Read Online Samurai and Ninja: The Real Story Behind the Japanese Warrior Myth That Shatters the Bushido Mystique by Antony Cummins - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Antony Cummins
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Cannon and Fire
Cannon were used to launch fire and incendiary weapons and shot. Kajutsu —“the skills of fire”—included long-range rockets, flares and anything that causes flames in the enemy camp. Some shinobi were essentially agents who moved into the enemy castle and made sure that fires were set from within. One shinobi trick was to set a fire away from the main target to distract the defenders from the actual target and then to move on with their initial aim of setting fire to more important things like the main compound.
Tunneling
Tunneling was undertaken to undermine the enemy defenses. If done in secret and not on a war front, the tunnel had to start far from the target, or start from inside a nearby house. To discover if tunneling was taking place, empty barrels would be set into the ground to listen for mining below.
Moat Crossing Skills
Portable bridges and temporary structures were used to cross rivers and bridges. The shinobi’s task was to discover the length, width and depth of a moat and report the dimensions, or to cross it in secret at night.
On the whole, the samurai castle was a place of residence and the target of a siege. The samurai would defend and attack castles with ingenious tricks and tactics and shinobi on both sides would come and go, stealing information or setting fires to things, something that was quite normal in life as a samurai.
Life as a Samurai
The world of the samurai has formed and has now taken shape within your mind; the idea of the castles that they manned and the battle camps they erected is now firm within this new image. The next step is to form an idea of the life that the samurai and shinobi led.
Bunbu—The Brush and the Sword
The samurai were not just “butchers of men” and were not purely fighting machines—and I do not wish to give the impression that they were just ruthless killers. Quite the opposite; they were educated poet-warriors (to varying degrees). Samurai tried to adhere to the concept of bunbu , a concept that translates as “literature and the military,” or in Japanese, “the brush and sword.” A samurai was required to follow two ways: the way of the soldier and also the way of education and literature .
The first part, the military, is the way of the soldier. The way of the soldier means the arts of war, the equipment used and knowledge of conflict. A Natori-Ryu manual from the early Edo Period states the following about the martial arts that are to be used by the samurai:
武藝者之品々之事
Bugeisha no Shinajina no Koto
The types of martial artists A samurai serves through good martial arts; also, samurai are skilled in various paths that have been transmitted to them. The following are the kinds of arts in which samurai should train themselves:
1. Yumi – archery
2. Uma – horsemanship
3. Kenjutsu – swordsmanship
4. Sōjutsu – spearsmanship
5. Gunjutsu – the skills of war
6. Yawara Jutoritei – wrestling and grappling
7. Teppō – marksmanship
8. Suiren – Aquatic training
There are a myriad of other styles; however, they are offshoots from the above and all have benefits. Study each of these arts from someone who is skilled in that way.
The second part—literature, study and education, including the flowing topics—would also be in the samurai curriculum. Remember that subjects came into and moved out of fashion. This list covers the whole age of the samurai and may be added to:
1. Chinese literary classics
2. Chinese warfare classics
3. Etiquette
4. Japanese and Chinese grammar and written language
5. Calligraphy
6. Shinto
7. Buddhism
8. Confucianism and Neo-confucianism
9. Omyodo esoteric magic
10. Esoteric cosmology
11. Astronomy and astrology
12. Poetry
13. Ballads
14. Dance
15. Tea ceremony
16. Ritual magic
17. Chi (with connection to warfare)
18. Command and leadership
19. Hunting and falconry
20. Ritual and ceremony of various
Cannon and Fire
Cannon were used to launch fire and incendiary weapons and shot. Kajutsu —“the skills of fire”—included long-range rockets, flares and anything that causes flames in the enemy camp. Some shinobi were essentially agents who moved into the enemy castle and made sure that fires were set from within. One shinobi trick was to set a fire away from the main target to distract the defenders from the actual target and then to move on with their initial aim of setting fire to more important things like the main compound.
Tunneling
Tunneling was undertaken to undermine the enemy defenses. If done in secret and not on a war front, the tunnel had to start far from the target, or start from inside a nearby house. To discover if tunneling was taking place, empty barrels would be set into the ground to listen for mining below.
Moat Crossing Skills
Portable bridges and temporary structures were used to cross rivers and bridges. The shinobi’s task was to discover the length, width and depth of a moat and report the dimensions, or to cross it in secret at night.
On the whole, the samurai castle was a place of residence and the target of a siege. The samurai would defend and attack castles with ingenious tricks and tactics and shinobi on both sides would come and go, stealing information or setting fires to things, something that was quite normal in life as a samurai.
Life as a Samurai
The world of the samurai has formed and has now taken shape within your mind; the idea of the castles that they manned and the battle camps they erected is now firm within this new image. The next step is to form an idea of the life that the samurai and shinobi led.
Bunbu—The Brush and the Sword
The samurai were not just “butchers of men” and were not purely fighting machines—and I do not wish to give the impression that they were just ruthless killers. Quite the opposite; they were educated poet-warriors (to varying degrees). Samurai tried to adhere to the concept of bunbu , a concept that translates as “literature and the military,” or in Japanese, “the brush and sword.” A samurai was required to follow two ways: the way of the soldier and also the way of education and literature .
The first part, the military, is the way of the soldier. The way of the soldier means the arts of war, the equipment used and knowledge of conflict. A Natori-Ryu manual from the early Edo Period states the following about the martial arts that are to be used by the samurai:
武藝者之品々之事
Bugeisha no Shinajina no Koto
The types of martial artists A samurai serves through good martial arts; also, samurai are skilled in various paths that have been transmitted to them. The following are the kinds of arts in which samurai should train themselves:
1. Yumi – archery
2. Uma – horsemanship
3. Kenjutsu – swordsmanship
4. Sōjutsu – spearsmanship
5. Gunjutsu – the skills of war
6. Yawara Jutoritei – wrestling and grappling
7. Teppō – marksmanship
8. Suiren – Aquatic training
There are a myriad of other styles; however, they are offshoots from the above and all have benefits. Study each of these arts from someone who is skilled in that way.
The second part—literature, study and education, including the flowing topics—would also be in the samurai curriculum. Remember that subjects came into and moved out of fashion. This list covers the whole age of the samurai and may be added to:
1. Chinese literary classics
2. Chinese warfare classics
3. Etiquette
4. Japanese and Chinese grammar and written language
5. Calligraphy
6. Shinto
7. Buddhism
8. Confucianism and Neo-confucianism
9. Omyodo esoteric magic
10. Esoteric cosmology
11. Astronomy and astrology
12. Poetry
13. Ballads
14. Dance
15. Tea ceremony
16. Ritual magic
17. Chi (with connection to warfare)
18. Command and leadership
19. Hunting and falconry
20. Ritual and ceremony of various
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