Historic Replicas

This is a continuation for our last blog entitled Ancient Japan…

Between the 9th and 12th centuries, Japan was engulfed in an ongoing war for land between the three ruling families:  the Minamoto, Fujiwara, and the Taira clans.  This epic struggle for control of the Japanese islands produced the samurai; astonishingly, they resembled the European knights in practically every way.  Both rode horses, wore elaborate japanese armor, and used exquisite, ceremonial historical weapons - samuari swords.  Both swore allegiance to a landowner (in Japan, they were known as Daimyo), and were eventually given land of their own.  The most remarkable similarity, though, was in the behavior; the knights had their code of chivalry, the samurai, their Bushido, or “Way of the Warrior”.  Bushido will be the topic of our next blog. 

Medieval Europe and Ancient Japan were a world apart.  From the early days of its culture, Japan was a closed society that shunned contact with other civilizations.  The earliest recorded contact with Europe was in 1543, when a Portuguese trading vessel brought the first guns to the Japanese weapons arsenal.  In fact, it’s entirely possible that Europe and Japan were unaware of each other’s existence until that time.  Amazingly, both cultures developed a similar class of professional warriors:  Europe had knights, and Japan its samurai.  We talked about the knights a while back, and if you read that one, you’ll recall that they were specially trained, highly respected fighters, sworn to obey a king.  Land ownership meant power, and was the ultimate sign of status; to be a landowner was to gain entrance to a special ruling class, the nobility.  In return for their services, they were granted small landholdings of their own to rule over.  From the 8th century onward, Japanese culture was much the same. (to be continued…)

For much of its history, war was a part of life in Japan.  Only 20% of the country is usable farmland, and powerful Japanese clans clashed frequently as they attempted to seize and control it.  Japanese swords have been used on the battlefield for thousands of years, and have deep cultural significance for the Japanese people.  The first swords in Japan on record were a gift from China to the Japanese Queen Himeko in 240 A.D.  Many more swords were imported from China in the next several years, and they became common on the battlefield around that time. 

By the 5th century, the Japanese were using straight, single-edged swords called chokuto.  These swords were made of steel, but still weren’t of the highest quality.  It wasn’t until 700 A.D. that the legendary swordsmith Akamuni forged the curved, folded-steel blades made famous in movies and cartoons.  Japanese combat had evolved from foot to horseback, and the cavalry were usually swinging their blades downward; smiths discovered that swords with curved blades had much greater cutting force, and the classic Japanese sword was born.  Originally these swords were called tachi, and had some flaws.  For example, the tip of the sword broke easily and couldn’t be fixed.  Japanese smiths were persistent, though; for five centuries, they diligently improved the sword’s design.  Finally, in the 14th century, they produced the katana, one of the most famous swords in history.  Thanks to its shape and the special steel used to build it, the katana’s cutting ability became legendary throughout the world.

Japanese swords are almost as old as the culture itself.  Initially, these graceful and deadly implements were simply variations of a Chinese design called the Jian, a straight, double-edged blade that resembles the well-known swords of medieval Europe.  But around 700 AD, the beloved katana of popular lore and samurai movie fame began to emerge.  Like the historic reproductions on our site, the katanas of old are curved with a single, razor-sharp edge, and were central to Japanese warrior culture.  Unsurprisingly, the katana’s origins have been immortalized in legend. 
Amakuni Yasutsuna was a sword smith who had the distinct honor of forging blades for the Emperor and his army.  The monarch and his men would greet Amakuni enthusiastically when they passed his home on the way to battle; they held him in high regard, for they knew that victory lay in his hands.  One day, however, as they returned from battle, they passed in silence, and would not meet his gaze.  Akamuni was horrified when he realized that many of their Japanese swords had broken or been damaged in the battle. Desperate to regain his honor, he locked himself in his forge and prayed to the Shinto gods for guidance.  On the seventh night, Akamuni was granted a vision:  a curved, glowing blade with a single edge.  He set to work forging the sword, and ran breathlessly to the palace when he’d finished.  The soldiers and advisors laughed and laughed, for they’d never seen such a weapon.  But the Emperor decided to trust him, and Akamuni was the only one laughing the following year, when a smiling emperor passed by and told him that not a single sword had broken or failed in battle. 

Some of the more colorful and dramatic replica swords on our site originated in  Japan, one of the oldest surviving civilizations in human history.  The Japanese islands have been occupied since 30,000 BC, and the feudal society that we dominated Japan’s medieval history began to emerge as early as 300 BC.  Japanese swords, archery and advanced weaponry was most used at war, but at times at home as well.  Slavery had been around in Japan almost as long as human beings themselves, though Japan was isolated from other civilizations for long periods of its history and as a result, most of the slaves were Japanese themselves, born in bondage or captured in wars between feuding kingdoms.  Slaves in Japan, then, were not unlike those in other periods and places; they worked both in the fields and in the home, and were subject to their masters’ every whim and desire. One story, though, is particularly compelling. 

When most Americans think of slavery, they probably think of Africans, since almost every slave in American history was captured and exported from that vast continent.  The Japanese reacted a bit differently.  Popular sentiment had turned against slavery by the Sengoku period (1467-1615), when Catholic missionaries presented a black slave to Shogun Oda Nobunaga.  He freed the slave, named him Yasuke, and made him a samurai.  It was an incredible honor in Japanese society and one rarely bestowed on slaves, and it remains a remarkably curious occurrence in the history of an institution dominated by racial prejudice.

People have been killing other people for as long as time. Ancient people didn’t need a machine gun or a grenade blaster to do the job; they simply gathered a couple things from around the house and got to work. We all know cooking oil can be commonly found in most homes, but what about dead bodies? In ancient times when there was no control for diseases and epidemics ravaged populations. In times of the plague for example, nearly every household had it share of dead bodies around.

Historical weapons may not seem practical to us now, but they worked like a charm back then. Boiling oil was commonly used to keep invaders out of walled cities. When soldiers feared rebels were nearing they would boil big vats of oil atop the city’s walls and when the invaders attempted to climb the walls the soldiers would pour the boiling oil on them.

Dead bodies were also used to prevent unwanted visitors into a town. Citizens would pile up dead bodies and use them as a wall. It worked quite well because even the most dedicated invaders didn’t want to risk contracting the plague or climbing over rotting corpses.

On behalf of the VP Debates this evening I thought that I would post a little story about war and honorable battle tactics- the birth of a Shogun.  Both Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin should take a lesson from the ancient Japanese samurai.

 The year is 1464. It is an age of iron and steel.  It is the age of the japanese sword.  On the isolated island chain of Japan, a conflict over the ascendance of its next military leader (the Seii-Taishogun) was to set into motion a chain of event that would lead to centuries of massive and brutal war. 

Asikaga Yoshimasa, the current Shogun was at the end of his days, and after a lifetime of rule and relative stability, he looked forward to retiring to a life of privilege, wealth, and peace.  However, Yoshimasa had yet to be blessed with and heir and the question remained: who would hold the power of the Shogun? 

Yoshimasa’s brother Yoshimi, though a devout Buddhist monk, seemed the only choice.  Yet one year later, Yoshimasa’s wife gave birth to a healthy son, Yoshihisa.  Without hesitation, the boy was named the next Shogun.