Samurai and Ninja: The Real Story Behind the Japanese Warrior Myth That Shatters the Bushido Mystique (16 page)

水書

Suisho

Writing when in the water

This is an interesting skill where you can write or draw something while treading water.

水歩

Suiho

Water walking

This is one kind of treading water and you should apply this when you need to know the depth.

鰡飛

Inatobi

Gray mullet “jumping” (sinking below the water)

When you are swimming using breaststroke use this for avoiding floating water-weeds and any flotsam that is drifting towards you.

水入鰡飛

Suiri inatobi

“Jumping” like gray mullet below the water (swimming below the waves)

Use this when scouting the state of the enemy’s camp, or when you go under the water for a while to conceal your wake, or when you need to search for something on the bed of the water you are in, or even when you want to use water tools.

掻分

Kakiwake

Paddle aside

This is a variation of the skill above, named
inatobi
, and is used to avoid continuous waves.

傅馬形

Tenmagata

Float like a flat-bottomed barge

This is a skill used to come on shore when there is something dangerous close to the shore.

鯱泳

Shachi oyogi
^*

Shachi swimming

A method used when you cannot swim and is used in a pond, marsh and so on, where debris is floating and a normal way of swimming cannot be used or you cannot walk.

手足搦

Shusoku garami

Bound hands and feet

A method of swimming with your arms and legs bound together.

竹具足術

Take Gusokujutsu

The skill of bamboo armor

This is a preliminary skill to be practiced for swimming with armor.

二ツ掻

Futatsu kaki

Twin paddles

A skill used when you need to keep a “correct posture” during swimming.

瓜剥

Uri muki

Peeling the gourd

Skill of peeling a gourd [with a knife] while treading water.

操銃及弓術

Souju oyobi kyujutsu

Shooting guns and bows while swimming

A method of using muskets or bows when treading water.

水馬

Suiba

Crossing water with a horse

The skill of leading a horse into water and crossing over to the other side with it.

煙花船

Enkasen

“Signal fire ship”

This means to hide yourself immediately, this is a skill for avoiding danger.

免許術

Menkyo Jutsu

The following are skills for those with a teaching license:

甲冑泳

Kacchu oyogi

Swimming in armor

To swim wearing armor and a sword.

軍貝音入

Gunkai neire

Signaling with a conch shell

The skill of blowing a conch shell while treading water—use this as a signal for going ahead or exiting.

秘傅術

The following are secret skills:

浮沓

Ukigutsu

Floating aids

From ancient times the following information has been given to those who receive it by the use of a written oath. When you put this tool around your waist, you tread water without using your hands and legs. Also it is useful as lifesaving equipment, and can be used as a water bottle on dry land. When not in use, fold and stow it away in your kimono.

畳ミ船竝継船

Tatami-bune narabini Tsugi-fune

Military boat and jointed boat
^*

The first boat is for three people. It should be sized so that one person can carry this on his back. It should be constructed with materials available at hand and the oar should be of two parts and jointed. This boat has often brought benefits to Nojima-Ryu. [The second vessel, the jointed boat] can be used as a flat-bottomed version with a few boats [sections] joined together; also, each boat can be used separately according to the situation. The directions for use and structure are given through written oath and this has been the way from ancient times.

Fighting and Men-at-Arms

The Western term “man-at-arms” can be described as an armored fighting man who is sometimes on horseback and is considered a professional warrior. In this section, I shall consider a man-at-arms to not be of the knightly class but to be a professional soldier in a medieval army, meaning that while many people on a battlefield look like knights, they may not be, because “knight” is a social class—so remember, just because a man may be on a samurai battlefield wearing two swords, they may not actually be a samurai.

Taking the samurai to be the knight, we could consider the ashigaru foot soldiers, or even at a stretch some servants, to be men-at-arms and in addition to this we could also consider samurai mercenaries to fall into the same bracket, but here we shall concentrate on support fighters only. Armored and equipped for war, they were soldiers on foot who could support other samurai, including mounted samurai, or fight alone. Normally they were full-time employees of a samurai or lord or were taken from the general population in times of war. However, we must avoid the “Disney Trap” and not consider these as inexperienced peasants dragged into the conflicts of the nobles. While some may have been uneducated, inexperienced or even useless in war, some were full-time professional fighters, in the constant presence of a samurai. This man-at-arms would be well versed in the setting up of camp, of getting fires ignited, or maintaining weapons and armor, and also of fighting alongside a samurai master. Remember, not all warriors on a Japanese battlefield are samurai—there were many trained and sometimes well-armed non-samurai who would also fight and take heads.

Head Hunting

Head hunting is one of
the
core activities of the samurai. Their purpose was to cut the heads from fallen warriors, thrust them on to spears or the ends of their swords and cry out in triumph to the gods of war—the samurai were a head cult. This section will look at the samurai and the head of the enemy and the ritual that surrounds the taking of the ultimate human trophy. A much-overlooked factor is the requirement of the samurai to gain heads and as modern readers we rarely—if ever—observe the samurai from this perspective. For a samurai, honor in battle, the death and destruction of the enemy, and the elevation of prowess through the display of decapitated human heads is the main track that their lives are geared towards.

Cutting off the Head

In the main, a man does not like having his head cut from his neck, and seldom did a man sit there and allow this to happen in the heat of battle. To stop a victim from struggling free, the samurai would pin the victim’s right arm under his leg, pull back the peak of his helmet and make a cut across the throat or put the knife behind the windpipe and cut outwards, then he would reverse the grip and start to saw and cut away at the man’s neck until it separated from his body. Some samurai may carry a specific knife for this task. Prior to this, a samurai may give a
coup de grâce
in one of the following areas:

1. A cut along the throat

2. A stab to the heart

3. A cut to an artery in the leg

Chimatsuri—the Blood Sacrifice

Chimatsui
, literally “blood-festival,” was the act of dedicating the first head taken in a battle to specific gods of war. The following quote is taken from the
Gunpo
Jiyoshu
manual and explains the concept—after the quote the gods and directions will be explained.

Chimatsuri is to offer the first head gained in battle to the ninety-eight thousands gods of war, with your hands joined in prayer, chanting the following:

“Namu
^*
Marishisonten
^†
and to all the other gods of war, you gave us this head today, it is all thanks to your gratifying wonderful will, we pray for our continued luck in battle.”

The above must be said in the direction of Tomobiki [while offering this head] to the eight demons serving the four Devas, who guard Buddha, also offer this head to the nine devil gods, saying:

“Give us a victory, our continued luck in battle and save us, Kyu Kyu Nyonitsuryo.”
^‡

When you do this you should not face in the direction of Hagun.

The nighty-eight thousand gods of war is not literal, it means innumerable number of gods; also the goddess Marishiten (the common pronunciation) is a goddess of war, the direction of Tomobiki and Hagun change daily and must be identified before the ritual is performed.

Displaying Heads

The displaying of heads is highly ritualized and formulated. The idea is that a lord should observe and inspect the decapitated heads of the enemy. There are multiple historical sources on the different types of inspection, but most revolve around the lord being protected from the enemy ghosts by chants and spells, at which point the heads are displayed, confirmed and recorded to then be gibbeted elsewhere. For a full translation of a head inspection ritual see
Samurai War Stories
.

The
Gunpo Jiyoshu
manual states the following:

The head inspection was conducted for the purpose of distribution of honors of the warriors by inspecting and deciding who they killed and how.

The
Gunpo Jiyoshu
continues with an instruction for when only one head is taken in battle:

Hitotsukubi
—the one head

Though the Hitotsukubi is usually not shown to the lord, it is sometimes shown to those lords who have understanding about these things. When having it inspected by the lord, its hair should be tied in a style called
Sakawage
—into two top knots, with a pin made from the
shrubby althaea tree;
the pin is then penetrated through these knots. Next, put the head on a white cloth with the cut end [of the head pointing] down and wrap it so that the face is covered; finish by tying it up at the top of the head. If the person was an archer, you should show [the head] with a bow before the lord. The lord should first cut the nine
kuji
lines in the air, then open three folds of his war fan and look at the head through the fan itself. At this point chant the following verse three times:

をのがとがを あづさにかけて いる時は おもひかへすな あびらうんけん
Wonogatoka wo azusani kakete iru toki wa omoi kaesuna abirakenun
“When calling a spirit of a dead person, do not think back on your faults, abirakenun!”

The manual continues with:

Decapitated heads with special requirements:

Heads with a special reason for submission and which are put forward for the lord’s inspection should have the one who killed the victim between the head and the lord and armed with a bow, the string closest to the lord. Otherwise, the lord should block the view of the head with his sleeve, details to be orally transmitted.

Generally, the heads of samurai should not be carried in one hand. Those with a terrible look, such as throwing up of the eyes, sticking out of the tongue, etc., should not be offered up for the lord’s inspection.

Sometimes incense is burned and the helmet is passed over it—this is a courtesy for the enemy who has to deal with a samurai’s head. Alternatively a samurai would wear incense so that his odor was agreeable in death. The same manual continues:

Before the inspection [of decapitated heads] women applied makeup and arranged the hair of the heads; also they applied tooth-blacking dye. Warriors were careful about their appearance; they prepared to die with the knowledge that their heads were to be inspected. Makeup and the wearing of fragrance and incense are considered proper. If [the head] has scars, conceal them with rice powder.