In the long history of human conflict, a few breeds of fighter stand out in popular historical perception, for one reason or another. Examples include the European armoured knight, the Roman Legionary and the Japanese samurai. The Japanese samurai have more in common with the knight than with the Legionary, both being part of the aristocratic elite of a feudal hierarchy, with a warrior birthright, where the Legions of Rome were professional soldiers, and both following a much-vaunted ethical code instead of the cold, practical discipline of the Roman military. It is also undeniable that both the knight and the samurai owe a great deal of their reputation to the myths and romances which grew up around them after they had ceased to play an effective role.

Backdrop: An Extremely Brief History of pre-Samurai Japan

The Jomon period (8000BC-300BC) and Yayoi period (300BC-AD250)

The Jomon period represents the earliest known Japanese culture. Jomon 'Japan' (although the nation did not exist at the time) was home to a hunter-gatherer society, and is named 'Jomon' after its pottery style. This period does encapsulate the mythical foundation of Japan by Prince Jimmu Tenno, but no evidence of an advanced or centralised state exists.

The Yayoi period, also named for its pottery style, saw the introduction of rice culture in c.100BC, the rise of agriculture and the formation of early social classes. With contact with the world outside the island group, iron and other advances were imported from Korea. Some Chinese sources suggest the presence of some centralised authority under a queen named Himika (or Pimiku), but there is little evidence as to the nature of such a state, if it existed at all.

The Yamato period (AD250-710)

Named after a political centre in Yamato province, this period saw the first historically supportable unification of 'Japan' (or at least of a significant portion of the central islands), in c.AD400. This period saw the emergence of ritual burial practices, the introduction from China of Buddhism (in 538 or 552. depending on sources), Taoism, Confucianism and the Chinese alphabet. The first emperors of Japan began to rule from a processing capital, forming a symbolic focus of the native Shinto religion.

In the early part of the Yamato period, the Soga clan effectively wielded political power, but in and around 645 they were displaced by the Fujiwara under Nakatomi no Kamatari, and the government and administration of Japan were remodelled after a Chinese plan in the Taika (great change) reforms. Land was bought up by the State and redistributed, with local governors in charge of a new taxation system, and the primary military force of Japan took the form of a conscripted army.

In 710, at the close of the Yamato period, the Imperial Court took up permanent residence in the city of Nara, establishing the first long term capital in Japan's history, again based on a Chinese model. Nara therefore became the political focus of the country, and Buddhist monasteries were founded in the capital. The Taiho Code was also established at this time (in 702) dividing the government's religious and administrative functions into separate offices. Although Shinto maintained a significant presence, this was a time of powerful Chinese influence.

At this stage, 'Japan' was still limited to the central islands. Attempts in this period by the Yamato to expand northwards into the Tohuko (north-east) region of Honshu were opposed by the emishi (barbarians), and in response the Imperial Court created the rank of Jeisetsu Sei-I-Shogun for the warleader in charge of the campaign. The first to bear the title Shogun was Tajihi Agatamori, although at this stage it was only a temporary assignment. While the shoguns sent against the emishi had mixed successes, the title persisted, and would become important in Japan's later history.

Away from the capital, the Taika reforms led to increasingly high taxes. Independent farmers were forced to sell their property to larger landowners, becoming tenants on their own farms. As a result, these provincial landowners began to grow in power, as did the wealthy Buddhist monasteries. In 784, the capital was moved to Nagaoka to escape the ever-increasing influence of Nara's Buddhist sects.

Early Japanese Warriors

The earliest Japanese soldiers were not the samurai we think of today at all. They were armed in a manner drawn from Chinese and Korean influences, wearing the tanko or 'short armour' - a corset of iron plates - the shokkau tsuki kabuto ('battering ram helmet', named for its shape), kata yoroi ('shoulder armour') and akabe yoroi ('neck armour'). All of these pieces were lacquered to protect them against corrosion. Most fighters would be on foot, and would use a shield, and probably a spear.

Horses were imported into Japan during the fourth century, along with keiko (hanging armour), a kind of intricate scaled armour, which hung with its weight on the shoulders instead of on the hips. Keiko was worn by the new horse warriors, and later samurai armour was patterned after it. The same period saw the introduction of leg armour - far more important on cavalry than on infantry, as the legs are the easiest part of a horseman to strike - and flexible splint shoulder-protectors replacing the kata yoroi.

Warriors of this period used swords, spears and bows, mostly of styles imported from China. The spear would likely have been the primary battlefield weapon, especially for infantry. Bows were long, but curved such that the archer would grip the staff towards one end, instead of in the middle, as with a European longbow. This meant that the bow had considerable power, yet could be fired from horseback. The swords were straight and double-edged, the most common type being the kabutschi tachi, a heavy sword similar in design principle to the Scottish claymore, which saw widespread use throughout the fourth and fifth centuries.

Later, the warabite tachi, a shorter sword, gained in popularity, but it would not be until after the Mongol invasions of the late thirteenth century that the sword would begin to see serious use as a primary battlefield weapon. It was probably from the emishi of central Honshu that the Japanese adopted the practice of constructing their swords single-edged, with a curved blade, although legend attributes this innovation to the swordsmith Amakuni.

The Rise of the Warrior Class

The Imperial Court and the Provincial Clans

A decade after its arrival in Nagaoka, the Imperial capital was once more shifted, to Kyoto, then known as Heian-Kyo, or Tsuki no Miyako (the City of the Moon), and so began the Heian period. This new era saw the decline of Chinese influences and a growth of nationalism and conservatism. It also saw the birth of Japan's first, true feudal system, with local authorities, owing loyalty to the Emperor, controlling their own domains, instead of direct control of the land from the centre. While the feudal model made sense in the absence of rapid transit and communications, it had a major drawback for the Imperial Court.

The Imperial Court continued to consolidate its power, but these local rulers gained a great deal of autonomy, and a deep division between the Court and the clans who controlled the provinces developed. The dominant clan in the early Heian period was the Fujiwara, and their power grew as they married into the Imperial family and gained greater and greater control over the Court, and many of the provincil lords grew resentful of the Fujiwara's privaleged position. Through the period, the various Japanised Buddhist sects became more influential, and the power of the provincial clans increased. Foremost among the clans were the disparate branches of the sprawling Taira and Minamoto Clans.

The Heian period also saw the abandonment of the conscripted Imperial army, leaving the hereditary warriors of the military clans as the primary source of fighting men in Japan. Increasingly, the Emperor needed to turn to the clans when he required military action, and this added to their influence. Financially, the provincial lords grew fat on the continuing consolidation of farm-land under fewer and fewer dominant landlords, and in time the aristocracy and the Buddhist sects both managed to attain a tax-exempt status which heightened the divide between the haves and the have-nots. It was during the tenth century that palace guards first bore the title 'samurai' - 'those who serve'.

Fujiwara Michinaga came to power in his clan in 995, and in 1016 became kampaku (regent) of Japan. This was the height of the Fujiwara's power, but thereafter the Clan's influence was on the wane. The wealthy land-owners began to hire their own samurai as bodyguards and protectors of their estates, and as a result the military class began to gain real power. The same development also narrowed the gap in military power between the Imperial Court and the provincial aristocracy, as these samurai protectors came to form private armies of varying size and professionalism.

The Fujiwara's power began to crumble when, in 1068, Go-Sanjo became Emperor of Japan. Go-Sanjo only remained Emperor for eighteen years, abdicating in 1086, but he brought the Imperial throne from under the Fujiwara shadow, breaking the clan's grip on Japan, and once more reorganised the government. Over the next century, the Taira and Minamoto Clans, each presenting an increasingly unified front, made significant advances in power. The Minamoto gained considerably by being at the forefornt of the expansion of the Empire of Japan into the north of Honshu.

The Heiji Rising and the Gempei War

The rivalry between the Taira and the Minamoto came to a head in the Heiji Rising of 1159. Taira Kiyomori overcame his enemies in this conflict, and established himself as military leader of Japan. Kiyomori became the effective ruler of the country - although ruling through the Emperor - from 1168 to 1178. Meanwhile, the Minamoto licked their wounds, and Japan's Buddhist sects became increasingly militant. Increasingly, the Emperor's chief weapon was not his own army, but rather the warriors of those clans loyal to the throne, further building the power of the samurai.

The feud between Taira and Minamoto lay dormant during Kiyomori's reign, but after his death the clans began to fight for supremacy once more. In 1180, Minamoto Yorimoto led his clan in arms against the Taira, beginning the five year Gempei War. Eventually, the victory of Yorimoto brought an end to the Heian period. Minamoto Yorimoto became the leader of Japan, and set up a new capital in his home city of Kamakura, for which this new historical era is known. The system of government was simplified, and the new system, known as the Kamakura bakufu (tent government¹), made the samurai the ruling class.

Minamoto Yorimoto became the first man to bear the permanent title Shogun. The age of the Samurai had dawned.

The Age of the Samurai

The Kamakura Bakufu

With the Kamakura bakufu in command of Japan, the samurai had reached the top of the social hierarchy. Along with their new system of government, the samurai class also embraced a new religion, Zen Buddhism, introduced from China at the beginning of the Kamakura period. The bakufu also oversaw the introduction, in 1232, of a Confucianist legal code, stressing the importance of the samurai's principal virtue - and the principal means of feudal control - loyalty.

As with many political situations, the unchallenged dominance of the bakufu failed to outlive its founder. After Shogun Minamoto Yorimoto's death in 1199, his widow oversaw the ascendance of her own clan, the Hoju. While the Minamoto's retained the title of shogun, the Hoju became the real power in the bakufu, a fact which attracted much resentment from their enemies. The Imperial Court at Kyoto also began to challenge the Kamakura bakufu once more. This conflict continued for over twenty years, until the Jokyu disturbance of 1221 saw the Kamakura forces victorious over the Imperial Army on their own territory at Kyoto. Following the disturbance, the Hoju regents stripped Kyoto of its remaining power, leaving the Emperor a purely symbolic ruler.

The Mongol Invasions

The Mongols conquered China in 1259, after which their eyes turned to Japan. The first invasion of Japan by the Mongols came in 1274, on the island of Kyushu. The samurai were outnumbered by the Mongols, but the Japanese were protected by their weather. Like Britain, Japan's greatest defence against attack was and is the simple fact that it is an island nation, and when severe storms forced the Mongol invasion fleet back, they had no other avenue of attack. The landings that were made were small enough to be driven off. A second attack in 1281 also failed, although this time there were several weeks o fierce fighting before the weather again forced the invaders to withdraw.

The impact of these two invasions on the samurai were twofold. Firstly, the battles against the Mongols brought about a revolution in warfare. Against new enemies, stale methods had to be rethought, and the Japanese developed a new style of formation combat. The period of the invasions also marks the ascendancy of the sword as a primary battle weapon for the samurai. Secondly, the Mongol invasions precipitated the collapse of the Hoju regents and the Kamakura Bakufu.

While the Japanese were victorious against the Mongols, the Hoju regents proved unable to pay the warriors who fought for those victories². Now resented by the samurai who were the source of their influence, the Bakufu's power declined, until in 1333, Go-Daigo, 96th Emperor of Japan, was able to overthrow the Hoju and restore power to the Imperial Court. This was the beginning of the Muromachi period.

The Muromachi Period

The Kemmu restoration removed the Kamakura Bakufu's system of government in 1334, and restored the Heian Insei administrative system. Unfortunately for Emperor Go-Daigo, this system was hopelessly outdated. Furthermore, the officials put in charge of running the state were often incompetent, and only three years after the downfall of the Hoju, the Imperial Court's ability to rule was challenged by Ashikaga Takauji, a former imperial warrior, who defeated the Imperial forces to take Kyoto. Go-Daigo fled and established a separate southern court, while Ashikaga Takauji exploited a long-running succession dispute to place a new emperor on the throne in Kyoto. In 1338, Takauji appointed himself Shogun and established a new Bakufu government.

The government relocated to the Muromachi district - for which the period is known - in 1378, becoming known as the Muromachi Bakufu. The southern court continued to exist as a separate entity, until its final surrender to the north in 1392. From 1368 however, under the rule of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the Bakufu was already losing influence over the outer regions of Japan. Despite a strong economy, commercial ties with Ming China, and the surrender of the southern court, the power of the Ashikaga Shoguns dwindled away in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and power shifted to the provincial control of the ji-samurai; military, land-owning dynasties.

Through this period, the warrior arts were refined, and the fifteenth century saw the emergence of the first schools of swordsmanship, as master swordsmen established dojos in which to teach kenjutsu.

Sengoku Jidai - The Age of Civil Wars

Through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the ji-samurai clashed in an endless series of civil conflicts, resulting - naturally - in a further increase in the power of the warriors. The Onin War of 1467-1477 resulted in the decline of the Ashikaga Shogunate, and the beginning of the Sengoku Jidai, or Age of the Country at War. The Sengoku Jidai lasted one hundred and fifty years, as the ji-samurai lords battled amongst themselves for supremacy.

The Azuchi-Momoyama period

The Sengoku Jidai came to a close with the unification of Japan under Oda Nobunaga, who seized Kyoto in 1568. In 1573 Nobunaga overthrew the Muromachi bakufu, expelled the last of the Ashikaga shoguns from Kyoto, and thus ended the Muromachi period. Nobunaga and continued his drive to unify the country with a string of successful campaigns and good luck. His most dangerous rivals in East Japan both died before they had a chance to oppose Nobunaga in battle, and he defeated the rival Takeda clan in the Battle of Nagashino. In 1582 however, Nobunaga's reign ended, when he was assassinated by General Akechi. Akechi's triumph was short-lived: He was defeated by one of Nobunaga's generals, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who took control of Japan.

Hideyoshi continued with Nobunaga's campaign of unification. In the process, he destroyed many of the castles which were the keystones of local ji-samurai power. He also confiscated all weapons from farmers and religious institutions in the Sword Hunt of 1588, leaving the samurai class as the only trained and equipped warriors in Japan, and his samurai as the strongest and best fortified of all. Hideyoshi later turned his attention - and that of his samurai - outwardobediences, launching two invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597. He captured Seoul in 1592, but in 1598 was forced to concede defeat and withdraw from Korea, shortly before his own death.

Following Hideyoshi's rule, another Nobunaga lieutenant, Tokugawa Ieyasu, took over, in opposition to Hideyoshi's chosen successor, Hideyori. Ieyasu asserted control of Japan, establishing a military hegemony, sealed by a victory over Hideyori loyalists at Sekigahara in 1600. By 1603, his position was secure enough that he was named Shogun by the Emperor. Ieyasu's accession brought the Azuchi-Momoyama period to an end, ushering in the relative peace of the Edo period under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Threats to Samurai Power - Jesus and Guns

Since the first arrival of a Portuguese ship on the shores of Japan in 1542, guns and Christianity began to threaten the dominance of the samurai. Guns were a direct threat in battle, invalidating much of the samurai's skill at arms, and Christianity was - as ever - a threat to any non-Christian ruling class, preaching of to a higher order than the Emperor and the Shogun. Hideyoshi expelled all foreign missionaries in 1587, but in 1593 his decree was challenged by the arrival of Franciscan missionaries. in 1597 the persecution of Christians was intensified. Further conversions were forbidden, and 26 Franciscans were executed, but missionary activity continued into the Edo period, leading to a total ban on the religion - and a further expulsion of missionaries - from 1612.

The Edo Period (1603-1867): Peace and the Pursuit of Excellence

The Edo Period is named after the city of Edo (now Tokyo), where the Shoguns of the Tokugawa bakufu had their capital. The beginning of the period was marked by the strengthening of the Tokgawa's position and the final strokes of the battle for the unification of Japan. With his accession as Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to grant strategically important estates to those daimyo - the lords of the ji-samurai - he knew to be loyal to him. Ieyasu required a man to have an annual income of 10,000 kotu³ before he could even be called daimyo. He then divided those who qualified into three groups: the daimyo who were relatives of the tokugawa were called the shinpan (related) daimyo; those who had been loyal to him before his takeover were the fudai (hereditary) daimyo; and those who had joined him during the takeover became the tozama (outer) daimyo. Under the new distribution, the Shogun controlled about a quarter of the farming land in Japan. The lands nearest to the Shogun's domain then went to the shinpan, the next layer to the fudai, and the remainder ot the tozama.

He also required that all daimyo spend every second year in Edo, allowing him to keep a close eye on them, and weakening their ability to gather force against him. When they were not in Edo, they had to leave a member of their family at the Shogun's court as a hostage against their good behaviour. In 1615, Shogun Ieyasu captured the mighty Osaka Castle from the remaining Hideyori loyalists, and destroyed the Toyotomi Clan in the last major battles of the Edo Period. The seige of Osaka caused Ieyasu considerable trouble, and so he declared the law known as Ikkoku Ichijoo, prohibiting daimyo from raising more than a single castle in a province. Thereafter, the Period was one of relative peace, with the attendant problems which that created for a warrior aristocracy. In part to prepare for such difficulties, Ieyasu produced the Buke Sho Hatto, or Rules for Martial Families, shortly before his death later in 1615.

At first, foreign trade was promoted by the Shogunate, although Christians continued to be persecuted. In 1633 however, Shogun Iemitsu forbade all foreign travel. The eyes of Japan turned inwards, and aside from extremely limited trade with China and the Dutch, through the port of Nagasaki, the country became almost entirely isolated. With foreign influences removed, the late seventeenth century became the Genroku era, a flowering of insular Japanese culture. With no major battles, the samurai class also began to show much greater interest in the development of art, literature, philosophy and ritual, and the Edo period produced innovations such as the tea-ceremony.

With the military role of the samurai clans no longer present as a surety of their continued prominence, the Shogunate created and enforced a rigid, four-tiered society based on Neo-Confucianist principles, with the samurai of course at the top of the hierarchy. Below them were peasants, artisans and merchants, and the eta, a class of untouchables considered beneath society proper. Unfortunately for the Tokugawa Shoguns, this was simply not sufficient to hide the fact that the unification had rendered a large part of the samurai role obsolete. Indeed, the presence of a highly-skilled warrior caste in a land with no wars caused some problems for the government itself, especially in the case of masterless samurai, known as ronin ("wave man"), who at times acted as no more than brigands and thugs.

In 1720 a ban on foreign literature was imposed, presumably to try and fight the tides of dissatisfaction with the rule of the Tokugawa. It did not work. The power of the government continued to decline, and dissent grew. Taxation was a major issue, but dissent was heightened by a series of natural disasters and famines which increased the pressure on the peasant classes. There was also resentment over the declining morals and increasing levels of corruption and incompetence in the Shogunate. As in the West, the fall of feudalism was also catalysed by the ascension of the middle classes, and in particular the merchants, who began to have money equal to or greater than the wealth of the daimyos, and to desire a status to match. Coupled with ever-increasing external pressure for trade, the increasing influence of the merchants on the corrupt government began to tell through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The end for the Tokugawa Shogunate - the last samurai government - began when Commodore Perry forced the government to restore international trade in 1853-4. The isolation of Japan was ended, and the collapse of a governmental system effectively frozen in time could only be hastened by the fact that it had been forced to back down by foreigners. Sure enough, the Shogunate lost all of its remaining political power in the Meiji Restoration of 1867-8, less than fifteen years after the reopening of Japan's ports.

Bushido: The Way of the Warrior

The term 'bushido', literally translated as 'the way of the warrior', is first found used to describe the Samurai code of ethics in the seventeenth century, in the writings of the neo-Confucianist, Yamag Soko. The principles of Bushido developed from the earlier Kyuba no michi (Way of Horse and Bow), and unwritten, informal warrior code developed in Japan, but itself based on Chinese martial doctrines. In addition, elements of Bushido can be traced back to Buddhist, Zen and Confucianist principles, and to the insular Shinto religion.

Bushido is often associated with the concept of knightly chivalry in Europe, and certainly there are similarities. Both are codes governing groups of dedicated fighting men, with an emphasis on duty, respect, honour and etiquette. There are also distinct differences, and it is unlikely that a French baron and an Okinawan samurai would have seen eye to eye on the subject of honour. Notably, Bushido has little time for romance, and its emphasis on duty makes chivalry look decidedly wishy-washy. However, the codes do have one major factor in common; both were only formalised after the period in which those who supposedly followed them had their heyday.

Buke Sho Hatto

The great flowering of Bushido came in the seventeenth century - in a time of relative peace - not only in Yamag Soko's writings, but also in the Buke Sho Hatto of Tokugawa Ieyasu. This piece of legislation is widely regarded as the earliest written formulation of Bushido, albeit it does not call it by that name. The Buke Sho Hatto, or Rules for Martial Families, laid down strict codes, governing the behaviour of the samurai clans in times of peace. While it does formalise elements of the code of warfare, its primary puropose was to create a new focus for the samurai, thus reducing the chances of a rebellion against the newly formed Tokugawa bakufu.

The work urged the samurai to devote themselves to philosophical pursuits, and to a life of training and intense discipline, so as to refine and preserve the arts of war through times of peace. The Buke Sho Hatto created the classical samurai. Its rules laid the foundations for the creation of new schools of bujutsu - the warrior arts - and for the philosophical and literary advances of the Edo period. More importantly, it set the samurai in peacetime to be something other than an unemployed warrior, itching for a war which would allow him to do the only thing he did well.

Some tenets of Bushido

While the Buke Sho Hatto is the first, it is not the only source for the code of Bushido; nor is there such a thing as the definitive source. It is not possible to discuss the tenets of Bushido, because such a thing does not exist. Bushido was evolved over several centuries, from Kyuba no michi, through Buke Sho Hatto and beyond. Other important writings include Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure ('Hidden Beneath the Leaves'), written c.1716, and the writings of Miyamoto Musashi in the mid-seventeenth century. What is presented here then, are a number of principles which were important to one or more Bushido writers down the years.

Duty was almost always seen as the keystone of the samurai code. It was paramount in a way that few western cultures could rival. From Buddhism, Bushido took the notion of 'freedom from fear', that a warrior must strip himself of all fear of death, pain or defeat in order to serve his master loyally and without regard for himself. The devotion of the samurai also relates to sutemi, an enduring, insular Japanese ethos of self-sacrifice in the service of a greater cause. Samurai meant 'one who serves', and a good samurai was expected to set aside personal concerns in the service of his master.

Indeed, a samurai was only really a samurai so long as he was in service. Without a master, without duty and devotion, he was just a wandering swordsman, a ronin ('wave man'); for all his skill no more than a masterless bravo. These ronin were part of what Ieyasu Tokugawa feared when he wrote the Buke Sho Hatto, and they caused considerable trouble in the peaceful Edo period.

All forms of loyalty and patriotism were encouraged. From Shinto, national pride; from Confucianism, an emphasis on personal relationships; not only between master ans samurai, but between family members and friends. Another principle which impacted on all relationships and relations was etiquette. All relations - externally at least - were governed by strict, formal rules. The ideal samurai was a rock for all his relatives and comrades to lean on, and a stalwart foe of those who would threaten Japan. He observed an absolute dignity, propriety and formality in all public relations, and in the end his absolute devotion could belong only to his master, above even the law.

A samurai was also supposed to be magnanimous and generous, to aid and protect those beneath him, and to seek internal focus, and self-knowledge. He was supposed to be respectful before all, to seek knowledge and wisdom in all things, to be compassionate and truthful, to care for the aged and infirm. And far from these myriad achievements being a target which the samurai should strive for, if not reach, the samurai was supposed to make himself an ideal, a figure for those of lesser class to look upon in wonder and reverence; a superior man through superior living, exemplifying all virtue in himself.

This superiority was taken further by the Hagakure, which prompted samurai to devote himself to activities beyond the level of the common man. Here Bushido intersects with the feudal system, solidifying the class divide between the warrior and the peasants and merchants.

Sepuku

The principles of loyalty and sutemi combined produce the phenomenon of sepuku; ritual suicide. Sepuku is a natural result of the principles and influences of Bushido; as well as a way of living, bushido was a way of dying. The samurai who lived by bushido did not fear death, and was supposed to die for his master if necessary. He was also expected to maintain dignity and propriety, and his performance in all things would be seen as a measure of his master, his ancestors and his family. Thus, a samurai's disgrace harmed far more people than merely the samurai, and sepuku was not a coward's flight from responsibility, but a shouldering of your own failure to spare those close to you.

The classic method of sepuku was hara-kiri (literally, belly-cutting). The samurai would take his shoto - the shorter of his two swords - and draw it across his adbomen, disemboweling himself. A witness - usually a friend, comrade or retainer, would stand behind the samurai as he did this, and decapitate him with his daito (long sword). Sepuku was traditionally practised only to avoid great disgrace, to atone for the failure to protect one's lord from death (suicide on the death of a samurai's lord was also called junshi) or as the ultimate form of protest against a superior's error. In the latter case, disobediance to your superior would not be an option, because loyalty and obediance were so firmly ingrained in bushido. By committing sepuku, the samurai showed that he believed death to be preferable to following the superior's orders. A samurai could also be ordered to commit sepuku as a death sentence.

The Forty-Seven Ronin

The story of the 47 ronin is the classic bushido morality play. The original events take place in the early 18th century, and the first written version is in the form of a puppet play from 1748. The tale was later adapted for kabuki theatre and television. It is one of Japan's most celebrated stories, and demonstrates the power and harshness of formal bushido.

The tale is set in the relative peace of the Edo period, and tells of a young daimyo named Naganori Asano-Takuminokami. Asano and another young lord were given the honour of arranging a reception for the Imperial envoys to the Tokugawa Shogun's court at Edo, and an official named Kira was assigned to assist them. Kira however took against Asano, whom he thought to be disrespectful, and he took every opportunity to abuse and humiliate the younger man. Finally, Asano lost his temper with Kira, drew his sword and struck the old man. Kira was not seriously wounded, but in punishment for such a breach of protocol in the castle of the Shogun himself - where by simply drawing his sword, Asano had committed a capital crime - Asano was sentenced to death by sepuku.

While Asano's punishment was suited to his offence, his followers were angered that Kira bore no blame, and suffered no punishment for his part in the events. Moreover, as Asano's lands and properties became forfeit to the Shogun, his three-hundred-and-twenty one samurai retainers became masterless; ronin. Of these, sixty held to their loyalty to Asano, and plotted revenge against Kira. They waited ten years for Kira to feel secure, and at last forty-seven of them stormed Kira's mansion on a winter's night. They are said to have defeated Kira's retainers without losses, although outnumbered. Kira was offered a chance to commit suicide, and when he refused he was beheaded. The forty-seven then took his head to Asano's grave, so that their lord would know he was avenged. In punishment for the actions, the Shogu ordered forty-six of the ronin to commit sepuku, which they did, simultaneously, and were buried alongside their master.

Japanese Feudalism

The rise of feudalism

Feudalism first developed in Japan during the late Heian period, with the increasing power and wealth of the warrior clans. The Hogen disturbance in 1155 had to be put down by the warriors of the Taira and Minamoto clans, highlighted the increasing dependence of the Fujiwara-dominated Imperial Court on the provincial armies, and the Gempei War, leading to the foundation of the Kamakura bakufu, showed that the Imperial system of government was becoming redundant. The bakufu was a military government, notionally complementing the civil government of the Imperial court, but in practice dominating it. The form of the bakufu was feudal, with a central power supported by local authorities. The only direct control over the provinces was through increasinineffectual civil administrators, and the backbone of the military government was an emergent ideology of loyalty, which held the largely independent regional lords and clans to the service of the Shogun through sworn allegiance.

With the fall of the Hoju and the Kamakura bakufu in the 1330s, an attempt to restore full Imperial authority reiterated the civil government's dependence on the warrior clans. The former Hoju general Ashikaga established a new bakufu, with himself as Shogun. The Ashikaga Shogunate was even more rigidly feudal than its predecessor, exercising control of the country through the jigo (civil governors and administrators) as well as the shogu (military constables). The land-owning daimyo were still held only by ties of loyalty, but with the shugo they were more closely watched and their independence curtailed. Over time, many of the shugo became daimyo in their own right, and their power grew in comparison to the declining jigo.

With the Onin War and the Sengoku jidai, the power of the daimyo and their samurai was on the ascendant, and so when the country was unified under the Tokugawa Shogunate, the feudal model had to be revised. In place of the shugo, the daimyo becmae the vassals and peacekeepers of the Shogun, along with a powerful personal retinue. The Tokugawa government supervised the whole nation through local administrators under the authority of the Council of Elders, and the daimyo were divided according to loyalties. With the daimyo forced to attend the Shogunal court and to leave hostages in their absence, the Shogun's control became more direct than ever before. Also under the Tokugawa, the classes were formalised - Warrior, peasant, merchant, artisan - leading to a more formal feudal state.

Class and the role of the samurai

Throughout the feudal period, the samurai were at the top of the social hierarchy. The Shogun ruled the country, and the shogun was samurai, and so the warriors formed the upper class of Japan. As noted elsewhere, from the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate on, this meant that they were expected to provide a good example to the lower classes, as well as protection from enemies and brigands, but it also meant that they were extremely privaleged. They did not toil in the fields as the peasants did, and as the burden of taxation on the daimyo rose, it was not they, but the peasants who bore the brunt of that increase. It was in part a response to this harsh treatment that gave birth to the ninja.

Between the samurai and the peasants were the middle classes: The ronin, the merchants and the artisans. The ronin were masterless samurai, and hence of lower status than those who lived by bushido, and are dealt with in some detail below. Artisans were a vital part of society, and being skilled labourers were a cut above the peasantry. The artisan class mostly consisted of construction workers: roofers, carpenters, plasterers and builders. More refined and artistic skills, such as swordsmithing, were considered above mere artisans, and would have fallen to craftsmen of the samurai class.

Merchants were probably seen as an unpleasant necessity by the samurai clas. They dealt in commerce - a disreputable sector in most feudal societies - and as the Edo period progressd, and the samurai shifted from feudal warriors to urbanised administrators, they became more and more indispensible. They also did not fit neatly into the feudal hierarchy, which was based on land-ownership and locations. Merchants had to travel to trade, and so did not clearly fall into the service of a particular daimyo. Moreover, the merchants made their own rules of trade and social conduct, giving further pause to the samurai. Despite this antagonistic attitude towards them, througout the Edo period, the merchant class grew richer, and the samurai class grew poorer.

After the Meiji Restoration, the fall of the Shogunate and the abolition of the samurai privaleges brought about the collapse of the class structure, and the end of the feudal system. After the loss of their privaleges, the word shizoku (a Chinese pronunciation of samurai) was used extensively to distinguish the old samurai families until 1945. Even today, in some rural areas of Japan, the descendents of the feudal samurai lords are treated with a special respect, perhaps akin to that shown to the latter-day generations of country gentry in some parts of rural England.

Ronin

The ronin were samurai without masters. Traditionally, it was a dishonour to find oneself in such a position, as it implied a failure in some facet of the samurai's duty: a failure to protect the master; a failure to commit sepuku on his death; or an abandonment of your loyalty. Some ronin however were specifically dispatched by their lords to wander for a year, and others dedicated themselves to the art of swordsmanship. Miyamoto Musashi had no master for most of his musha-shugyo, yet is remembered as one of the greatest of all samurai.

The ronin were a paradox in terms of the feudal system, much as the merchants were. Being masterless wanderers, they did not fit into the neat feudal hierarchy. They had no obligation to a lord to keep them in line, yet they were trained in bujutsu, and this made them exceptionally dangerous. Some took religious orders, becoming preachers of emptiness and isolation called komuso, but others retained their warrior status, and could become a thorn in the side of authority. During the Edo period in particular, the Ronin were for a time the principal social adversaries of the status quo, an honour inherited from the ninja and later passed to the merchants. The ronin, alone or in groups, were hard to control, and by defiance might weaken the grip of the bakufu on the middle classes and peasants. They could also cause considerable disruption in the role of bandits and brigands.

Women in Samurai Japan

In early Japanese history, women play an important role. As well as the Queen Himika referred to in Chinese sources, there are other accounts of Queens and Empresses, historical or legendary, ruling unaided and in their own right as sovereign and warleader of Japan. These accounts continue up to the 8th century, when the Empress Shotoku is said to have fallen so far under the control of a certain Buddhist priest, a Rasputinesque figure called Dokyo, that he was almost made her successor before the ascendent Fujiwara clan had him removed from the country. At that point, the Fujiwara made it impossible for a woman to rule alone in Japan, and there are no later accounts of strong or effective Empresses.

But while there are no more great Empresses, this is not the end of women's role in the history of the Samurai. There are a number of great historical wives and mothers to Emperors, and until the 13th century at least, women retained equal inheritance rights, even if they could not hold the Imperial throne. In the 12th century it was Hoju Masako, widow of Minamoto Yoritomo who brought the Hoju regents to power. Masako - like many samurai widows - became a Buddhist nun on her husband's death, but her influence remained so strognthat she became known as the general in the nun's habit. It was also a Minamoto's wife, Tomoe Gozen, who was one of Japan's most celebrated female warriors.

In later times, the lot of women declined considerably from these heady days. During the Sengoku jidai, the chief importance of women was in political marriages. Once in their husband's household however, it would be a woman's duty to spy on him for her family, placing her in an awkward and potentially dangerous position. Samurai wives would be responsible for raising children in the traditions of their class and family, and they would also have control of the household finances. However, this was primarily because commerce was considered beneath a samurai himself. A samurai woman would also learn to fight, but only in defence of her home.

By this time, equal rights were a thing of the past. Only men inherited, and adultery was defined as a wife sleeping with another man; a husband could only commit adultery with another man's wife. A wife was expected to show the same loyalty to her husband as he did to his daimyo; as phrased in Nitobe Inazo's 1905 study of Bushido, she would annihilate herself for him, that he might annihilate himself for the daimyo. The shorthand was that the wife should act as though nothing but duty to her husband mattered to her. Still, her lot was better than that of a concubine, who would be little better treated than a servant and held to the same degree of loyalty, and an unmarried daughter might expect little less. In the event of a samurai's death, the women of his household might be expected to commit ojigi, a form of ritual suicide for a woman, in which she would thrust a knife through her throat.

From the 17th century, women seem to have been regarded as essential for the production of children, but precious little else. Many writers of the time held that a man can never truly love a woman, and based on this principle a growing cult of homosexuality⁴ arose in the period, despite official condemnation. In particular, sexual relationships between a master and pupil seem to have become commonplace among the samurai class, and the importance of women in the life of men to have been further sidelined as a mere distraction.

Tales of women of courage and power continue up to the Meiji Restoration, but are far more scattered than in early history. Most common are women dying bravely in defence of their home, or sacrificing life, honour or dignity for the sake of her husband. A late example is Nakano Takeko, who distinguished herself in combat, weilding a naginata in defence of a beleagured Shogunist stronghold during the Meiji Restoration. She was finally shot in the chest, and asked her sister to decapitate her to avoid the disgrace of capture.

Ninhoto and kenjutsu: Swords and swordsmanship

The sword has always been one of the most evocative of all weapons, and the blades of the samurai are among the most famous of all. Noted for the supreme skill displayed in their manufacture, samurai swords have long been considered among the finest weapons ever made⁵.

Sword development

The first Japanese swords were imported from China and Korea in c.2000BC. Known as ken, these blades were straight, single-handed weapons, a style which persisted through the Nara and into the Heian period. In the mid-Heian period however, the Japanese swordsmiths began to remove themselves from strict continental influence, marking the beginning of the Koto (old sword) period. During this time, legend places the creation of the first curved, single-edged sword with the smith Amakuni Yasutsuna.

The curved sword was faster to draw from its scabbard, and also provided a more effective cutting angle, and this design became the standard in Japanese swordsmithing. The earliest Japanese curved blades were called tachi. They were often very long, some up to four feet, and deeply curved. They were intended mostly for use from horseback in pitched battle. The sword was worn edge down in a hanger attached to the warrior's armour or to a sword belt, and in fact the strict usage of 'tachi' describes any long blade worn in this way.

In the later part of the Heian period, the swords began to be made with a less marked curve. Also, shorter blades, between two and four feet, were forged, as the use of the sword changed. The heavy blades of the early tachi were superb horseback weapons, but increasingly samurai were using their swords in personal duels, and the sword was also becoming used as a footman's battle weapon. These shorter blades were easier to control, and less encumbering for a warrior on foot to use and carry. These later blades also used the hand-and-a-half grip⁶ familiar on the classic samurai sword. The footman's blade was carried in the obi (belt), withthe cutting edge up. This method of carriage, and the associated sword and scabbard fittings and mounts, was called buke-zukuri, uchigatana, or katana, and the latter word has beome synonymous with these blades, and with samurai swords in general.

The swords crafted in the latter part of the Koto sword period (mid-to-late 16th century, just prior to the arrival of the first European guns) are commonly held to be the finest examples of the art. The Koto period was followed by the Shinto (new sword) period, which saw a decline in the deep-curved blade, and in the tachi sword mount. The exception to this rule was the nodachi, a largely ceremonial blade carried by high officials. The nodachi was a huge, two-handed sword, with a deeply curved blade, well over five feet long. Its practicality is questionable, but it would certainly have been an intimidating weapon.

After the Shinto come the Shinshinto (new, new sword) and Gendai (modern) periods. Finally, any blade manufactured after WWII is part of the Shinsaku period. Sword-making techniques have changed little in this time, but it is generally considered that the late Koto blades have never been rivalled. In the later sword periods, style was often more important than function, and the art of the tsuba, or sword guard, developed. The tsuba was a disc which fitted at the top of the sword-hilt and protected the hand. These were sometimes decorated, and over time their decoration became a separate art form, to the extent that tsuba would be made which could not conceivably be used as sword guards because of the weight of ornamentation.

The Daisho

Daisho refers to a paired set of long and short swords, worn in matching mounts. The mounts were of the katana style, but the daito (long blade) could be of the katana or the more curved tachi type. The wearing of the daisho was the privalege of the samurai and daimyo classes, but the shoto (short sword) could be worn by a merchant or bureaucrat. Consequently, there are many more examples of the shoto, also called the wakizashi, than of the daito. Additionally, the daisho might be complemented by a tanto - a short fighting dagger with a slightly-curved blade - in a similar scabbard.

Kenjutsu - the sword art

As with the making of swords, the use of swords was a highly developed art in samurai Japan. Unlike the medieval European art of fencing, kenjutsu put little faith in defence. First developed in the battlefield of the 11th century, it was a brutal style, emphasising aggression, and powerful, high-commitment attacks. Its practice in earnest was all-out, with the simple goal of killing your opponent before he killed you; you did not block his attacks, you just killed him before he could strike. Despite the ferocity of the basic philosophy of kenjutsu however, it possessed a strong, spiritual element, and its savagery was delivered in a refined and graceful fashion. Kendo (the sword way), a modern sport which developed from a more philosophical offshoot of kenjutsu, awards points for the emotional intensity of an attack, as well as the skill in its execution.

Kenjutsu is taught through a series of kata, set patterns of sword movements which the student must learn to perform by heart. While in battle the swordsman would probably not be supposed to follow the kata precisely, they give to the art a fluidity and defined structure. The kata included no formal defensive elements, so parries are largely a matter of reaction and improvisation. An interesting feature of much kenjutsu is that parries would be taken on the back of the sword, instead of on the hard, but brittle cutting edge. In the 15th and 16th centuries, rival schools of sworsmanship, each with its own methods and kata emerged. Much of kenjutsu was preserved through the peaceful Edo period through the tenets of the Buke Sho Hatto, and its insistence on continual practice of the warrior arts. One of the schools developed in the Edo period was Niten Ichi-Ryu (two swords integrated as one school), a technique perfected by the master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, in which the warrior wielded not one, but two daito; one in each hand.

Regardless of the school, all kenjutsu (and kendo) katas begin and end with the sword held drawn before the warrior. An adjunct to the art, and indeed an art in its own right, was iai-jutsu, the art of the draw. Iai-jutsu katas all begin, and end, with the daito scabbarded. Correctly performed, and iai-jutsu kata encompasses the drawing of the blade, a killing stroke, a motion to flick the blood from the edge of the blade, and the return of the blade to its scabbard, in one, fluid movement. Like kenjutsu, iai-jutsu had its more philosophical side in iaido.

Other weapons

While it is the sword that is most often associated with the samurai, this was not by any means the only weapon used in feudal Japan. Bujutsu was a general term for the martial arts, and a wide array of weapons all had their own styles and arts.

Jojutsu was the art of fighting with the staff, and included the use of polearms and spears, as well as an array of basic staff weapons. The daijo, or bo, was a long staff, 5-6' long, while the chujo was nearer to 4'. Both were used with both hands. The shojo or hanbo were short staffs, often used in pairs. The yari was a Japanese fighting spear, designed to thrust and slash, rather than for throwing. The naginata was a polearm which mounted a sword-type blade on a long wooden shaft. It was of considerable use to footmen fighting against cavalry, and was also used by women of the samurai class. While there were few actual warrior-women known historically, a samurai's wife would be expected to defend her home, even if she did not participate in open warfare. The naginata would allow a woman to keep a heavier male opponent at a distance, where her speed and skill could not be overwhelmed by superior strength and weight. Another polearm was the nagamaki, which had a shorter staff than the naginata, but a longer, heavier blade.

The term mi-jikai-mono is usually translated as 'short arms', and is used to refer to an array of unlikely weapons.

• The tessen, or war fan, is similar to an ordinary folding fan, but made form iron slats. It was used by samurai as a means of signalling in battle, and when closed could be used as a weapon. It could be opened and closed to present a distraction to a foe, or used to strike or block, adn was sometimes used by samurai when duelling opponents deemed not worthy of the sword. The tessen would be carried tucked in the obi alongside the daito.
• The jutte was an iron truncheon used by the doshin (samurai officers in the police force), as well as by their non-samurai assistants. It was thought to descend from the hachiwari (helmet splitter), a battlefield weapon designed by the master swordsmith Goro Nyudo Masamune, and was simply an iron baton with a hook on one side for catching an opponent's weapon. Although simple in design, in use it had masters, like any weapon; Munisai Hirato, father of the legendary Miyamoto Musashi, was an expert in jutte-jutsu.
• The manrikigusari was a weighted chain, 2-3' long and used to entangle an opponent or his weapon. It was supposedly designed by Dannoshin Toshimitsu Masaki, the chief sentry at Edo castle c.1700, as a way to subdue intruders without unnecessary bloodshed.
• The shakuhachi was a simple bamboo flute. When made from the root of the bamboo grass instead of the shoots, it was heavy and strong enough to make an effective club, and was favoured by the komuso. These were ronin of the sixteenth century onwards, who chose to live as mendicant preachers of emptiness. As they were no longer samurai these komuso - who were distinguished by the baskets which they wore over their heads to symbolise their isolation from the world - were not permitted to bear swords, and so they used the shakuhachi instead. It is said that they obtained the sole right to play the intrument in exchange for keeping a watch on the other ronin for the Shogun.
• The kansashi was a woman's hairpin, used as a weapon of last resort by samurai women.

Armour

The o-yoroi (great armour) was the classic samurai armour, coming into use around the 9th century and replaceing the keiko. It was a multi-piece, scaled metal armour that protected three sides of the body, with a metal plate on the left. The right side would be left relatively exposed. The o-yoroi offered formidable protection, but was heavy and relatively inflexible. From the 13th century, a much lighter form of armour called the do-maru came into use, and by the mid-14th century it had become the prevalent armour among the samurai.

The final change in samurai armour was a return to the armoured cuirass seen in the tanko, as a form of protection against early firearms in the 16th century. With the advent of firearms however, armour had become more or less redundant.

The Meiji Restoration and the Last Bow of the Samurai

In 1867 the Emperor Mutuhito was restored to his traditional powers. He took the name Meiji, shifted his court to Edo, and re-established the Imperial government in place of the Military Shogunate. A year later, the Five Articles Oath began the process of dismantling the privaledges of the samurai class. Now almost entirely obsolete - with Japan at peace, and foreign armies whose military technology went beyond anything the samurai could muster - the class could only be viewed as a threat to the Emperor should any of the daimyo seek to establish a new Shogunate. In addition, Emperor Meiji was setting out to close the economic and military gap which had grown up in Japan's isolation, and for that to happen, the old feudal system needed to be drastically overhauled, if not abandoned altogether.

The next major blow to the samurai came in 1873. Emperor Meiji formed a new army, based on conscription and open to all; the first, centralised, Japanese national army since the first rise of the samurai in the Heian period. The samurai caste's unique role as the wagers of war had been taken from them, and more was to come. The same year saw the establishment of a basic code of human rights, and the reclamation of all land from the daimyo. Now the samurai had no special status, and no power over the land, which was restructured into prefectures.

Finally, in 1876, Meiji outlawed the wearing of swords, and after almost a millennium, the samurai had lost their special place in Japan. While the families remained, with no profession, no position, no privaledges, no land, and now not even their swords, the samurai were effectively no more.

The Legacy of the Samurai

As often happens, after the fall of the samurai, the people of Japan began to become nostalgic about the heroic warriors of a past era. Following the abolition of samurai privaleges in the Meiji Restoration, Japan saw a flowering of samurai literature, which greatly romanticised their image. The samurai honour, prowess and devotion to the arts and to bushido were remembered, their place in the oppressive feudal regime conveniently forgotten. It was this image of the proud and noble samurai that came to the west, along with the dastardly ninja now famed in film and comic.

In particular, Japanese culture has seized upon two extreme images of the samurai. The first is of the devoted, selfless warrior, dedicated unto death to an ideology and a higher authority. This is a powerful image of supplication of authority, and thus finds most favour in the mainstream of Japanese culture. The other image is that of the ronin anti-hero, a fierce individualist, defiant of the impetus to serve and to obey bushido, but bound by a fierce adherence to a more personal code. More rebellious, these were frowned upon by authority figures, but have found greater favour in the West, either in their original form, or as the inspiration for anti-heroes in more traditional Occidental archetypes.

In general, the transport of the samurai to the Western media has been less successful than that of the ninja. It is possibly because the virtue of total, unquestioning loyalty embodied in bushido is a difficult one for US and European film-makers, working in genres where the rebellious individualist is the classic hero, that the samurai have made so little impact. Ninjas are easier to cast as villainous assassins, but the moral complexity of an honourable killer is far harder to pitch to the world of Hollywood.

It is interesting to note that the majority of western 'samurai' films have featured gangland assassins with rigid codes of conduct. The prime exponent is the French film Le Samourai, remade by Hollywood as Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai. In Le Samourai, the central character is a meticulous assassin, who is seen during one of his carefully-planned hits. Instructed by his bosses to kill the singer who witnessed the crime, he finds himself unable to murder an innocent, turns on his masters, and finally commits a kind of sepuku by forcing the police to kill him. Le Smourai is a curiously placid and slow-moving film⁷, in stark contrast to the action-thrillers which favour the ninja, but its long periods of meditative calm, punctuated by bursts of brief and sudden violence, are perhaps more apt to the image of an Edo period Samurai.

As the ninja has entered the world of anthropomorphic⁸ comics with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so the samurai are represented by Usagi Yojimbo⁹. Usagi Yojimbo predates TMNT, but rose to prominence when the Turtles revitalised the market for black and white comic books. Stan Sakai's seminal tale of a masterless samurai's trials and travails is based loosely on the life of Minamoto Musashi, with the main distinction being that Minamoto Usagi is a rabbit, who wears his ears in a samurai topknot. While it has never struck the big-time to the same degree as TMNT, Usagi Yojimbo acquired, and retains, a substantial cult following.

Akira Kurosawa

In the West, the best known images of the samurai come from the films of the Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa. This is ironic, as these films - or at least the ones which have been most successful in Europe and America - are essentially either westerns or adaptations of the plays of Shakespeare, done with samurai instead of cowboys and daimyo instead of King Lear. Kurosawa usually chooses to portray the ronin anti-hero (played most memorably by the actor Toshiro Mifune), and while celebrating the samurai as individuals, he condemns their cruelty as a class. Kurosawa's films not only find acceptance with western audiences, but have also become the basis for many adaptations and remakes.

One of Kurosawa's most famous films demonstrates all of these aspects of his work. The film is Sinshin no samurai (Seven Samurai), remade as the classic western The Magnificent Seven, and also as the Roger Corman produced sci-fi B-movie Battle Beyond the Stars, and the computer-animated comedy A Bug's Life. The original film contrasts the image of the honourable and dignified samurai warriors with the depradations of the samurai as a class. While the peasants in the film hire ronin to protect themselves, they distrust them after generations of abuse at the hands of the samurai class. One of the villagers forces his beautiful daughter to disguise herself as a man for fear she will be raped by the very people hired to defend her. The ronin are later appalled to discover that the farmers have in the past waylaid and murdered other samurai, but when they are reminded of the crimes that their class have committed against the peasants, none can offer any defence.

In the film Yojimbo¹⁰, Kurosawa and Mifune created one of the most enduring images of the ronin. Based on the historical character of Miyamoto Musashi, Senjuro is the consumate warrior, yet surly, unkempt and dismissive of authority. He is an archetypal anti-hero, apparently caring for no-one, yet risking life and limb for the sake of innocents who look down on or despise him. Aside from the direct remakes, Senjuro has become a template for anti-heroes in all genres.

Famous Samurai

Miyamoto Musashi

One of the greatest swordsmen in Japanese history, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin, was born in the village of Miyamoto in 1584. A descendent of the Fujiwara clan who were pre-eminent in the Meiji period, Musashi had a complex relationship with his emotionally and literally distant father, before being orphaned at the age of seven and left in the care of his uncle, a priest. His father, Munisai Hirato, had been a warrior, and Musashi inherited an aggressive temperament, and studied kenjutsu from an early age.

When he was thirteen, Musashi participated in his first single combat, challenging the swordsman Arima Kigei, who had invited challenges as a means of proving the superiority of his school, Shinto-Ryu. Although Musashi was very young, Kigei accepted his challenge. Musashi defeated the samurai, striking him repeatedly with a stick, so violently that he died. As well as his skill, this duel displayed the savagery which marked Musashi as a young man.

In his early life, Musashi learned to wield a katana in one hand, instead of the usual two-handed grip, and began the development of a style of fighting using two swords. He did not however utilise either technique in his formal duelling for many years. At sixteen, deciding that his true desire was to seek enlightenment in the Way of the sword, Musashi left his home to begin his Musha-Shugyo. Usually translated 'warrior pilgrimage', the Musha-Shugyo was a samurai tradition, in which a warrior would become ronin and travel the land, fighting in duels to establish and perfect his own skill, and to promote the strength and value of his school.

The Musha-Shugyo was a period of total committment for Musashi. He denied himself luxuries, never cut his hair, never married and never even bathed. It was said by some that his refusal to shave his head was due to eczema scars caused by congenital syphilis, while his total rejection of personal hygeine is seen either as a deliberate attempt to confuse opponents, or as a result of his refusal to undress and lay down his swords, as he would have to do in order to wash. Whatever his reasons, Miyamoto Musashi became the archetypal unkempt, invincible ronin, as he passed through duels and wars undefeated.

Early in his pilgrimage, Musashi fought in the battle at Sekigahara, where Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated the followers of his rival, Hideyori. Despite joining the army of Hideyori, Musashi survived both the bloody, three-day battle, and the brutal hunting and slaughtering of the losing army which followed it. Aside from this, he remained largely untested and unremarked, until his arrival in Kyoto, at the age of 21.

The Yoshiokas had been the fencing masters of the Ashikaga house for generations, and even after the demise of the Ashikaga Shogunate they remained prominent in the affairs of Kyoto. They could therefore have ignored this itinerant, country sworsman without loss of face, therefore, but they did not. Years before, Musashi's father had fought duels with three members of the Yoshioka family, defeating two of them, and the family might have been looking for revenge against the son of Munisai. Whatever the reasoning, Musashi first defeated Yoshioka Seihiro, head of the family, defeating him, armed only with a bokken¹¹, and causing him to hang up his swords and cut off his samurai topknot in shame. Seeking to avenge his family's shame, Seijiro's brother, Denshichiro, challenged Musashi. Already showing a flair for strategy, Musashi deliberately turned up late, and the enraged and distracted Denshichiro was killed in the duel. Finally, a challenge was issued from Seijiro's pre-teen son, Hanshichiro. An ambush was planned for Musashi, with several dozen warriors arriving to lay in wait for him. However, on this occasion Musashi had arrived early and hidden himself. Attacking from concealment, he killed Hanshichiro, fought his way free of the mob and left Kyoto.

After this dramatic and brutal beginning, Musashi's Musha-Shugyo made him a legend in his own lifetime. He defeated swordsman after swordsman, and many warriors armed with other weapons. He defeated a spearman ofthe renowned Hozoin temple, and studied with the monks there for a time around 1605. At about the same time, he fought and killed Shishido Baikin, a noted master of the kusari-gama, by distracting him with a thrown dagger. As shown by this, Musashi was a shrewd and ruthless combatant, and had little attachment to the idea of a fair fight, but this is not to say that he could not win a straight match. He often fought swordsmen armed only with a bokken, and defeated the master swordsman Muso Gonosuke with a slender wooden wand intended for use as a bow shaft. After this match, Gonosuke is said to have been inspired to create the art of jo-jutsu.

In 1612, Musashi defeated the noted master swordsman Sasaki Kojiro in one of his most famous duels. It is said that he once again arrived late, and that he fought armed with a bokken he had carved from an oar on his way to the duel, while Kojiro used a real sword. He mocked Kojiro when the older man threw away his scabbard, remarking that he would not need it again. According to accounts of the fight, the two men struck hard at each other's heads, and that Kojiro's blade cut through Musashi's headband, while the impromptu bokken split his skull. After this duel, Musashi rarely fought anyone using a real sword. One account has him defeating a swordsman simply by guarding himself with a tessen until his opponent became tired and submitted.

One exception to this rule was a fight in Enmyo, against Miyake Gunbei, in which Musashi first used his two-sword style in a duel. He killed Gunbei, and named the style Enmyo-Ryu, after the duel¹². Later he changed the name to Nito Ichi-Ryu (Two Swords integrated as One School), and then again to Niten Ichi-Ryu. Niten means 'two heavens', and is thought to refer to Musashi's most famous combat stance, with two blades raised above his head. It is said that on his death, not one of Musashis students could master Niten Ichi-Ryu, and the style died with its creator.

In his later life, Mushashi was a more measured, patient and humble man than in his youth. As well as Niten Ichi-Ryu kenjutsu, he devoted himself to the perfection of the other arts practised by the samurai. He claims to have gained a full understanding of strategy by 1634, and he wrote numerous works on strategy, and on the art and way of the sword, including his two great treatises: Heiho Sanjugokajo (The 35 Articles on the Art of Swordsmanship), expounding the basic principles of Niten Ich-Ryu and the philosophy and combat strategies behind it; and Go Rin No Sho, The Book of Five Rings. Go Rin No Sho - for which the 35 articles is considered a prototype - is probably the most famous of all Japanese works on the martial arts, and is a basic part of any kendo bibliography.

Go Rin No Sho is divided into five sections - the rings - each named after one of the traditional Japanese elements. The Book of Earth sets out the basics of strategy and of living. Musashi identifies four ways of life - farmer, merchant, noble warrior and craftsman - and expounds on the way of the warrior, and the mindset and philosophies required of a true warrior. The Book of Water is a guide to learning combat, and sets out descriptions of various daito moves. The Book of Fire deals with battle strategy and tactics. It emphasises aggression, and the importance of drawing out your enemy's weaknesses and exploiting them. The Book of Wind deals with traditions, and with the intellectual part of strategy; knowing your opponent, and the strengths and weaknesses of his strategy. The last book, The Book of Emptiness, deals with the mysticism and philosophy of the warrior. The book is intended as a guide, rather than a how to manual, and is structured to force the reader to improve himself.

In his later years, Musashi also mastered ink painting, calligraphy, wood sculpture and metalworking. He used the nom de plume Niten, and founded a school of tsuba art which bore the same name. Several examples of his work survive. He is known as Kensei, sword-saint, and is truly one of the most famous of all samurai. To this day his legend survives, as the undoubted model for Toshiro Mifune's signature role, and for the comic book character Miyamoto Usagi.

Tomoe Gozen

Tomoe Gozen is one of the few examples of a female samurai warrior in Japanese history. More than simply a defender of the homestead or a warrior of necessity, she is described as a warrior of peerless skill, going into battle like a man. She was either the wife of Minamoto Yoshinaka, or by some sources a female attendant, but in either case is described as one of Yoshinaka's senior captains. Yoshinaka was one of the Minamoto lords who fought against the Taira in the Gempei War, and after the Minomoto victory at Kurikawa in 1084 placed Kyoto in Minamoto hands, Yoshinaka felt that he should become the overall leader of the clan.

Yoshinaka's feeling was contested by Minamoto Yoritomo. Yorimoto's forces attacked Yoshinkaka and Tomoe at Awazu, and despite putting up a tremendous fight, their forces were overwhelmed. With only a handful of warriors standing, Yoshinaka ordered his wife to flee the field rather than face capture and death. Accounts vary of what followed. Some say that Tomoe stayed and died with her husband, while others state that she fled the battlefield. In the latter instance, there is further uncertainty. Most accounts state that she fled with a severed head, but again sources vary between claiming that she took the head of an enemy soldier named Onda no Hachiro Moroshige, or that of her husband, taken to keep him from capture. A final debate follow the fate of Tomoe after her escape, as some state that she cast herself into the sea with her husband's head, while others assert that she became a nun.