famous samurai. History of samurai in japan School of samurai in japan

Japanese culture appears to Westerners as a set of ideas and colorful images. And the most striking of them is the image of a samurai warrior. It has a heroic halo and is considered a kind of symbol of courage and stamina in battle. But do we know everything about the samurai? How different is the truth about these warriors from legends and myths?

Samurai: definition of the word

In the understanding of Europeans, any Japanese warrior who takes part in the battle is a samurai. In fact, this statement is fundamentally wrong. A samurai is a special class of feudal lords who received a special education, underwent an initiation ritual and had a distinctive sign - a Japanese sword. The purpose of the life of such a warrior was to serve his master. He must be devoted to him with all his being and unquestioningly carry out any orders.

This goal can be traced in the very definition of "samurai". The meaning of the word translated from Japanese sounds like the verb "serve". Therefore, it is not surprising that the life of a samurai is closely connected with the life of his master - daimyō. Many Europeans believe that a samurai is a service person who can be called the Japanese word "bushi". But this is also an erroneous opinion, do not confuse these two words.

Samurai has a wider and more comprehensive meaning, in wartime he was the best protection for the master, and in peacetime he was an ordinary servant. Bushi, on the other hand, belong to the class of simple warriors who could be hired for a while. Payment for services was made in money, but most often the feudal lords paid for the services of warriors with rice.

The history of the samurai: a brief historical background

Samurai as a class originated in the seventh century. During this period, Japan experienced feudal fragmentation, and every major feudal lord needed well-trained professional warriors. They were samurai.

Young warriors were often starved and forced to stay awake for several nights in a row. They did all the hard work around the house, went barefoot at any time of the year and woke up with the first rays of the sun. So that death would not frighten future samurai, they were often taken to watch the executions, and at night they themselves had to come to the bodies of the executed and leave their mark on them. Often they were sent to places where, according to legend, ghosts live, and left there without food or drink for several nights. As a result, the young men developed fearlessness and amazing composure, they could think soberly in any situation.

In addition to martial arts, samurai were taught writing and history, but these disciplines were not what a samurai should actually do. It was just an addition that could help in combat in one way or another.

By the age of sixteen, the young man was considered fully trained and could begin the rite of initiation and initiation into the samurai.

Rite of passage into warriors

The samurai teacher and his future daimyo, with whom vassal relations were fixed, must have been present at the initiation ceremony. The rite was accompanied by getting one's own set of swords - daise, shaving the head and getting new clothes for an adult samurai. In parallel, the young man passed several tests that were supposed to show his strength and skills. At the end of the ceremony, he was given a new name, replacing the one given at birth. It was believed that this day is the birthday of the samurai, and under his new name he will be known for his entire independent life.

Could a commoner become a samurai?

In the European view, the legend of the samurai, who belongs to the upper class of Japanese society, has a set of all positive qualities and is crystal clear in thoughts. In fact, this is the most common myth about feudal warriors. Indeed, in reality, a samurai is not necessarily a person from high society; absolutely any peasant could become a warrior. There was no difference between the origin of the samurai, they were trained in the same way and later received absolutely equal salaries from the master.

Therefore, the samurai changed their masters quite often, feeling that they were losing the battle. It was quite normal for them to bring the head of the old one to the new master, thus deciding the outcome of the battle in their favor.

Samurai women: myth or reality?

In historical sources and Japanese literature of the Middle Ages, almost nothing is mentioned about female warriors, but they quite often became samurai. There were absolutely no restrictions on this in the code of honor.

Girls were also adopted from the family at the age of eight and had an initiation ceremony at sixteen. As a weapon, a samurai woman received a short dagger or a long and sharp spear from her teacher. In combat, it was able to cut through enemy armor with ease. The popularity of military affairs among women is evidenced by studies by Japanese scientists. They did a DNA test on the excavated remains of the bodies of samurai who died in battle, to their surprise, 30% of the warriors were women.

Bushido Code: Brief Provisions

The samurai code of conduct was formed from numerous laws and regulations that were collected into a single source around the thirteenth century. During this period, the samurai only began to form as a separate class of Japanese society. By the sixteenth century, bushido had finally taken shape and began to represent the real philosophy of the samurai.

The warrior code covered almost all spheres of life, each had its own special rule of conduct. For example, according to this philosophy, a samurai is someone who knows exactly how to live and die. He is ready to boldly go alone against a hundred enemies, knowing that death awaits him ahead. Legends were made about such brave men, their relatives were proud of them and put portraits of samurai who died in battle in the house.

The code of honor of the samurai ordered him to constantly improve and train not only the body and mind, but also the spirit. Only a strong spirit could be a warrior worthy of battle. In the case of the order of the master, the samurai had to commit hara-kiri and die with a smile and gratitude on his lips.

In Japan, the story of the samurai is still successfully used; it brings fabulous money to the country's tourism industry. After all, everything connected with this period in the history of the country was romanticized by the Europeans. Now it is already difficult to find grains of truth among numerous legends, but it is rather difficult to argue with one: the samurai is the same bright symbol of modern Japan as kimono or sushi. It is through this prism that Europeans perceive the history of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Samurai originated in the 7th century and existed until the end of the 19th century, when it was abolished as an institution. For many centuries, samurai were the military-feudal nobility of Japan, from which a large number of military and officials of the 20th century came out. The brave warriors of the Imperial Army were called samurai until it was disbanded in 1947.

He was a ronin, that is, he did not have a master and was a free warrior. Musashi gained fame as one of the greatest swordsmen, described the tactics, strategy and philosophy of the samurai in battle, and also developed and put into practice a new type of combat with two swords. Contemporaries called Musashi "Kensai", which translates as "Holy Sword" and emphasizes his supreme mastery of weapons.

A talented military leader, he formed the strongest samurai army and rallied the largest number of provinces around him. Oda Nobunaga began his campaign to unify Japan with the capture of his native province of Owari, after which he began to expand the boundaries of his possessions. In 1582, when Nobunaga reached maximum power, his enemies from among his own subordinates started a coup d'état. Realizing the inevitability of the end, he committed a ritual murder - seppuku.

The samurai code praised such girls "who were able to rise above the imperfections and shortcomings inherent in their sex, and show heroic fortitude that could be worthy of the most brave and noble men" Several onna-bugeisha entered the history of the country - including Nakano Takeko (1847−1868). Born in present-day Tokyo, she was educated in literature and trained in martial arts. Takeko was directly involved in the defense of Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle during the civil war between supporters of the Tokugawa Shogunate and pro-imperial forces. During the battle, she commanded a women's detachment and received a bullet wound in the chest, after which she asked her sister to cut off her head and bury her so that the enemy would not get her. Every year, an action in memory of Takeko takes place at the site of Takeko's grave.

He became the first shogun whose dynasty ruled the country until the resurgence of the Meiji dynasty in 1868. This became possible after the samurai defeated the remnants of the armies of Nobunaga and another commander - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who also claimed to rule all of Japan. Ieyasu's policy left an imprint on the entire existence of the country, which for a long time lived according to his decrees.

The samurai caste ruled Japan for many centuries. Warriors of the highest class, renowned for their ferocity and loyalty to their overlord, they have become an integral part of the history and culture of the entire country. The samurai code is partly observed by the Japanese today. These unsurpassed fighters made the Land of the Rising Sun the way the modern world sees it.

Date Masamune
Known for his love of violence, Data Masamune was one of the most feared warriors of his era. Blinded in one eye as a child, the young man was forced to make every effort to gain recognition as a full-fledged fighter. The reputation of a bold and cunning military leader Data Masamune received by defeating the clan of his opponents, after which he transferred to the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Uesugi Kenshin
Kenshin, aka dragon Echigo, was a fierce warrior and leader of the Nagao clan. He was known for his rivalry with the Takeda Shingen, and supported Oda Nobunaga's military campaign. Kenshin was considered not only a brave fighter, but also an unsurpassed commander.

Tokugawa Ieyasu
The great Tokugawa Ieyasu was originally an ally of Oda Nobunaga. After the death of Nobunaga's successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ieyasu gathered his own army and started a long, bloody war. As a result, in 1600 he established the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, which lasted until 1868.

Hattori Hanzo
The leader of the Iga clan, Hattori Hanzō was one of those rare samurai who were trained as ninja warriors. He was a loyal servant of Tokugawa Ieyasu and saved his master from certain death several times. Having grown old, Hanzo became a Buddhist monk and ended his days in a monastery.

Honda Tadakatsu
He was nicknamed "the warrior who conquered death." During his life, Tadakatsu took part in hundreds of battles and was not defeated in any of them. Honda's favorite blade was the legendary Dragonfly spear, which inspired fear in the enemy. It was Tadakatsu who led one of the detachments in the decisive battle of Sekigahara, which led to a new era in the history of Japan.

Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi was one of Japan's greatest swordsmen. Musashi held his first duel at the age of 13: he fought on the side of the Toyotomi clan against the Tokugawa clan. Miyamoto spent most of his life traveling the country, meeting the great masters in mortal combat. At the end of his life's journey, the great warrior wrote a treatise on the Five Rings, which describes in detail the technique of wielding a sword.

Shimazu Yoshihisa
One of the most famous warlords of the Sengoku period, Shimazu Yoshihisa was from the province of Satsuma. Shimazu sought to unify Kyushu and won many victories. The general's clan ruled most of the island for many years, but was eventually defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Shimazu Yoshihisa himself became a Buddhist monk and died in a monastery.

Although the words "samurai" and "bushi" are very close in meaning, but still "bushi" (warrior) is a broader concept, and it does not always refer to a samurai. Also, in some definitions, samurai is a Japanese knight. The very same word "samurai" comes from the verb "saburau" - in literal translation means: to serve a superior person. Samurai are not just knights, they were also the bodyguards of their daimyo (see below), and at the same time servants in the ubiquitous life. The most honorable position is the caretaker of the sword of his master, but there were also such positions as the caretaker of the umbrella or the "giver" of water in the morning, after sleep.

Story

Origin

According to the most common opinion, samurai originated in the 8th century in the east, northeast and extreme south of Japan. On the outskirts of the empire, the Ainu tribes that settled here from ancient times fiercely defended their lands from the imperial troops. The basis of the samurai was runaway peasants and free hunters who were looking for "land and freedom" on the borders of the empire. Like the Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, they spent their lives in incessant campaigns and skirmishes with warlike aborigines, protecting state borders.

The beginning of the separation of samurai as a special class usually dates from the period of rule in Japan by the feudal house of Minamoto (-). The protracted and bloody civil war that preceded this (the so-called "Trouble Gempei") between the feudal houses of Taira and Minamoto created the prerequisites for the establishment of the shogunate - the rule of the samurai class with the supreme commander ("shogun") at the head.

Golden age

The era of internecine wars

Over time, the military governors became increasingly independent of the shogunate. They turned into large feudal lords, concentrating rich land plots in their hands. The houses of the southwestern provinces of Japan were especially strengthened, which significantly increased their armed forces.

In addition, thanks to the lively trade with China and Korea, the feudal lords of the western and southwestern provinces, from where it was mainly conducted, were significantly enriched. The Kamakura shogunate, not wanting to put up with the strengthening of individual samurai houses, interfered with the trading activities of the feudal lords, which was one of the reasons for the emergence of opposition sentiments towards the Kamakura shogunate among the samurai houses.

As a result, the Kamakura shogunate was deposed, and the title of shogun passed to the representatives of the Ashikaga house. The first shogun of the new dynasty was Ashikaga Takauji. The head of the new shogunate left the former headquarters of the bakufu - Kamakura - destroyed during the civil strife, and, together with the entire government, moved to the imperial capital of Kyoto. Once in Kyoto, the shogun and influential samurai, in order to catch up with the arrogant court nobility, began to build magnificent palaces for themselves and gradually mired in luxury, idleness, intrigues of the imperial court and began to neglect state affairs.

The military governors of the provinces immediately took advantage of the weakening of centralized power. They formed their own detachments of samurai, with whom they attacked their neighbors, seeing each as an enemy, until, finally, a full-scale civil war broke out in the country.

The last phase of this war is referred to in medieval chronicles as the "era of the fighting provinces" (Sengoku Jidai). It lasted from to

Sunset

The samurai estate received a clear design during the reign of the shoguns from the Tokugawa feudal house (-) in Japan. The most privileged layer of the samurai were the so-called hatamoto (literally - "under the banner"), who were the direct vassals of the shogun. Hatamoto for the most part occupied the position of a service layer in the personal possessions of the shogun. The bulk of the samurai were vassals of princes (daimyo); most often they did not have land, but received a salary from the prince in rice.

Bushido

Code of Ethics for the Samurai in Medieval Japan. The code appeared in the period of the XI-XIV centuries and was formalized in the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Samurai women

Samurai in modern culture

Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (film)

Death Trance (film)

Literature

Links

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

MUGEN-RYU HEIHO

Katana sword owned by Tokugawa Ieyasu himself

In the samurai times in the Land of the Rising Sun there were many beautiful swords and many excellent masters who brilliantly mastered the art of swordsmanship. However, the most famous sword masters in the samurai tradition were Tsukahara Bokuden, Yagyu Mune-nori, Miyamoto Musashi and Yamaoka Tesshu.

Tsukahara Bokuden was born in Kashima, Hitachi Province. The first name of the future master was Takomoto. His own father was a samurai retainer of the daimyō of Kashima province and taught his son how to use the sword from early childhood. It seemed that Takamoto was a born warrior: while other children played, he practiced with his sword - first wooden, and then real, fighting. Soon he was sent to be raised in the house of the noble samurai Tsukahara Tosonoka-mi Yasumoto, who was a relative of the daimyo himself and brilliantly wielded a sword. He decided to transfer his art, along with his surname, to his adopted son. In him he found a grateful student who was determined to become a master on the "path of the sword."

The boy trained tirelessly and with inspiration, and his perseverance paid off. When Boku-den was twenty, he was already a master of the sword, although few people knew about it. and when a young man dared to challenge the famous warrior from Kyoto, Ochiai To-razaemon, many considered this a daring and rash trick. Ochiai decided to teach the impudent youth a lesson, however, to everyone's surprise, Bokuden defeated the eminent opponent in the very first seconds of the duel, but saved his life.

Ochiai was very upset by the shame of this defeat and decided to take revenge: he tracked down Bokuden and attacked him from an ambush. But the sudden and insidious attack did not take the young samurai by surprise. This time, Ochiai lost both his life and his reputation.

This duel brought Bokuden great fame. Many daimyo tried to get him as a bodyguard, but the young master rejected all these very flattering offers: he set out to further improve his art. For many years he led the life of a ronin, wandering around the country, learning from all the masters with whom fate confronted him, and fighting with experienced swordsmen. The times were then dashing: the wars of the Sengoku jidai era were in full swing, and Bokuden had to participate in many battles. He was entrusted with a special mission, both honorable and dangerous: he challenged enemy commanders (many of whom were first-class swordsmen themselves) to a duel and killed them in front of the entire army. Bokuden himself remained undefeated.

Pedinok on the roof of the temple

One of his most glorious duels was the duel with Kajiwara Nagato, who was reputed to be an unsurpassed master of the naginata. He also did not know defeat and was so skillful with weapons that he could cut a swallow on the fly. However, against Bokuden, his art was powerless: as soon as Nagato swung his halberd, Bokuden killed him with the first blow, which from the outside looked easy and simple. In fact, it was a virtuoso technique of hitotsu-tachi - a style of one blow, which Bokuden honed throughout his life.

The most curious "duel" of Bokuden was the incident that happened to him on Lake Biwa. Bokuden at that time was over fifty, he already looked at the world differently and did not want to kill people for the sake of meaningless glory. As luck would have it, in the boat, where Bokuden was among the other passengers, there was one frightening-looking ronin, stupid and aggressive. This ronin boasted of his swordsmanship, calling himself the best swordsman in Japan.

A boasting fool usually needs a listener, and the samurai chose Bokuden for this role. However, he did not pay any attention to him, and such disrespect infuriated the ronin. He challenged Bokuden to a duel, to which he calmly remarked that a true master seeks not to defeat, but, if possible, to avoid senseless bloodshed. Such an idea turned out to be indigestible for the samurai, and he, inflamed even more, demanded that Bokuden name his school. Bokuden replied that his school was called Mutekatsu-ryu, literally, "the school for achieving victory without the help of hands", that is, without a sword.

This angered the samurai even more. "What nonsense are you talking about!" he said to Bokuden, and ordered the boatman to dock at a tiny secluded island so that Bokuden could practically show him the advantages of his school. When the boat approached the island, the ronin was the first to jump ashore and draw his sword. Bokuden, on the other hand, took the pole from the boatman, pushed off from the shore and in one fell swoop took the boat away from the island. “This is how I achieve victory without a sword!” - said Bokuden and waved his hand to the fool left on the island.

Bokuden had three adopted sons, and he trained all of them in the art of the sword. Once he decided to give them a test and for this he placed a heavy block over the door. As soon as the door was opened, the log fell on the person entering. The eldest son was invited first by Bokuden. He sensed a catch and deftly picked up the block of wood that fell on him. When the block fell on the middle son, he managed to dodge in time and at the same time pull out the sword from the scabbard. When the turn came to the youngest son, he in the twinkling of an eye drew his sword and with a magnificent blow cut the falling log in half.

Bokuden was very pleased with the results of this "exam", because all three were on top, and the youngest also demonstrated excellent instant strike technique. However, Bokuden named his eldest son his main successor and the new head of his school, because in order to achieve victory he did not have to use the sword, and this most of all corresponded to the spirit of Bokuden's teachings.

Unfortunately, the Bokuden school did not outlive its founder. All his sons and best students died in battles against the troops of Oda Nobunaga, and there was no one left who could continue his style. Among the students was the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru himself, who brilliantly wielded a sword and worthily gave his life in an unequal battle with the killers surrounding him. Bokuden himself died in 1571 at the age of eighty-one. All that remains of his school are many legends and a book of one hundred verses known as the Bokuden Hyakushu. In the verses of the old master, it was about the path of the samurai, which runs along a thin line, like a sword point, separating life from death...

The one-hit technique developed by Bokuden and the idea of achieving victory without the help of a sword were brilliantly embodied in another school of ken-jutsu called Yagyu-Shinkage Ryu. The founder of the Shinka-ge school was the famous warrior Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, whose swordsmanship was appreciated by Takeda Shingen himself. His best student and successor was another famous swordsman, Yagyu Muneyoshi.

Miyamoto Musashi with two swords. From a painting by an unknown artist of the 17th century

Muneyoshi, who had achieved considerable skill even before meeting Nobutsuna, challenged him to a duel. However, Nobutsuna suggested that Muneyoshi fight first with bamboo swords with his student, Hikida Toyogoroo. Yagyu and Hikida met twice, and twice Hikida delivered swift blows to Yagyu, which he did not have time to parry. Then Nobutsuna himself decided to fight Yagyu Muneyoshi, who had suffered an obvious defeat, but when the opponents met their eyes, lightning seemed to strike between them, and Muneyoshi, falling at the feet of Nobutsuna, asked to be his student. Nobutsuna willingly accepted Muneyoshi and taught him for two years.

Muneyoshi soon became his best student, and Nobutsuna named him his successor, initiating all the secret techniques and all the secrets of his skill. Thus, the Yagyu family school merged with the Shinkage school, and a new direction arose, Yagyu-Shinkage Ryu, which became a classic in the art of ken-jutsu. The fame of this school spread throughout the country, and the rumor of the famous Yagyu Muneyoshi reached the ears of Tokutawa Ieyasu himself, who at that time was not yet a shogun, but was considered one of the most influential people in Japan. Ieyasu decided to test the already aged master, who said that a sword was not at all necessary to win a victory.

In 1594, Ieyasu invited Muneyoshi to his place to test his skills in practice. Among the bodyguards of Ieyasu there were many samurai who wielded a sword superbly. He ordered the best of them to try to cut down the unarmed Muneyoshi with a sword. But every time he managed to dodge the blade at the last moment, disarm the attacker and throw him to the ground so that the unfortunate crawled away on all fours or could not get up at all.

In the end, all the best bodyguards of Ieyasu were defeated, and then he decided to personally attack Muneyoshi. But when Ieyasu raised his sword to strike, the old master managed to duck under the blade and push its hilt with both hands. The sword, describing a sparkling arc in the air, fell to the ground. Having disarmed the future shogun, the master brought him to the throw. But he didn’t quit, only slightly “pressed”, and then politely supported Ieyasu, who had lost his balance. He acknowledged the complete victory of Muneyoshi and, admiring his skill, offered him the honorary position of personal fencing instructor. But the old master was about to leave for the monastery and offered instead of himself his son Munenori, who later also became a wonderful sword master.

Munenori was a fencing teacher both under the shogun Hidetada, son of Ieyasu, and under his grandson Iemitsu. Thanks to this, the Yagyu-Shinkage school soon became very famous throughout Japan. Munenori himself glorified himself in the battle of Sekigahara and during the assault on Osaka Castle - he was among the shogun's bodyguards and killed enemy soldiers who were trying to break through to Tokutawa's headquarters and destroy Ieyasu and his son Hideta-du. For his exploits, Munenori was elevated to the rank of daimyo, lived in honor and wealth, and left behind a lot of works on swordsmanship.

The Yagyu-Shinkage school paid special attention to the development of an intuitive sense of an approaching enemy, an unexpected attack, and other danger. The path to the heights of this art in the Yagyu-Shinkage tradition begins with comprehending the technique of the correct bow: as soon as the student lowered his head too low and stopped monitoring the surrounding space, he immediately received an unexpected blow to the head with a wooden sword. and so it went on until he learned to elude them without interrupting his bow.

In the old days, the art of the warrior was taught even more ruthlessly. In order to awaken in the student the qualities necessary for survival, the master fed him with slaps in the face 24 hours a day: he quietly sneaked up to him with a stick when he was sleeping or doing housework (usually the students in the master’s house did all the menial work), and beat him mercilessly. In the end, the student, at the cost of bumps and pain, began to anticipate the approach of his tormentor and think about how to avoid blows. From that moment on, a new stage of apprenticeship began: the master no longer took a stick in his hands, but a real samurai sword and taught already very dangerous fighting techniques, suggesting that the student had already developed the ability to think and act simultaneously and at lightning speed.

Some sword masters have perfected their art of zanshin to near-supernatural levels. An example of this is the samurai test scene in Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. The subjects were invited to enter the house, behind the door of which a guy was hiding with a club at the ready and unexpectedly hit the people on the head. One of them missed the blow, the others managed to dodge and disarm the attacker. But the samurai was recognized as the best, who refused to enter the house, because he sensed a catch.

Yagyu Munenori himself was considered one of the strongest zanshin masters. One fine spring day, he and his young squire admired the cherry blossoms in his garden. Suddenly, he began to feel that someone was preparing to stab him in the back. The master examined the entire garden, but found nothing suspicious. The squire, amazed at the strange behavior of the master, asked him what was the matter. He complained that he was probably getting old: he began to let down the feeling of zanshin - intuition speaks of danger, which in fact turns out to be imaginary. and then the guy admitted that, standing behind the back of the gentleman admiring the cherries, he thought that he could very easily kill him, inflicting an unexpected blow from behind, and then all his skills would not have helped Munenori. Munenori smiled at this and, pleased that his intuition was still on top, forgave the young man for his sinful thoughts.

Miyamoto Musashi fights against several opponents armed with spears

The shogun Tokutawa Iemi-tsu himself heard about this incident and decided to test Munenori. He invited him to his place supposedly for a conversation, and Munenori, as a samurai should, respectfully sat down at the feet of the ruler on a mat spread on the floor. Iemitsu spoke to him, and during the conversation, he suddenly attacked the master with a spear. But the movement of the shogun was not unexpected for the master - he managed to feel his "bad" intention much earlier than he carried it out, and therefore immediately made Iemitsu a cut, and the shogun was overturned, without having time to understand what had happened, and not swinging your weapon...

The fate of Yagyu Munenori's contemporary, the lonely warrior Miyamoto Musashi, who became the hero of samurai legends, turned out quite differently. He remained a restless ronin for most of his life, and in the battle of Sekigahara and in the battles at Osaka Castle he was on the side of the losing opponents of Tokutawa. He lived like a real ascetic, dressed in rags and despised many conventions. All his life he honed his fencing technique, but he saw the meaning of the “path of the sword” in comprehending the impeccability of the spirit, and this was what brought him brilliant victories over the most formidable opponents. Since Miyamoto Musashi shunned society and was a lone hero, little is known about his life. The real Miyamoto Musashi was eclipsed by his literary counterpart - the image derived in the popular adventure novel of the same name by the Japanese writer Yoshikawa Eji.

Miyamoto Musashi was born in 1584 in the village of Miyamoto, located in the town of Yoshino, Mima-saka province. His full name was Shinmen Musashi no kami Fujiwara no Genshin. Musashi was a master of the sword, as they say, from God. He took his first fencing lessons from his father, but honed his skills on his own - in exhausting training and dangerous duels with formidable opponents. Musashi's favorite style was nito-ryu - fencing with two swords at once, but he was no less deft with one sword and a jitte trident, and even used any means at hand instead of a real weapon. He won his first victory at the age of 13, challenging the famous sword master Arima Kibei, who belonged to the Shinto Ryu school, to a duel. Arima did not take this duel seriously, for he could not admit that a thirteen-year-old boy could become a dangerous opponent. Musashi entered the duel, armed with a long pole and a short wakizashi sword. When Arima tried to strike, Musashi deftly intercepted his hand, made a throw and hit with a pole. This blow was fatal.

At the age of sixteen, he challenged an even more formidable warrior, Tadashima Akiyama, to a duel and defeated him without much difficulty. In the same year, young Musashi participated in the Battle of Sekigahara under the banner of the Ashikaga clan, who opposed the Tokutawa troops. The Ashikaga detachments were utterly defeated, and most of the samurai laid down their violent heads on the battlefield; young Musashi was also seriously wounded and, most likely, should have died if he had not been pulled out of the thick of the battle by the famous monk Takuan Soho, who came out of the injured young man and had a great spiritual influence on him (as stated in the novel, although this, of course, artistic creation).

When Musashi was twenty-one years old, he went on a musya-shugo - military wanderings, looking for worthy opponents to hone his swordsmanship and take it to new heights. During these wanderings, Musashi wore dirty, torn clothes and looked very untidy; even in the bath he bathed very rarely, because one very unpleasant episode was connected with it. When Musashi nevertheless decided to wash himself and climbed into an o-furo, a traditional Japanese bath - a large barrel of hot water, he was attacked by one of his opponents, who tried to take advantage of the moment when the famous warrior was unarmed and relaxed. But Musashi managed to “get out of the water dry” and defeat the armed enemy with his bare hands, but after this incident he hated swimming. This incident, which happened in the bath with Musashi, served as the basis for the famous Zen koan, asking what a warrior should do in order to defeat the enemies surrounding him, who caught him standing naked in a barrel of water and deprived not only of clothes, but also of weapons.

Sometimes they try to explain Musashi's sloppy appearance with a kind of psychological trick: misled by his worn dress, rivals looked down on the tramp and were not ready for his lightning attacks. However, according to the testimony of the closest friends of the great warrior, from early childhood his entire body and head were completely covered with ugly scabs, so he was embarrassed to undress in public, could not wash in the bath and could not wear the traditional samurai hairstyle when half his head was shaved bald. Musashi's hair has always been disheveled and untidy, like a classic demon from Japanese fairy tales. Some authors believe that Musashi suffered from congenital syphilis, and this serious disease, which tormented the master all his life and eventually killed him, determined the character of Miyamoto Musashi: he felt different from all other people, was lonely and disfigured, and this disease , which made him proud and withdrawn, moved him to great achievements in the art of war.

For eight years of wandering, Musashi fought in sixty duels and emerged victorious from them, defeating all his opponents. In Kyoto, he had a series of brilliant duels with representatives of the Yoshioka clan, who served as fencing instructors for the Ashikaga family. Musashi defeated his older brother, Yoshioka Genzae-mon, and hacked his younger brother to death. Then he was challenged to a duel by the son of Genzaemon, Hanshichiro. In fact, the Yoshioka family intended, under the pretext of a duel, to lure Musashi into a trap, attack him with the whole crowd and kill him for sure. However, Musashi found out about this venture and himself ambushed behind a tree, near which the treacherous Yoshioka gathered. Suddenly jumping out from behind a tree, Musashi cut down Hanshichiro and many of his relatives on the spot, while the rest fled in fear.

Musashi also defeated such famous warriors as Muso Gonnosuke, the hitherto unsurpassed master of the pole, Shishido Baikan, who was reputed to be a master of kusari-kama, and the master of the spear monk Shuji, who was hitherto reputed to be invincible. However, the most famous duel of Miyamoto Musashi is considered to be his duel with Sasa-ki Ganryu, fencing teacher of the influential Prince Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the best swordsman in all of northern Kyushu. Musashi challenged Ganryu to a duel, the challenge was readily accepted and received the approval of the daimyo Hosokawa himself. The duel was scheduled for the early morning of April 14, 1612 on the small island of Funajima.

The first blow is the final blow!

At the appointed time, Ganryu arrived at the island with his men, he was dressed in a scarlet haori and hakama and girded with a magnificent sword. Musashi, on the other hand, was late for several hours - he frankly overslept - and all this time Ganryu nervously walked back and forth along the coast of the island, acutely experiencing such humiliation. Finally, the boat brought Musashi too. He looked sleepy, his clothes were wrinkled and tattered like a beggar's rags, his hair was matted and tousled; as a weapon for the duel, he chose a fragment of an old oar.

Such a frank mockery of the rules of good manners infuriated the exhausted and already angry opponent, and Ganryu began to lose his cool. He drew his sword with lightning speed and furiously aimed a blow at Musashi's head. At the same time, Musashi hit Ganryu on the head with his piece of wood, stepping back. The lace that tied his hair turned out to be cut by a sword. Ganryu himself fell to the ground, unconscious. Recovering his senses, Ganryu demanded the continuation of the duel, and this time, with a deft blow, he managed to cut through his opponent's clothes. However, Musashi defeated Ganryu on the spot, he fell to the ground and did not get up again; blood gushed from his mouth, and he immediately died.

After the duel with Sasaki Ganryu Musashi has changed a lot. Duels no longer appealed to him, but he became passionate about Zen painting in the Suiboku-ga style and gained fame as an excellent artist and calligrapher. In 1614-1615. he participated in the battles at Osaka Castle, where he showed miracles of courage and military skill. (It is not known, however, on whose side he fought.)

For most of his life, Musashi wandered around Japan with his adopted son, and only at the end of his life agreed to serve the daimyō Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the same one whom the late Ganryū had once served. However, Tadatoshi soon died, and Musashi left the Hosokawa house, becoming an ascetic. Before his death, he wrote the now famous "Book of Five Rings" ("Go-rin-no shu"), in which he reflected on the meaning of martial arts and the "way of the sword." He died in 1645, leaving a memory of himself as a sage and philosopher who went through fire, water and copper pipes.

Any tradition - including the tradition of martial arts - knows periods of prosperity and decline. History knows many examples when, due to various circumstances, traditions were interrupted - for example, when the master did not know to whom to transfer his art, or the society itself lost interest in this art. It so happened that in the first decades after the Meiji restoration, Japanese society, carried away by restructuring in a European way, lost interest in its own national tradition. Many beautiful groves, once glorified by poets, were ruthlessly cut down, and factory buildings smoky with chimneys arose in their place. Many Buddhist temples and ancient palaces were destroyed. The survival of the traditions of samurai martial arts was also threatened, for many believed that the era of the sword had irrevocably passed, and sword exercises were a completely pointless waste of time. Nevertheless, the samurai tradition, thanks to the asceticism of many masters, managed to survive and find a place for itself in the transformed Japan, and even splashed out beyond its borders.

One of these masters, who saved the noble art of the sword from extinction, was Yamaoka Tesshu, whose life fell on the period of the fall of the Tokutawa regime and the sunset of the "golden age" of the samurai. His merit lies in the fact that he managed to lay the bridge on which the samurai martial arts passed into a new era. Yamaoka Tesshu saw the salvation of the tradition in making it open to representatives of all classes who wish to dedicate their lives to the "path of the sword."

Master Yamaoka Tesshu was born in 1835 into a samurai family and, as usual, he received his first sword skills from his father. He honed his skills under the guidance of many masters, the first of which was the famous swordsman Chiba Shusaku, the head of the Hokushin Itto Ryu school. Then Tesshu, at the age of 20, was adopted into the Yamaoka samurai family, whose representatives from generation to generation were famous for the art of the spear (soojutsu). Having married the daughter of the head of this family, Tesshu took the surname Yamaoka and was initiated into the innermost secrets of the family school of swordsmanship.

Combining all the acquired knowledge and inspired by Zen ideas, Tesshu created his own style of swordsmanship, calling it Muto Ryu - literally, "style without a sword"; to his own hall for fencing exercises, he gave the poetic name “Syumpukan” (“Hall of the Spring Wind”), borrowed from the poems of the famous Zen master Bukko, who lived in the 13th century, the very one who helped Hojo Tokimune repel the Mongol invasion. By the way, the image of the wind - fast, knows no barriers and can instantly turn into an all-destroying hurricane - has become one of the most important mythologies that reveal the image of a sword master that has developed over the centuries.

In his twenties, Tesshu became famous for his brilliant victories over many skilled swordsmen. However, he had one opponent, from whom Tesshu was constantly defeated, - Asari Gimei, the head of the Nakanishi-ha Itto Ryu school. Tesshu eventually asked Asari to be his teacher; he himself trained with such perseverance and ruthlessness to himself that he received the nickname Demon. However, despite all his tenacity, Tesshu could not defeat Asari for seventeen years. At this time, the Tokutawa shogunate fell, and in 1868 Tesshu participated in the hostilities of the "Boshin War" on the side of the Bakufu.

Zen Buddhism helped Tesshu to rise to a new level of mastery. Tesshu had his mentor, the Zen master monk Tekisui of the Tenryu-ji Temple. Tekisui saw the reason for Tesshu's defeats in the fact that he was inferior to Asari not so much in swordsmanship (he had it honed to the limit), but in spirit. Tekisui advised him to meditate on this koan: “When two sparkling swords meet, there is nowhere to hide; be coldly calm, like a lotus flower blooming in the midst of a raging flame and piercing the Heavens! Only at the age of 45 Tesshu managed to comprehend in meditation the secret, inexpressible in words, the meaning of this koan. When he again crossed swords with his teacher, Asari laughed, threw away his blade and, congratulating Tesshu, called him his successor and the new head of the school.

Tesshu became famous not only as a master of the sword, but also as an outstanding mentor, who left behind many students. Tesshu liked to say that he who comprehends this art of the sword comprehends the essence of all things, for he learns to see both life and death at the same time. The master taught his followers that the true purpose of sword art is not to destroy the enemy, but to forge one's own spirit - only such a goal is worth the time spent on achieving it.

This philosophy of Tesshu was reflected in the system of so-called seigan developed by him, which is still widely used in various Japanese traditional martial arts. Seigan in Zen Buddhism means a vow that a monk gives, in other words, a severe test in which strength of mind is manifested. According to the Tesshu method, the student had to train continuously for 1000 days, after which he was admitted to the first test: he had to fight 200 fights in one day with only one short break. If the student passed this test, then he could pass the second, more difficult one: in three days he had to participate in three hundred fights. The third, final test involved going through 1,400 fights in seven days. Such a test went beyond the usual understanding of swordsmanship: in order to withstand such a load, just mastering the technique of fencing was not enough. The student had to combine all his physical strength with the strength of the spirit and achieve a mighty intention to pass this test to the end. Those who passed such an exam could rightfully consider themselves a real samurai of the spirit, which was Yamaoka Tesshu himself.