IAH 204 Lecture 6 - The Last Samurai

Martial Arts & East Asian
Modernization
MSU
Lina Qu
Katsu Kokichi
(1802-1850)
▪Dream-intoxicated
▪Retirement name/style name
▪ “As I have said, I am altogether
Musui Dokugen ignorant when it comes to writing
夢酔
difficult characters and have made
many errors in setting down this
record” (P.8)
▪ “Until then I had been called
Kamematsu.With my adoption my
name was changed to Kokichi. My
Adoption in adoptive parents had already died,
Patrilineal leaving behind a daughter and her
Society grandmother. It was decided that
the two would live at my father’s
place in Fukagawa” (P.12)
Tokugawa Ieyasu
徳川家康
(1543 – 1616)
Tokugawa Shogunate
The Edo Period
(1600-1868)
The Shogunate
12th-19th Cent.
Samurai
侍
▪ The samurai, members of a powerful
military caste in feudal Japan, began as
provincial warriors before rising to power
in the 12th century with the beginning of
the country’s first military dictatorship,
known as the shogunate. As servants of
History of the the daimyos, or great lords, the samurai
backed up the authority of the shogun
Samurai and gave him power over the emperor.
▪ The samurai would dominate Japanese
government and society until the Meiji
Restoration of 1868 led to the abolition of
the feudal system.
Sword Hunt
Edict
(1588)
Samurai
Swords
Katana:
the Soul of
the Samurai
Bushido,
The Way of
the Samurai
▪ The Way of the Samurai is found
in death. When it comes to either/or,
there is only the quick choice of death.
It is not particularly difficult.
▪ To die without gaming one’s aim is a
Hagakure dog’s death and fanaticism. But there is
no shame in this. This is the substance
葉隱 of the Way of the Samurai.
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u-
sdG0YPsM&list=PLrnzo6cTo95qQGzuU9ofUTYu_B8s-
B0B0&index=3
Learning &
Military Arts
▪ The age of 9: Judo lessons
▪ The age of 10: Riding lessons
Samurai ▪ The age of 11: Lessons from a
Trainings of swordmaster
Musui ▪ The age of 12: the Chinese
classics at the shogunate
academy
Zen
Buddhism
The Lotus Sutra
▪ So now in atonement for

my sins, I recite the Lotus
Sutra every evening and
secretly pray for the
success of those I
misjudged as spiting me.
(Musui’s Story p. 6)
Shinto God
of War
Hachiman
▪ I got into another fight over a kite, again
with some boys from Mae-cho. There
must have been twenty or thirty. I took
them on alone hitting and punching,
but they finally got the better of me... I
took out my short sword and slashed left
Samurai Boy and right... But I knew I was beaten and
decided then and there to commit
harakiri. I stripped to the waist and sat
down on the rock…I was seven at the
time (Musui’s Story 13).
▪ One evening—I must have been eight or so—my
father called together the entire household and
ordered us to tell each other ghost stories in the
dark. He said we were to put up a straw doll in the
adjoining field, and after the last story had been
told, we were to go one by one and tie a piece of
paper with our name to the sleeve of the doll’s
Samurai Family kimono. It was funny to see everyone so scared. I
was supposed to go last and stick a polished
copper coin I in the center of the doll’s face—just
like an eye. By the time my turn came, it was past
midnight and pitch black. I had to grope around
for a while, but I did it, and everyone praised me
(Musui’s Story 13-14)
▪ My father happened to see this from over
the garden fence. He sent one of his men
to fetch me home.“What do you mean,”
he said angrily,“hurting someone’s child
Samurai Father like that? You can’t be left unpunished!”
he tied me to one of the posts in the
veranda and whacked me on the head
with a wooden clog (Musui’s Story 10).
▪ My grandmother by adoption had been
known for her mean disposition from the time
she was a young girl. It was said that she
drove both of my adoptive parents to an early
death. She was nasty to me, too, and nagged
and scolded day after day. I would lose my
temper and fight back with every insult I
Samurai Father could think of.
▪ My father overheard me one day and called
me over.“So—who do you think you are,
talking what you’ll do in the future!” He bared
his dagger and came at me. His wife, Kiyo,
apologized for me in the nick of time (Musui’s
Story 14)
The Fall of Samurai Class
▪ With what awe and gratitude should we
recall the debt we owe Lord Tokugawa
Ieyasu, who suffered such tribulations
during his childhood and endured long
years of warfare. To him do we owe our
Lord Tokugawa present age of peace, the absence
Ieyasu of all worries of thirst or hunger,
and the comforts family and
home. We should also do well to
remember the hardships of our ancestors.
(Musui’s Story p. 6)
6% of population around 1800 C.E.
▪ Daimyo 270 (10,000 koku)
▪ Bannermen 6,000 (100-1000 koku)
Ranks of Samurai ▪ Housemen 20,000 (lower than 100 koku)
(rank-stipend)
▪ Unemployed samurai: Kobushin (41
koku)
▪ Kobushingumi (p. 12)
▪ I was twenty-one and penniless. I had
no choice but to sell my everyday
sword—the Morimitsu I’d bought for
forty-one ryo from the dealer Owariya
Unemployed Kumeuemon. At the last moment I
couldn’t bear to part with it. Even to make
Samurai an appearance at the commissioner’s
house, I had only the clothes on my back.
To take my mind of my woes, I went to
Yoshiwara (p.60)
▪ Edo’s licensed red-light district from
1617 to restrain the spreading of
prostitution among the townspeople.
▪ It was rebuilt a couple of times after
Yoshiwara 吉原 fires and earthquakes.
Pleasure ▪ In its heyday of 1893, there were

reportedly 9,000 women.
Quarters in Edo
▪ It remained in business until
prostitution was outlawed by the
Japanese government in 1958
after World War II.
Yoshiwara 吉原
Yoshiwara
https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=2
tyEjbFaXdA
History behind
The Last
Samurai
Jules Brunet
(1838-1911)
Boshin War
(1868-1869)
Sonno Joi
Movement
“Revere the
emperor; Expel the
barbarians”
▪ wakon yōsai 和魂洋才
(Japanese spirit and Western technology)
Japanese Spirit ▪ fukoku kyōhei
and Western (enrich the country, strengthen the military)
Technology
▪ shokusan kōgyō
(increase production, promote industry)
Meiji Emperor (1852-1912)
▪ Political unification and central
bureaucracy
▪ Eliminating the caste system
Meiji Restoration ▪ The conscript army
明治維新 ▪ Compulsory education
1868 ▪ Tax reforms
▪ State Shinto
▪ Conflicting attitude towards the
West
▪The Meiji government
banned the traditional
The Cropped hairstyle, the top-knot, and
Hair Edict, 1871 encouraged samurai to
断髪令 wear Western dress at all
danpatsurei official government
functions.
▪The samurai’s right to be
the only armed force was
Conscription
Ordinance, 1873 abolished and replaced
徴兵令 chouheirei by a modern, western-
style, conscripted army.
▪ In 1876 the Meiji government
The Sword issued the Hatorei edict prohibiting
Abolishment Edict, the wearing of swords in public, an
1876 exclusive privilege and right of
廃刀令 Haitōrei samurai since the Sword Hunt Edict
of 1588.
▪ 1870: The first military academy
was institutionalized.
▪ 1873: The Conscription Law was
enacted.
Military ▪ 1876: The wearing of samurai
Modernization swords was banned.
▪ 1893: The Imperial Army General
Staff Office was created after the
Prussian model.
Foreign military missions to Japan
France United Kingdom Germany Netherlands Italy
•French military mission •Tracey Mission •Meckel Mission •Pels Rijcken •Pompeo Grillo
to Japan (1867–68) (1867–68) (1885–90) (1855–57) (1884–88)
•French military mission •Douglas Mission •Kattendijke •Quaratezi
to Japan (1872–80) (1873–75) (1857–59) (1889–90)
•French military mission •Sempill Mission •Schermbeck
to Japan (1884–89) (1922–23) (1883–86)
•French military mission
to Japan (1918–19)
Satsuma Rebellion/Seinan War
(1877)

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Martial Arts & East Asian

▪ So now in atonement for

Pleasure ▪ In its heyday of 1893, there were

France United Kingdom Germany Netherlands Italy

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