude.

In a world like that, you can imagine how importan
"manners" were.

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