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Interesting Facts
Are there differences between the Ninja and the Samurai?
Although
it may not appear obvious to most people with limited understanding of the Ninja
and the Samurai, these two terms refer to two very distinctive groups of skilled
fighters. The Ninjas were practitioners of the ‘art of invisibility’ or
‘art of stealth', while the Samurai practised
‘Bushido’ or the warrior code. In terms of their roles, Ninjas were
intelligent agents/spies or assassins whereas the Samurais were warriors, often
involved in fighting on the battlefield. It follows that with the different
roles that they play, the Ninja and the Samurai used different weapons. Ninjas
were experts in using weapons like poisons and explosives while the latter used
only swords most of the time.
Female Ninja
and Samurai?
Probably
the most interesting question to ask is whether there were female Samurai in the
history of Japan. While it may be unexpected, there were indeed female Samurais,
most of whose husbands were Samurais too. Examples of heroic female Samurais
include Hojo Masako (wife of Minamoto Yoritomo) and Tomoe Gozen (wife of
Minamoto Yoshinaka), the latter being the most famous one in the history of
Japan. Female Samurais were also trained in the martial arts and they were
especially skilled in the use of Naginata (pole arm, fitted with curved
single-edged blade). Also interesting to note is that the traditional fate of
Samurai widows was to become Buddhist nuns! There are female Ninjas too but they
often use sexual attractiveness to disarm a victim and then kill him
Does Homosexuality exist in the Warrior Class?
Perhaps
not widely known is the fact that there were homosexual relationships among some
Samurai warriors, although there was much prohibition during that rather
conservative period in Japan’s history. The cult of homosexuality that
developed was a result of a decline in women’s social status around the 17th
century (women held a relatively strong position in society in the 13th
century). This led to a general opinion that women were not very fitting
companions for the Samurai and that men instead would provide a better
companionship than women; hence the presence of homosexuality among some
Samurais.
How were Samurai swords tested after being made?
The
procedure for testing new Samurai swords made by the swordsmiths was among the
most brutal aspect of the Samurai’s past. Sword testers carried out the
process by cutting through the bodies of corpses taken from execution grounds or
even living bodies of condemned criminals. Then they execute twenty different
cuts on the bodies, ‘beginning with severing the hand by cutting the wrist and
progressing through the thicker limbs of the bodies’. Test results were often
recorded on the Nakago (metal piece attaching sword blade to the handle) with
gruesome descriptions like ‘two men cut’ or ‘eight arms severed’. After
being tested, the swords were polished by the sword polishers.
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