I’m telling you, there are no ‘Samurai’ in Japan today.
(^_^;)
I am afraid I am being assertive from the outset, but this is a fact.
Samurai were one of the classes in feudal times, but disappeared about 160 years ago when the status system was dissolved. There have been no ‘samurai’ in Japan since then…
The reason why I wrote this is because I have heard that there are not a few people in the world who believe that Samurai still exist in Japan today.
Visitors to our website, for example, are generally aware of the state of affairs in Japan, but there may be some environments where accurate information is not being conveyed in some places.
And just for the record, there are no ‘ninjas’ in Japan today, right?
The reason for such misconceptions as “Samurai and Ninja still exist in Japan today” may lie in the peculiarities of the Samurai and Ninja as seen by people from abroad.
Samurai are often talked about for their spirituality, while ninja are often perceived as stealthy-looking warriors.
However, ninja were effectively spies and rarely engaged in combat, and samurai in the Edo period were also ‘officials’, so more people would have struggled with their life plans.
（It is said that the household finances of ordinary samurai were not much different from those of the townspeople. In particular, the second and subsequent sons had no inheritance rights, which meant that they had to struggle if they could not find an adoptive family.）
Even a ‘samurai’ is one ordinary human being…
Nevertheless, the story of the samurai with the theme of ‘bushido’ has also been a popular drama genre in Japan, told since ancient times.
・The path of swordsmanship that spans a lifetime.
・Prepared to give up my life for my lord.
・Respect for spiritual justice over profit and loss.
・When you do shameful deeds, you commit seppuku without excuse… （seppuku=harakiri）
Bushido, which ordinary people cannot reach, has been a spiritual pillar of the Japanese people and is an ideal subject for a drama.
「The Last Samurai」 has made an impact abroad.
However, it is often the case that if only these idealistic and orthodox samurai stories continue, they will eventually grow tired of them.
In this context, the story appeared in a novel 60 years ago. There is an unorthodox samurai story that quickly became popular and was made into a series of TV dramas and films. Today we would like to introduce you to that samurai (fictional character).
The samurai, his name is「眠狂四郎 / Nemuri-Kyōshirō」
If you unravel the kanji of the family name…
「眠」 State of sleep, representing a hazy dream world.
「狂」 Crazy situations, a sense of deviation from common thinking.
「四郎」 Basically it means fourth son, but here there is a metaphor of death.
He has no bright hope for life. Human society is after all full of resignation, a cesspool of human weakness and desire.
He wants to live a life of non-interference with society, but he is inexorably drawn into events, gets caught up in the political disputes and intrigues of the shogunate, and has to continue his merciless killing spree. (Of course, they don’t slay the good guys…)
He is a so-called nihilistic star and dark hero samurai.
It was his origins that led him to this outlook on life.
During the Edo period, Japan was basically closed off from the rest of the world, and furthermore, it had a system of proselytising, which forbade the propagation of Christianity. Missionaries who had travelled to Japan from Europe to proselytise, as well as people who had joined the Christian faith, were captured and tortured before being forced to apostatise.
A missionary who could not bear the torture and apostatised. Kyōshirō was born as a result of his desperation and raping a samurai girl…
「Nemuri-Kyōshirō」 was frequently visualised in film and television.
The feeling at the time was that this was an extremely shameful situation.
It was an extremely isolated situation simply because I was a child born to a foreigner, and moreover, the circumstances were not something I could tell people about. Kyōshirō despaired of her own particular upbringing and the disappointment of the woman who became her mother.
On top of this, on his journey home from his birthplace, he suffers a shipwreck and is washed up on an isolated island. There, he meets a solitary master swordsman and blossoms his hidden sword skills.
This is how the image of the hero, who looks at the world with a cold eye and lives his heartless life with a single sword, was born…
With half European blood running through his veins, Kyōshirō’s features are distinctive and handsome. He is tall and well-styled.
He has strong sword skills and unrivalled strength, but his nihilistic character means that he does not flaunt it and behaves in an aloof manner.
Cool to look at, overwhelmingly strong, and sexy!Naturally, even women would not want to leave him alone. w
A number of women appear in the story in connection with Kyōshirō.
Some women approach Kyōshirō for the purpose of assassinating them.
And in many cases Kyōshirō also nihilistically make love women.
And sometimes they mercilessly cut down women who approach them for assassination purposes…
The image of the serious, polite and humane samurai is not there.
He lives his life as if he were being carried away by fate. He is a man who lives his life as his destiny dictates, cutting down powerful enemies as they come at him, but still, somewhere in his heart, he continues to search for a ray of light.
（Film released in 1966. 「Nemuri-Kyōshirō – The Sword of Solitude」 played by Ichikawa-Raizo）
The inner technique of the sword he uses is called the ‘Engetsu Killing Technique’.
Like the full moon shining in the night sky, which fascinates and confuses people, it is a fearsome technique that leaves the opponent momentarily stunned, and when he realises it, the match is won.
Even though it is a narrative setting, isn’t this a special move that is very suited to the character of Kyōshirō…
Samurai stories based on the traditional samurai spirit are still popular today. The most famous examples are Chushingura and The Takadanobaba Duel.
However, from the time of Nemuri-Kyōshirō (1956), written by Renzaburo Shibata, Japanese period drama also entered an era of innovation. This was just around the time when television was becoming more widespread, which probably spurred the change even further.
（Film released in 1982. 「Nemuri-Kyōshirō – The Note of Solitude」 played by Kataoka-Takao）
As mentioned above, actual samurai in the mid-Edo period were in administrative positions. Most of them had never drawn their swords and cut each other in their lifetime.
Nemuri-Kyōshirō is a fictional character, but there may have been at least one samurai like Kyōshirō among the hundreds of thousands said to have existed. His origins and fate are pitiful, but it’s more exciting to think so.
Because he is cool…