Post-War Samurai

Post-war Samurai (1945 Tokyo, Imperial Palace)

The machine had deposited me on the grounds of the imperial palace. I was there to view the end of the war, and had made sure to be there at the right time in history. I made my way to the council chamber where the Japanese government was currently stuck in a stalemate.

As I walked through the grounds I noted a tension that every single imperial guard member was exhibiting. It was as if every man I passed was holding his breath. Most of these men still believed that they were samurai, so, why then would they hold on to the idea of dying to the last man? If ordered to surrender and not commit suicide as samurai wouldn’t they have to honor their master’s wishes?

I finally made it to the council chamber. The emperor was sitting to one side of the room, while his government sat around a table opposite. Clearly, by the absolute silence that permeated the room the emperor had just made his first divine decision, so why then was the council still in a stalemate? The restoration saw the power given back to the emperor, but the war party was still not giving into his wishes. How can these men believe that they are samurai? They murder, they rape, they ignore orders, everything that true samurai would never do these men have done on a massive scale.

I sped up the passage of time, and found that indeed the emperors decision was not a direct end of the war that it technically should have been.  At least half of these men believed that they were samurai, and they lead thousands of men who believed that they too were samurai, why then do these men not show any loyalty whatsoever to the emperor, their leader, their god? I was beginning to expect that I would not in fact find a samurai during this time period. Little did I know that there was one in this room.

My wanderings took me to another gathering. This one seemed to be made up of junior officers. To my surprise and utter horror they were planning to stage a revolt and seal off the palace and keep any word of surrender from being released. These men were not only defying a direct order from the emperor, but were going to essentially take his household hostage in order for them to continue their war to the last man. It was becoming very apparent that there was no honor, no loyalty, only shame in these modern samurai.

I desperately continued my travels hoping that I would find some shred of decency in this caste of modern samurai. I found it in an unlikely place, the home of Korechika Anima, one of the leaders of the war party. A young officer had approached him in his home and asked if he would lead the revolt making it legal. The minister general refused them and said, “Respect the will of the emperor”.  He then wrote a short note and committed seppuku. I finally found that one samurai among a sea of pretenders.

With one act the minister general had sealed his own fate along with that of the entire imperial army. It was this act that brought that shred of decency back to this man in my eyes. Did he atone for his men's sins? No, but in committing suicide he knew that the ideas of revolt and the continuation of the war would die with him, and he willingly did so, the act of a true samurai. It just took a while for it to fight its way free.

Pre- WW2 Samurai

Pre-war Samurai (1928-1937 Manchuria, Kwantung Army)

I decided that I would use my time machine to visit a random samurai era. I cannot wait to find out what civilization I will end up visiting. Tokugawa? Heian? Nara? It doesn’t matter I just want to view some samurai. The loyal and honorable warriors of legend are what I want to see.

After jumping through time it appeared that I had not been deposited in japan at all but. I appeared to be in Manchuria at a military base. It must have been where the Kwantung Army was stationed. But I had set the machine to go to a samurai time period. Surely there are no samurai here?

As I walked through the army encampment there seemed to be a great deal of excitement. It appeared that there was an assassination today, and the army was in high hopes that it would allow them to finally go to war. More importantly as I listened I was shocked to learn that this assassination was of a Manchurian warlord who was an ally of the Japanese, but that the assassins were actually Japanese themselves!  Surely these modern men cannot be samurai? The fabled men who held to a strict code of conduct would never kill their own allies like some villain.

This revelation put my understanding of the samurai, and their very name into question. Although I was quite disturbed I also found myself quite intrigued. I decided that I would go a bit further through time in order to find out more about these so called modern samurai, and hopefully find one among them worthy of the name.

Once again I found myself on the outskirts of the army base. This time however it was clear that the army was mobilizing. From what I learned as I traveled through the camp was that a Japanese train had been bombed. To my horror I discovered that much like the assassination the Japanese military was also to blame for this horrendous act. I could not believe that men who believed themselves to be samurai could commit such an act. Men who were sworn to defend their subjects from all enemies, not bomb those subjects just so that war could be declared. I was starting to become troubled. Would I find a true samurai in this time period?

Again I ventured forward in time. This time I am on the outskirts of a ruined city. The vantage point that I stood upon allowed me to see the fires and carnage that had swept through the city. It appears that also in war these modern samurai were nothing like their ancestor’s. The samurai’s honor that allowed them to treat an enemy fairly and respectfully was nowhere to be found in this cities smoking ruin. I saw firsthand the horrors that these modern samurai committed in the beginning, now I wanted to see their end of their long bloody road.

Sengoku

Review from Stephenson about the Sengoku Era, otherwise known as the warring states period.

               Despite having read about how dangerous the warring states period was in textbooks and learning about it in class, I decided to have a gander at what it was like. I was pleasantly surprised at how similar this period is compared with what I've read about in my studies.

               I went around 1520AD, and Daimyo have just began to emerge to try and claim their share in this warrior ruled period. I'm sure most people don't know, but there's something like 200 daimyo who have put their name out there! Before, Daimyo were actually just commanders before but are now war lords who are dominating Japan. I was fortunate enough to stay at a Daimyo's castle as an honoured guest, and learned a bit the life of a Daimyo.  They issue their own laws within their houses, called Kaho（家法）, their warriors live with them. Since the warriors live with the Daimyo, the villages are now independent and tax themselves. (If you know a thing or two about the warriors in Japan's history, you'll remember that they used to be tax collectors)

               Compared with the Muromachi period, it's very obvious that this Sengoku era is extremely de-centralized. Everyone's fighting for power, and it's all one really big gongshow.  There's an emperor, but no one really pays attention to him it seems. My friends all think the emperor was always some sort of powerful ruler but it's 100% clear he's just a figurehead in all of this.

               One thing I want to throw out there for anyone looking to come on a trip to Japan, if you want to see ninjas your best bet is during the Sengoku period as there's no real historical infromation about them outside of the warring periods. I say Ninjas here, but they're really just spies or assassins. If you're coming to this period for that, don't waste your time. Just buy a good fiction book and delve into that instead.

               Anyways yeah, overall pretty good experience! Daimyo are fightin', emperor's doin' nothing, samurai are fighting all over the place. I'm still kind of wondering where this whole bushido code comes from though, I've never heard a single person utter it since I had arrived. (´・ω・`)

Ashikaga

Review from naruto_samurailuver14325

               I just want to start off by saying, this must be a joke! I was promised a fantastic time with the samurai of the Ashikaga Bakufu and it's nowhere NEAR what I expected. I've watched enough anime and seen enough samurai movies to know this is not who samurais are! Where's the Bushido code?! Where are the swords!? This is ridiculous, seriously. I'll explain more in depth so you can all avoid making the same mistake as I did, coming to the Muromachi period.

               First of all, when I was inquiring about where to find the best samurai to meet, I was able to talk to a Buddhist monk about the recent history of Japan. Here's something I bet no one knew: The Ashikaga Bakufu was founded by a samurai who was a TRAITOR! This Ashikaga Takauji guy actually switched sides TWICE and founded this bakufu. Actually, this monk began rambling about how he's known many samurai who haven't actually been loyal to their masters; switching sides when it so pleases them, running away in the middle of a battle scared, what the heck? When did this begin happening? Whatever happened to the Bushido code I knew so much about? It doesn't even seem to exist, how do they get their morals?
               Anyways, I was able to meet up with one of the samurai the monk recommended to find out what kind of training he must do to perfect his swordsmanship, and he told me that the main weapon of his was actually the bow and arrow. THE BOW AND ARROW! Really? Where's the SWORD!? The samurai's sword is his soul! In fact, the samurai told me that swords aren't even used much in battle and that long spears called Yari are preferred. Hrrrrrrrrrnnngggg! And then he told me, get this, they don't do nanori. No name calling. Seriously. How do they find their opponents? The Honour! Where's the HONOUR!?  Speaking of honour, everyone knows if a samurai screws up somewhere in their life, they must commit seppuku to keep their honour right? Well, this samurai told me, listen to this: "Seppuku for honour? Hah! The main reason anyone would commit seppuku is to escape a painful death in the hands of your enemy." I thought I was going to pass out.
               So yah, if you're thinking about visiting this Muromachi era, do yourself a favour and go visit Japan in the present day and age. I prefer my samurai with swords and the bushido spirit, thank you very much. Evidently, none of those things are apparent in the Muromachi period, what a rip off.