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nohit@... wrote:
---------------------------------
In a message dated 09/16/2005 10:52:14 PM Eastern
Daylight Time,
totoks@... writes:
> Thanks. Actually I was looking for the reason why
prize-fighting was
> dishonor for samurai to engage in before the meiji
restoration. Can you
help
> me on this? How true is this?
>
> Thanks again.
>
There is a film, quite good. It's called AFTER THE
RAIN, which deals with
this subject. I forget the director but it's not
really a sword-slashing
"chambara film," it's a thoughtful film about what
kenjutsu/kendo actually is. It's
available fairly widely with English subtitles.
The plot of AFTER THE RAIN basically involves a ronin
and his wife who are
traveling as he is looking for work. It turns out that
he had made some income
in the past by engaging in "prize fighting" also known
as "dojo crashing."
Though you will see in watching the film that this
ronin had a different approach
rather than the usual brash, outrageous sort of
approach because this man is
quite self-effacing.
At any rate, the local daimyo finds out about this man
and offers him an
interview for an open position he has in his clan of
being a kendo instructor for
the clan. The ronin comes for the interview and in the
process, the daimyo
finds out that he had engaged in "prize fighting" in
the past and decides not to
take him into the clan. So yes, "prize fighting" was
considered a dishonor.
The film goes on, and I'll let people watch it to find
out what eventually
happens.
I gather from this that "prize fighting" was
considered a dishonor in the
same way that offering your sword services for hire
was considered a dishonor.
The samurai was supposed to offer his sword skills
freely, without consideration
for monetary gain, in service to his lord. That was
the ethic of the day.
Of course this ethic didn't provide for any ronin who
had lost his lord or
else had been dismissed by his lord from his position
-- how are they supposed
to survive? But then it was usually considered a
dishonor to have become a
ronin, without a lord. So there really weren't
provisions made for them in
feudal society, particularly Tokugawa-era society.
The ronin just had to somehow
carry on the best as they could. So frequently,
despite the stigma, they were
forced to offer up their sword skills for money or
else engage in "prize
fighting."
During the Sengoku era, many samurai lost their lords.
Some of them were able
to get positions within other clans because there were
many battles and a
good swordsman, even one without a lord, would be
welcomed into a clan, where he
could acquire a new lord to serve as a samurai. With
the advent of the
Tokugawa period, there were far fewer opportunities,
almost none, to acquire a new
position with a new clan once a samurai had lost his
lord.
Hope this helps a bit. Nina
HI
the sworsmanship in the this movie was choreographed
by Otake sensei the shihanke of the Katori Shinto Ryu
which is famous for its swordsmanship
paul
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