The Samurai Myth

What interests you so much about Japan? This is a question I frequently get asked by my students or just other people in my day-to-day life. And while there are so many fascinating things I could say about why I'm interested in Japan, I think the primary reason I always come back to is the samurai. And this creates a dilemma, however, when I tell anyone this. While some people might have zero knowledge of what samurai were other than knowing them simply as Japanese warriors, many, if not the vast majority of others, often have a false image in their head which has been built up of numerous misconceptions brought to them likely by pop culture. The best thing to perhaps call this phenomenon is simply the samurai myth. This is not a term I'm trying to coin or really one I have seen seriously used anywhere else besides as the epilogue to Jonathan Lopez-Vera's book, A History of the Samurai. It is here, Lopez-Vera, who now has a PhD in Japanese history, details the common misconceptions people have when they think of samurai. Of course, it should go without saying that there are levels to this, as anyone's point of knowledge on any particular topic understandably differs. What Lopez-Vera does quite well, I think, is fundamentally break down the two sides of who the samurai were. Quite simply, the side they really were, and the side many of them likely wanted us to think they were. So what I wanted to do here today is go through a bit of his epilogue to break down some of his major points that I find to be continually relevant, not just factually and academically in terms of helping us to better understand the true nature of this diverse warrior group, but also personally, as someone who has seen my own views and interests shift over time through learning more about samurai history. It should be noted that plenty of the information here is likely not going to be new to many of my average viewers, as if you are someone who regularly keeps up with my content or reads into the history of Japan, you are already likely aware of some of the points I'm about to make. However, this video exists for the many people out there who don't understand the samurai, or have a very basic understanding of them, to the people who might love the image they have come to see of the samurai, yet without understanding the truth that lies beneath. I have made a number of different videos in the past detailing different myths or truths about the samurai, and while those have been aimed at specific aspects, this video will instead be one which examines them more broadly as a warrior group. Now, in the opening to his epilogue, Lopez Vera is very clear about his intentions for the rest of his book, and why he for the most part attempted to steer away from diving deeper into the more mythical or romanticized portrayals of samurai, yet he also concedes how easy it is to do so. The samurai myth is so attractive and suggestive that it is very hard not to let yourself be carried away by it at times, or indeed to realize you are perpetuating the myth without meaning to. This is obvious. Just like many other details about history, we often look through rose-tinted glasses or fall victim to falsehoods that portray a greater, perhaps more heroic image. Were the knights of Europe always these chivalrous noble warriors outfitted in glorious shining plate armor and accomplishing great deeds? No, of course not. Were the outlaws of the old American West living a thrilling life of true freedom? No, it was likely quite difficult, and they would usually wind up dead. But like any of these roles in history, people have become fascinated with them, so much so that they get turned into icons, only for people to never fully realize that such a life isn't exactly what they thought. In reference to the American outlaw example, I strongly recommend you go watch the 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. I don't think I've ever seen a story so beautifully and poetically portray the old saying of never meet your heroes. It's a story about Robert Ford, a young man who grew up enthralled by tales of gunslingers and outlaws like Jesse James, so much so that he went out and joined up with the James gang so that he could live out that lifestyle. Only to find out, not only was that lifestyle horrifying, deadly, and cutthroat, but also his main idol, Jesse James himself, wasn't the larger-than-life charismatic outlaw figure like he had been led to believe. It's a brilliant film that portrays a timeless message regarding society's constant holding up of figures who are portrayed as heroes, usually for living a dangerous yet exhilarating lifestyle, that many of us today cannot identify with. Thus, we get attracted to such images, and many of us try to live out representations of them in different ways. Some ways of engaging with these historical roles are more serious, such as through historical reenactment, working at a living history museum, or practicing martial arts. Other ways are more relaxed, such as simply playing video games. Now, there is absolutely no harm in any of these methods, as they each offer their own unique way of engaging with history. Some inherently force you to research and dive deeper into these historical roles, while others might inspire you to do so on your own. The important factor in each of these, is not losing sight of the real history of who these figures were. Yet the samurai are unique in the fact that they are also not from Western culture, they are from the East, and with this distinction comes a unique factor we must consider. Lopez Vera describes how, in the West, we have popularly come to consider many aspects of East Asia to be old or traditional, applying philosophical and at times mystical qualities to them, along with characteristics such as honor, duty, and loyalty, each of which also present in other parts of the world, but somehow often perceived as more significant in the East. However, such concepts are often falsely or overly applied, as he also addresses many of the aspects of samurai history which would go counter to such notions. Yet in our account, we have seen ceasefires used to finish off enemy defenses before attacks are resumed, sons executing their own fathers, brothers ordering the deaths of their own siblings, massacres of civilians whose corpses have their noses cut off, entire families executed to put an end to a family line, schemes for controlling the four-year-old occupant of a throne, important battles, Dan-no-Ura and Sekigahara no less, being decided by people switching allegiances at the last minute, etc. All of this does not make the samurai some kind of heartless treacherous warriors with no sense of ethics, at least no more than the warriors of any other time and place, but nor does it make them any better. And this is where we need to take a step back to consider, why is there such a contrast in how many people have come to popularly view the samurai as stoic and heroic philosophical warriors compared to the brutal reality of who they often were? Well, as already mentioned, plenty of it has to do with our conceptualization of the East. But, as others might have already guessed, like many of our depictions of samurai today, historically, such views were purposefully created and have a lot to do with the Edo period. This is another topic I have discussed at great lengths in the past, the ways in which the samurai changed when met with a prolonged period of peace. It's true to say that the nature of what samurai actually were was always in flux throughout their near 700 years they spent atop Japan. Looking at the warriors from one period and comparing them to another period will result in both noticeable differences and similarities. However, for the most part, we can agree on one great commonality between pre-Edo period samurai. This is that their primary motivation in life was to survive. The issue is that when we think about pre-Edo period samurai, we often do so while applying the same ideals to them that some samurai of the Edo period tried to live by. In fact, this issue is far bigger and goes much more into how we even conceptualized Japanese warriors in the first place. Instead of regarding Japanese warriors in earlier periods as bushi or gokinin, we instead always referred to them as samurai, when doing so would not have been the accepted norm of the time. Using the much more popular and all-encompassing term of samurai was something that really emerged perhaps more towards the end of the Sengoku period but more seriously into the Edo period when class divides became more pronounced. Yet, since we have come to retroactively apply such a mindset onto warriors before the Edo period, we start to lose a sense of who they really were. In point of fact, the type of honor the samurai myth credits them with having is a very modern concept, which would not have even registered in the world view of a 12th century warrior. For them, everything came down to their standing as bushi, but this reputation depended on their victories on the battlefield and not the manner in which they had been achieved. If we had to choose a virtue that stands out in these first warriors, it would not be honor but pragmatism. Certainly, we can say that samurai before the Edo period had their own fair share of unique practices, rituals, and philosophies they lived by. Yet, they would not have come together in any sense of a unified code that we like to popularly say was bushido. Such a streamlined concept would not emerge until warriors of the Edo period were trying to reconnect with a warrior past they had never known themselves. Now, does this mean that Edo period samurai were not really true samurai in the sense of the warriors who came before? Well, yes and no. Of course, samurai of the Edo period were still absolutely samurai. In fact, that distinction was the clearest it had ever been. Yet on that same note, during the Edo period, the warrior role of the samurai dissipated thanks to the age of peace. Thus, it is difficult to equate them to the battle-tested warriors who came before. This is one of the many reasons why I find studying the Bakumatsu era to be so fascinating, because it is here at the end of the Edo period that samurai were forced to reconfront their old warrior role, yet with the goal of modernizing their military methods. This has led some historians over the years to argue that it was these military changes in the 1850s and 60s which caused many revolutionary-minded samurai to realize that their own class had become antiquated and that it needed to end in its current form. Yet as we know, even with the abolition of the samurai class, the perceived samurai ideology would still find its way into the new imperial military, especially after the Satsuma Rebellion exposed weaknesses within the new conscript system. Wishing to ingrain a sense of quote-unquote traditional samurai values into new soldiers, many ex-samurai were brought in within leadership positions, and Edo period samurai virtues became mainstream and further distorted within the army. When Japan found itself forced to open up to the rest of the world and began the breakneck race to reach the same levels as western powers in the Meiji period, the samurai became an uncomfortable remnant of the past that had no place in a forward-looking country. On the other hand, the new Meiji government, let us not forget made up of ex-samurai from Satsuma and Choshu, despite having put an end to its own and the rest of the different social classes, retrieved, renewed, and promoted this ideal samurai philosophy which had first been created during the Edo period. At first, this was done to promote loyalty to the emperor, which was the pillar the entire new system was built on. A loyalty easily comparable to that of the samurai vassal towards his lord and master. Thus we enter into the real rise of the term Bushido, the way of the warrior, a concept which, although had its roots in the Edo period, did not catch on in a larger way until the late 19th century and early 20th century. I've talked about and made whole videos about the Bushido myth already, so I'm not going to spend too much time here talking about it. Yet certainly it is obvious to see how the notion of a samurai code would catch on and become a popular symbol of the warrior class, of course akin to that of chivalry in the west. As we know, however, it is all a lie. There was never such thing as a samurai code, and it is just another way, if not the biggest way, the image of the samurai has been twisted to fit a false narrative. To the people who view the samurai as these noble and elite warriors who were paragons of a virtuous and perhaps poetic lifestyle, that is exactly what the samurai of the Edo period likely wanted you to think they were. Ignore the brutality, slaughter, and treachery of the past and only believe the samurai were honorable and loyal figures. This is the samurai myth, because as we know, they were all of those things. They were good and bad, they were heroic and they were villainous. They lived exciting lives and they lived mundane lives, and they changed constantly over the centuries in which they existed. The realist version of the samurai myth as an artificial modern construct is standard knowledge within the academic world, both in Japan and in the west. It is perfectly well known both that it was created in the Edo and Meiji ages and that it was promoted out of self-interest later. Even more importantly, the historians specialized in 12th to 16th century Japan state that they have found no Bushi ethical code that may be considered the precursor to what is now known as Bushido. So does that mean that everything we thought we knew about the samurai is a lie, and their history in reality is not worth knowing? No. In fact, there is no need to resort to myths and legends, since historically and objectively speaking, the history of the samurai is fascinating in itself and needs no window dressing. Its study can be highly satisfying. In fact, it is the diverse nature of the samurai that I believe makes them so intriguing, which is also where I start to get increasingly upset when we so often see them portrayed as one note, these honorable duty-bound warriors as pop culture wants us to see them as. The more I've learned about the samurai, the more complex they become, it only fascinates me further. This channel recently turned 7 years old, which is crazy to think, and I find myself often looking back at what I knew about the samurai when I first started versus what I know about them now. It is interesting to see how far I've come, especially given the past mistakes I have made and the ways I want to continue to improve. But I will admit, my drive has changed, and I know it's likely a mixture of not only the trajectory my life has been on, as well as the more I have come to understand about the samurai. But when I look back at what propelled me early on with this channel, it is often not the same. Recently, someone commented about my criticisms of the new samurai game, Ghost of Yotei, claiming something along the lines that, in my pursuit of real history, I have lost the ability to love more romanticized and fun depictions of samurai. Such a comment made me reflect a bit. Obviously, I see the samurai differently now than I used to, and that translates very much to how I want to see them portrayed in popular media. But that doesn't take away from the love I have for the study of them, and the portrayals, both serious and fun, that I believe does do them justice. There are always going to be good and bad portrayals, and what I hope to continue to do is prop up and champion the times when they are portrayed without the fog of the samurai myth clouding who they were. Yet, I think this is a good place to end the discussion for today. As always, I want to remind you that I have more videos covering specific topics such as Bushido, Samurai Brutality, and the changing role of the warrior class in the Edo period, all of which I will link down below. With that said, thank you for watching, and don't forget to like, subscribe, and ring that notification bell if you enjoyed this video and found it to be most informative.