Samurai - sword and soil

One aspect of the samurai is the notion that once removed from the
land, the rot sets it. Samurai do not thrive in cities, as the Taira
were the first to demonstrate.

The Tokugawa did not originate the residency system, but they
certainly brought it to fruition, but if one looks at Shikoku, and
especially Tosa, there is a fine example of what is involved.

Hideyoshi's edicts laid the foundation, and samurai were required to
live in the castle town (Urado, which did not exist at the time!), and
any who refused were demoted to farmers - remove the land from the
sword, or the sword from the land - didn't matter, but a land and
sword together means independence and a degree of autonomy which
nobody likes.

When Yamanouchi took over the Chosokabe, a split developed between the
traditional idea of the samurai, reconstructed and remodelled on
Tokugawan lines (surviving on a stipend from his employers) who were
called joshi (upper class) and the local rustics, both farmer and
warrior, the goshi (lower class), led by the shoya, village headmen
entitled to ceremonial dress and to carry one sword. (Other rules
allowed joshi to have an umbrella when it rains, but not goshi; joshi
can wear tabi, but not goshi; pretty petty all in all, and surely
bound to cause friction?)

Throughout Japan the better-off classical samurai - the ruling class -
lived a life of increasing comfort and idleness, whilst his rustic and
downtrodden counterpart continued living on the land and practicing
those very skills and virtues that properly define the notion of
'samurai' today.

By this time goshi status could be bought - Ryoma Sakamoto's father
was a merchant who bought his - whilst samurai status was strictly
hereditary - yet who considers Ryoma not to be samurai?


Thomas
(ps - if 'samurai - sword and soil' is not copyright - it is now!)