the existence, by the mid-fourteenth century at least, of several recognized styles of ken-jutsu (sword-fighting techniques). However, little technique is recognizable when a sword is used for a swift opportunistic stroke against a samurai who has just spared the swordsman’s life, as at the Battle of Shinohara (1183) in Heike Monogatari:
Then Takahashi got off his horse to recover his breath and wait to see if any of his retainers would come up, and Nyūzen also dismounted, but, still thinking what a feat it would be to kill such a famous leader, even though he had just spared his life, he cast about to see how he could take him unawares. Takahashi, never dreaming of such treachery, was talking to him quite without reserve, when Nūzen, who was famous for the rapidity of his movements, catching him off guard, suddenly drew his sword and aimed a lightning thrust under his helmet.42
Hand-to-Hand Fighting
If archery did not produce a direct hit or a mortal wound, the two competing samurai would try to grapple with one another, using the techniques later given the name yoroi-gumi (armor grappling). This would result in the unhorsing of one or both, at which point the short katana (rendered into English as “dagger” in the accounts that follow) was the weapon most favored for close-quarters fighting. This directly contradicts the usually accepted theory that the tachi developed as a fairly long, curved-bladed weapon that could more easily be wielded from the saddle. One may perhaps hypothesize that the reason for the yoroi-gumi style of combat was largely the samurai’s primary role as a mounted archer. While mounted and wearing a suit of armor built like a rigid box, he was effectively a mobile “gun platform.” When unable to wield his bow, he was ungainly and unwieldy, able only to grapple in the most clumsy fashion. His defensive costume, although not unduly heavy, was not designed to allow him to take the fight to the enemy, and was certainly not helpful in allowing a sword to be used from the saddle. The tachi was also a two-handed weapon, so to draw it, the samurai would have to discard his bow, which required his opponent to be already helpless. In the Shōkyūki, which deals with ex-emperor Go-Toba’s rebellion of 1221, a “grapnel” (probably a kumade, a polearm with several hooks at the end) is used to hold an enemy out of range while the sword is drawn: “... he rushed up and hooked his grapnel into the crown of Satsuma’s helmet, pulled him close, and struck off his head.”43
Several examples of similar practices are recorded in Heike Monogatari, such as the account of a fight that eventually led to the death of Taira Tadanori at the Battle of Ichinotani in 1184:
But Satsuma-no-kami, who had been brought up at Kumano, was famous for his strength, and was extremely active and agile besides, so clutching Tadazumi he pulled him from his horse, dealing him two stabs with his dagger while he was yet in the saddle, and following them with another as he was falling. The first two blows fell on his armour and failed to pierce it, while the third wounded him in the face but was not mortal....44
At the same battle, the single combat between Etchū Zenji Moritoshi and Inomata Noritsuna began without an archery exchange.
Rushing upon each other, they grappled fiercely so that both fell from their horses... he gripped his adversary and pinned him down so that he could not rise. Thus prostrate beneath his foe, try how he would to shift him or draw his sword, he could not so much as stir a finger to the hilt, and even when he strove to speak, so great was the pressure that no word would come forth.45
Two bows mounted on a bow stand with a quiver.
A fine suit of armor laced throughout with white silk.
The intervention of a third party caused a pause in the combat, but soon they returned to the fray:
He suddenly sprang up from the ground and dealt Moritoshi a heavy blow on the breastplate with his closed fist. Losing his balance at this unexpected attack, Moritoshi fell over backwards, when Inomata immediately leapt upon him, snatched his dagger from his side, and pulling up the skirt of his armour, stabbed him so deeply thrice that the hilt and fist went in after the blade. Having thus despatched him he cut off his head.46
In Shōkyūki we have a full account of a vivid encounter that begins with an archery duel and is concluded by a yoroi-gumi fight using tantō:
Pulling an outer arrow from his quiver and fitting it to his rattan-striped bow, he drew the shaft to its full length and let fly. The arrow pierced the breast plate of Takeda Rokurō’s chief retainer, who was standing at the left side of his lord, and shot through to the clover-leaf bow (the agemaki) at the armour’s back, toppling the retainer instantly from his horse. Saburō shot again, and his second arrow passed completely through the neck bone of one of Takeda Rokurō’s pages. Then Rokurō and Saburō grappled together and fell from their horses. As they tumbled back and forth, Saburō drew his dagger and pulled the crown of Rokurō’s helmet down as far as the shoulder straps of his armour. Rokurō looked to be in danger, but just at that moment Takeda Hachirō came upon the scene, and pushing Rokurō aside, cut off his assailant’s head.47
That was the reality of samurai warfare during the “golden age.” A samurai was primarily an archer, with the sword as a secondary weapon. Yet all had to be skilled at wrestling also. This is very different from the popular image of the samurai, but it was to change dramatically over the next few centuries, as we will see.
A suit of armor of nuinobe-do style, typical of the sixteenth century.
Armor with a distinctive checkerboard pattern woven into the breastplate.
Chapter 2
SWORDS IN SERVICE
Following the conclusion of the Gempei and Shōkyū Wars, the Japanese sword began to acquire a new role and a new significance. Although in domestic conflicts the emphasis was still on the mounted archer, knowledge both of the samurai sword and of the swordsmen who wielded it spread abroad to other countries. The result was that the sword itself and the art of the samurai swordsman became exportable items. The process began with some very harsh lessons concerning the sword’s strength and efficiency, and developed into a situation where swords were for sale and the ideal of the samurai as primarily a mounted archer slowly began to fade.
This development could hardly have been guessed at in 1192, when the samurai of the Minamoto family had achieved the establishment of a native military dictatorship by means of their superior Way of Horse and Bow. The Minamoto, however, whose personal supremacy seemed as well assured as that of the institution of the bakufu itself, did not have long to enjoy their power, for within three generations they were supplanted by the Hōjō family. The Hōjō, nevertheless, showed a surprising respect for the institution of the shogunate and ruled Japan until 1333 in the capacity of regents. It was therefore under the Hōjō shikken (regency) that the samurai swordsman began to export his wares.
The Dwarf Robbers
The first foreign country to suffer from the Japanese sword was Korea, and the means was provided by the wakō, the pirates of Japan.1 This word consists of two characters. The first, wa, can mean dwarf, and was also an ancient Chinese appellation for Japan. Kō means robber or brigand, making the compound that appears in Korean as waegu and in Chinese as wokou.
The long and disgraceful career of the wakō began during the early
