Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 14:45:28 -0000
From: "Thomas Davidson" <
tom.davidson@...>
Subject: Samurai and swordsmen
I think in these recent discussions about the sword we must
delineate between samurai, as members of a social caste and
thus in possession of the title by birthright or promotion,
and swordsmen - who did not necessarily belong to the samurai
caste - who pursued the 'art of the sword' as a vocation.
***
My wants, arms alone;
my rest is war;
my bed, the bad woes;
my sleep, an eternal vigil.
Don Quixote
About samurai we can say that some embodied the highest ideals
of nobility and self-sacrifice, and that some embodied every
notion of a particularly brutal brigand, and that by far the
anonymous majority fell somewhere in the midground between the
two.
In the same way we can say that certain ages or eras bore a
characteristic trait of the warrior class. Its virtues were
permanently established by Yoritomo - he required that his
warriors lead the simple life, avoid display, exhibit a high
degree of physical and moral courage, maintain their martial
readiness at all times, and serve with unswerving loyalty.
Its vices were established almost simultaneously - the tactical
genius of his younger brother Yoshitsune was the living model
of the classical warrior espoused by his brother - yet
Yoshitsune - and the ideal - was betrayed by Yoshimoto who
succumbed to the personal and political expediency of removing
any potential opponent from the field, innocent or otherwise.
This tension between loyalty and self-serving ambition
characterises the samurai from that moment on - an arc that
began to fall from the moment of Yoshitsune's death and
continued in its downward arc, with ever but a few bright
exceptions, towards its lowest ebb at the close of the Sengoku
- a decline brought to a halt by the establishment of the
Tokugawa bakafu.
From here the whole fallen image of the noble warrior was
reconstructed along new lines and with a new expression,
demanding a moral example (in times of peace) in place of the
martial example (in times of war) - Do, not jutsu - the way
rather than the art.
My perspective on the samurai is always that of the swordsman,
but in my mind it is only against the background of his place
and time that the brilliance of these men shines forth in all
its true colour.
I also happily acknowledge that, by the same token, there were
samurai in every age who stood as exemplars of their calling,
without ever having to prove themselves by the carriage of arms.
yours, waxing lyrically,
Thomas
Thomas -
at the risk of spoiling the mystique (sorry, couldn't resist) of the
oblique manner in which your lyricism here addresses its object (its subject
being quite delightfully clear)... permit me to ask how you see this
pertaining to recent conversations. Please note that I'm intrigued, not
dubious.
And that's a marvelous little essay. If you aren't published, you ought to
give it some thought. (If you are, what've you written?)
Gereg