Samurai: The Japanese Warrior’s (Unofficial) Manual

Japan is indeed the land of the gods. Since the dawn of creation they have protected us and made us the envy of lesser nations. The gods of Japan are all around, and their ways are closely interwoven with our lives; some scholars even describe our appreciation of the deities as Shinto – the Way of the Gods. Yet the ways of these divinities are mysterious indeed! Features such as a magnificent waterfall, a distant mountain or a strangely shaped rock all indicate the presence of a divine spirit, and – whoever they are – these gods require our constant attention. Most pleasing to the deities is to have special homes, which we call shrines, where they most generously agree to reside. Here we make offerings to them and they are pleased, rewarding us with good harvests. If these offerings are neglected, then such careless behaviour may arouse their anger. Typhoons will blow and battles will be lost.

Many centuries ago new gods came to Japan from China. At first there were those who saw this new religion, called Buddhism, as a threat to the gods of Japan, but good sense prevailed. Indeed the emperor (who after all was a living god) decreed that Buddhism was nothing to be feared and could reside harmoniously alongside our existing traditions. How wise he was, and how reassuring it is to see a Buddhist temple with a Shinto shrine built inside its courtyard. Confucianism is also very important to Japanese traditions. Earlier in this manual, reference was made to the way that our society is based upon Confucian principles: everyone knows his place and everyone is in his place. So the samurai of the lords pay filial piety to their masters, and they in turn behave like the children of the shogun. It is a harmonious situation indeed.

Japan is the land of the gods, and gods are to be found everywhere, especially enshrined within buildings like this one. This is a Shinto shrine, characterized by the presence of a torii (ceremonial gateway).

The Buddhist priesthood has an important role to play in society. A priest or monk will arrange a samurai’s funeral and say prayers for the repose of his soul. Many brave priests are active on battlefields, supporting dying warriors.

It is, however, a matter of infinite regret that less than 70 years ago a wicked new religion called Christianity came to Japan. It rapidly took root among the ignorant and the covetous, the latter – it must be said – included several otherwise noble lords, seduced by the lure of wealth and empty promises that accompanied it. Nowadays, thanks to the wisdom of His Most Excellent Highness, Christianity is banned; its churches have been destroyed and its priests have been expelled. The nuisance it caused had little to do with what Christians believe, which is of slight interest to anyone, but rather lies in the fact that its adherents have the power to form alliances hostile to the benevolent rule of His Most Excellent Highness – alliances supported by foreign armies, particularly those of Spain. It is for this reason that Christianity had to be eliminated, and we are much better off without it.

Among the gods honoured by samurai are these: the Seven Gods of Good Luck.

The Good Festival Guide

While being carried in your palanquin through a town or village, your ears may have on occasion caught the sound of raucous behaviour. On sliding the shutter to one side you may have chanced to observe a shrine festival in progress. This happens once or twice a year. The local villagers will carry through the streets an ornate portable shrine, wherein resides the god of the village. By these means the god is taken on a tour of his locality. There is much rejoicing, and people drink sake, dance, play musical instruments and eat squid-on-a-stick and octopus balls. All this is extremely vulgar behaviour, but can be tolerated because the farmers will consequently work that much harder for the remaining 364 days of the year. It is also an intangible part of our rich cultural heritage, of which you as a samurai are fortunate to be the chosen custodian. So why not get involved? Shrine festivals are not just for vulgar people to enjoy.

Ghosts and Other Strange Beings – What You Need To Know

I now mention the controversial topic of ghosts, goblins and other strange beings. Why controversial? Because certain ignorant people will tell you that such sprites do not exist. How misguided they are! Let me give you one very clear proof. You may have noticed that certain people from the lower classes tend to defecate in the street. Come back a few days later and the excrement is no longer there. No one will have touched it, so where has it gone? It has been eaten by hungry ghosts. What other explanation can there be? These revolting yet invisible creatures therefore perform a useful function.

Listing the enormous variety of supernatural creatures that exist would fill this entire book, so I will restrict myself to those that a samurai is most likely to encounter in the course of his daily life. If out late at night you may meet Bakemono Tofu, the ghostly bean-curd seller. If you speak to him you will die. Then there is the dreadful goblin Hitotsume Kozo, who is tall, white-skinned and thin; with one eye and long arms from which the flesh sags. He wears a large sedge hat on top of straggly white hair, while a distended stomach protrudes over his loincloth. Hitotsume Kozo carries a ball of fire in a sieve; it is indescribable.

Other extraordinary beings include household objects that come to life on their 100th birthday. Particularly notorious are the straw-sandal ghosts, which are old pairs of footwear that suddenly start running around the house screaming. Kappa (beings with the body of a tortoise, the limbs of a frog and the head of a monkey) inhabit ponds and are fond of attacking women. If you should meet a kappa, there is a well-established means of getting rid of it. Being an aquatic creature, the kappa requires water to sustain its life, and when on dry land a small quantity is retained within the shallow depression on top of its head. Fortunately, all kappa are extremely polite, so instead of running away in terror you should bow to it. The kappa will then return your bow, and as it does so the water will run out. The kappa will then collapse and you will have it at your mercy.

Samurai believe that there are many strange beings about. These yokai include demons, ghosts and goblins. The pictured example is a tengu, which are greatly to be feared because of their prowess at sword-fighting.

The fierce tengu live in forests. They have bodies that are half-human and half-crow, and they are very good at sword-fighting. Other mischievous beings look much more ordinary. Foxes, as is well known, possess supernatural powers to an almost limitless degree, and frequently delude men by assuming the form of a beautiful woman. The man is captivated, seduced and ultimately destroyed. The ghosts of dead warriors can also be quite intimidating; particularly in those cases when it was your army that turned them into ghosts in the first place. Most mysterious noises and strange lights near the sites of ruined castles can be explained by the presence of the spirits of dead samurai. They rarely seek revenge; rather they are wandering souls, more to be pitied than feared. The only example I know of ghostly samurai attacking living ones occurred on the site of the famous battle of Dan no Ura in 1185. So great was the slaughter of the Taira family’s samurai that the sea ran red with the blood of the slain and the dye from the Taira’s flags. Taira Tomomori, the Taira commander, committed suicide by tying himself to an anchor and jumping into the sea. A few years later, Tomomori and his dead samurai rose up out of the deep to challenge a Minamoto ship that was making its way through the nearby straits of Shimonoseki.

Going on Pilgrimage – Should I or Shouldn’t I?

If, in pursuit of your noble samurai duties, you travel through the more remote mountainous areas of Japan, or pass a small wayside shrine out in the countryside, you may well notice people standing around clad in white, carrying staves and wearing large straw hats. They are on pilgrimage. The idea is to gain spiritual merit by visiting a place, or a series of places, that have particular religious connotations. Popular examples of pilgrimage destinations include the Great Shrine of Ise (the home of Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun and the Divine Ancestress of our Emperor) and Shikoku Island, where each year thousands of pilgrims walk between the various temples associated with Saint Kobo Daishi of the Shingon sect.

To undertake a pilgrimage around a series of holy places is a worthy pursuit. Many spiritual benefits might accrue as a result of such unselfish endeavours.

The question many samurai ask is ‘Should I join them?’ They naturally fear that the undoubted religious benefits that they will accrue from making a pilgrimage could be outweighed by having to associate with lewd and sordid persons. I reply that they need not worry: just because a samurai is in close proximity to a lower-class person does not mean that he is somehow soiled – his virtue and breeding will always show through. So by all means go on pilgrimage to learn at first-hand about the impermanence of all phenomena, and much good may it do you.

First you will have to acquire your pilgrim’s garb, which is white, the colour of mourning. (Insist that the seller gives you a guarantee of impermanence.) The wide-brimmed hat will shield you from the sun and also conceal your identity, should you still have qualms on that score. You will also need a stout wooden staff. The true pilgrim refuses to carry food, relying on the generosity of others to feed him. Be wary: this could be a little tricky if you pass through an area that your army has recently devastated.

The one caveat I would add to this general seal of approval about making pilgrimages concerns yamabushi (mountain ascetics), whose company should be avoided at all costs – not that you are likely to be invited anyway. For the yamabushi, pilgrimage forms only a small part of their unusual religious practices, which include divination, fortune telling and faith healing. Dressed in funereal white robes, the yamabushi make journeys through the mountains, blowing mournful sounds from their shell trumpets. On their travels they perform austerities that renew their magical power to carry out exorcisms and the like. These exacting rituals include being suspended by the legs over a cliff as they confess their sins, being confined within a smoke-filled room, and bathing naked under an icy waterfall. Small wonder that most samurai consider them to be mad.