GET YOUR OWN CUSTOM SHAKUHACHI!
SAMURAI, RONIN AND THEIR WEAPON!
SAMURAI!
RONIN!
AND THEIR WEAPON!
THE SHAKUHACHI
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You cannot believe all of what is written about the shakuhachi. My research, for example, indicates to me - all historical shakuhachi writings to the contrary notwithstanding - the shakuhachi did not at all emigrate from Egypt to India to China to Japan. But, once fact, false or not, is placed into print, it becomes holy grail even and forever more. Do not necessarily believe it! But this we do know: The incomparable Samurai first hit history in 1100 AD, with Minamoto Yoritomo becoming Shogun in 1192. But, after imperial rule was restored in 1868, the Samurai - like their favorite analogy, the cherry blossom, fell from the tree in full bloom. And many of the unemployed and masterless Samurai, then Ronin, precipitated into the ranks of the Komuso. And, the Ronin being forbidden to carry their swords, it is said they redesigned the shakuhachi from the root end of the bamboo, making it longer and stouter for use as a club as well as an instrument for spiritual enlightenment and financial gain. |
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the magical and musical march of the shakuhachi through the millennia - from Samurai to me - it has
been one heck of a trip! And the Samurai were a breed all of their
own. Reincarnation is balderdash, but if I had lived in an earlier
time, a time of my choice, I would positively have been one of the chosen
few who were allowed to carry the two swords by their side - like this
tiger here on the right!
The feared Samurai! |
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And the Samurai Warrior Masks and Warrior Dogs are similarly fascinating to behold!
As are, naturally, ancient photos of the Samurai themselves!
I could easily spend an entire lifetime making a study of these incomparable anachronisms!
Click these to enlarge:
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Observe the expression of the Samurai slave in the left photograph below! In what awe he must have, perhaps justifiably, held his Samurai master!
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The Samurai alone were permitted by law to carry the two swords, and to kill anyone at any time, within their own unquestioned discretion.
Even after the time of the Shogun, they were supported by the Japanese government with an allotment of rice, 60% of the harvest of the farmers, and they sold it for their annual income.
Nowhere else on Earth has there ever been a class like the dreaded Samurai!
Upon entering some Temples in Japan, you are confronted by a pair of huge wooden statues which represent the Niou, the guardian deities of the Buddha who subjugate all enemies of Buddhism - click to enlarge:
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And the War Crests of the Samurai are a study all of their own - click to enlarge:
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Legendary Samurai
Generals, from left to right, Hideyoshi, Shingen, Masamune and Yoritomo.
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Today, the Samurai rests in peace, a violent figure embalmed in history. The time of the Samurai came and went, like the fallen cherry blossom at its peak. There no better epitaph than the opening lines of the Heike monogataria, a 13th-century Samurai war tale:
"The proud ones do not last forever, but are like the dream of a spring night. Even the mighty will perish, just like dust before the wind." |
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Click to enlarge.
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Click to enlarge.
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Then along came the Ronin - the masterless samurai!
Birds without feet which had to stay on the wing, never landing.
Click to enlarge
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THE LEGEND OF THE 47 RONIN At the heart of Japan is the samurai code of "bushido." Its canons encompass the range of honor that a warrior lived by: courtesy and courage, sincerity and self-control, honor and loyalty. In the Legend of the 47 Ronin, these virtues were etched forever in the very soul of the Japanese people. The story begins at the dawn of the 18th century. Asano, a samurai lord, was summoned to the Shogun’s palace in the great city of Edo, known today as Tokyo. Under the watchful eye of his tutor, Lord Kira, master of palace protocol, Asano was given court responsibilities. Friction between the two men, however, was constant. Asano refused to pay the bribes that Kira demanded for his services. Kira used every opportunity to publicly humiliate Asano. After months of abuse, Asano’s tolerance was gone. He drew his sword against Kira within the palace walls a grievous offence and attempted but failed to kill him. The punishment for this was inflexible. Asano was sentenced to commit seppuku, a ritual act of suicide. Upon his death, Asano’s estates were confiscated, his family was disinherited, and his 300 samurai retainers were ordered to disband, thus becoming ronin or masterless warriors. Scores of them, however, in a secret blood oath, swore to avenge their Lord’s disgrace and restore his rightful honor. Headed by their general, Oishi, they undertook nearly two years of great self-denial and carefully conceived ruses to disguise their real purpose. Oishi himself moved to Kyoto, where he became an infamous drunk and gambler, all to deceive the Shogun’s police and Kira’s many spies. The ruses worked. Kira and his allies finally relaxed their suspicions of Oishi and his men. On a winter night, January 31, 1703, the 47 Ronin reconvened in Edo. They marched to Kira’s mansion, announcing themselves to those inside with the beating of a war drum. In the great battle that followed, the 47 stormed the grounds, killing all of Kira’s guards without a single loss of their own. Finding Kira, they brought him to a courtyard and offered him the chance to honorably commit seppuku. When he refused, Oishi swiftly beheaded him with the same sword that Asano had used to end his own life. Then, to symbolize the completion of their mission, the 47 returned to Asano’s grave and set the head of Kira before it, declaring their Lord’s honor redeemed. Prepared to die for this deed, the ronin proclaimed what they had done to the Shogun’s court authorities. The Shogun himself, though sympathetic to their heroic act, was nonetheless on the horns of a dilemma. To pardon them would be to condone a vendetta. After months of controversy the decision was made that each of the 47 would execute himself, not as a criminal but as an honored warrior. One at a time they dignified themselves in carrying out the sentence and were buried alongside their Lord. Their resting place at Sengaku-ji Temple located in the heart of Tokyo, remains today a shrine to the sacred values of samurai virtue.
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AND THEN CAME THE KOMUSO
THE ZEN PRIESTS OF EMPTINESS
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MY HERO - THE FIRST KOMUSO!
Roan was at Kyukoan, a hermitage in the Uji district, and because of his love for the shakuhachi, Roan took the name "Fuketsu dosha", "Person of the Way of the Wind and Holes. The annals of the komuso temple in Kyoto, Myoanji or Meianji, maintain Roan was the founder of the temple, and thus the same person as Kyochiku Zenji. Shokei, also known as Kei Shoki, was a priest at the temple Kenchoji during the Muromachi period, 1469 - 1487, and he painted a scroll of Roan, entitled, "Roan suiteki ga", or "Picture of Roan Playing the Flute." And this is part of the scroll, on the right: In the scroll, there is a poetic ode to Roan, above his head, dated 1477. This is the one man who started it all! My hero!
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