with local officials. Once a permit was issued, the right or wrong of the original death was considered irrelevant. Anyone killing another without a properly registered ada-uchi, though, was subject to punishment for murder.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1658–1719), a Buddhist priest and former retainer of Nabeshima Mitsushige, third daimyō of Saga, shared a series of anecdotes over several years with Tashiro Tsuramoto, a samurai from the Nabeshima fief in Kyushu. Recorded by the younger samurai and published as Hagakure [Hidden Leaves], these offer many insights into daily life and attitudes of his era. The following example illustrates how a samurai might be expected to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) to atone for brawling and murder:
A certain son of Mori Monbei got into a fight and returned home wounded. Asked by Monbei, “What did you do to your opponent?” his son replied, “I cut him down.”
When Monbei asked, “Did you deliver the coup de grace?” his son replied, “Indeed I did.” [This coup de grace was called todome and typically consisted of stabbing the wounded man through the neck.]
Then Monbei said, “You have certainly done well, and there is nothing to regret. Now, even if you fled you would have to commit seppuku anyway. When your mood improves, commit seppuku, and rather than die by another’s hand, you can die by your father’s.” And soon after he performed kaishaku for his son. [The kaishaku serves as a second during seppuku. After the initial incisions are made in the abdomen, the kaishaku is expected to decapitate the subject with one swift sword stroke, thus sparing him from further suffering.]
The Forty-seven Rōnin Incident
It was such an impetuous and foolhardy act that resulted in one of the most famous of Japanese legends. The Forty-seven Rōnin incident is a story reflecting many of the ideals of Japan’s samurai. In 1701, Lord Asano Nagamori, a brash young daimyō from Ako, was ordered to commit seppuku and his clan was abolished, thus setting the stage for the bloodiest vendetta in Japan’s history. Asano’s offense was drawing his short sword and attacking the shōgun’s chief of protocol, Kira Yoshinaka, during preparations for an official reception of an imperial envoy from Kyōto.
Various reasons are given for the shōgun’s harsh sentencing of Lord Asano. Most historians agree that it was for drawing his short sword and wounding Yoshinaka, although one account also records that after the initial attack failed, Lord Asano threw his wakizashi at the chief of protocol, damaging a lacquered screen. Ultimately, though, it was Lord Asano’s obvious disregard for prohibitions against drawing one’s sword within the palace grounds that sealed his fate.
The shōgun’s failure to have Kira share in the responsibility angered Asano’s retainers, who felt that Kira’s improper actions were ignored and Asano’s punishment was too harsh. When a daimyō committed seppuku, his castle was confiscated by the shōgun, his family disinherited, and his samurai retainers ordered to disband, thus becoming rōnin. Oishi Kuranosuke, Asano’s chief councilor, had a plan, though, to avenge Asano’s disgrace by killing Kira, who had brought their clan to such a tragic end.
The men split up to conceal their plans from Kira, who naturally suspected that Asano’s retainers would seek revenge. Oishi went to Yamashina, a suburb of Kyoto, where he earned a reputation as a drunken gambler, a ruse that successfully deceived the shōgun’s many spies. For nearly two years, the rōnin waited, disguised as merchants, street vendors, and even drunks. When suspicions were finally relaxed, Oishi and the other rōnin decided that their time had come. One by one, Oishi and his men infiltrated Edo, and on the snowy winter night of December 14, 1702, the Forty-seven Rōnin attacked Kira’s mansion while he was hosting a tea party.
After killing Kira, the rōnin took his head to Asano’s grave at Sengaku-ji temple. For their actions, the shōgun ordered the rōnin to commit seppuku. After their deaths, the Forty-seven Rōnin were buried next to their master at Sengaku-ji temple. Today, the Forty-seven Rōnin are memorialized in a play called Chusingura which celebrates the theme of their sacrifice in the name of loyalty. Each year thousands of Japanese visit the gravesites at Sengaku-ji temple to pay homage to the honor and loyalty of the Forty-seven Rōnin and their dedication to the code of bushidō. Although their loyalty has become legendary, the fact remains that the Asano family and their clan were destroyed by Lord Asano’s one moment of rage and his inopportune use of his sword.
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One of the Edo period’s most famous samurai, Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi would probably have been relegated to obscurity in Japanese history if modern storytellers were not intrigued by a lapse of twelve years from his life in official records.
A minor daimyō family, the Yagyū held lands in present day Nara Prefecture and founded the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū style of martial arts. Following a superb display of swordsmanship by Yagyū Muneyoshi and his younger son, Tajima no Kami Munenori, in 1594 in Kyoto, Tokugawa Ieyasu employed Munenori as kenjutsu instructor for the Tokugawa clan. Munenori fought on the side of the Tokugawa during the battle of Sekigahara, after which his pupil became the first Tokugawa shōgun (Japan’s military government leader). Yagyū Munenori continued to serve as official kenjutsu instructor to the Tokugawa shōgunate in Edo for three generations, passing the position to his son, Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi.
Not much is actually known about Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi. Born Shichiro, he grew up in the Yagyū family’s domain near Nara until moving to Edo in 1616 to become an attendant to the second Tokugawa shōgun, Tokugawa Hidetada. Eventually he assumed his father’s role as kenjutsu instructor under the third Tokugawa shōgun, Tokugawa Iemitsu. Although generally regarded as the best skilled swordsman in the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, the 24-year-old Jūbei was summarily dismissed by the shōgun, supposedly for drunkenness. He is not heard from again in the records until 1643 when a 36-year-old Jūbei suddenly reappears at a martial arts demonstration before the shōgun, after which he is inexplicably reinstated as kenjutsu instructor to the Tokugawa shōgunate.
It was a common Japanese practice to embark on long pilgrimages to religiously significant temples and shrines to obtain spiritual enlightenment through physical effort. To supplement and enhance their martial arts training, Japanese samurai would occasionally wander throughout the countryside, supposedly to challenge other schools and to further develop their own skills by matching themselves against worthy opponents. This form of spiritual and physical training is referred to as musha-shugyō (warrior journey).
The missing twelve years and the lack of specific evidence has led many to speculate that his dismissal was actually a scheme devised to allow Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi to travel through various provinces on a musha-shugyō while secretly collecting information on political and military activities for the Tokugawa shōgunate. The mystery surrounding his whereabouts during this period has also sparked various myths and legends. One of the best known is the legend of Yagyū Matajuro, a story illustrating the importance of the mental state known in Zen Buddhism as zanshin (constant peripheral awareness).
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