Samurai Swords - a Brief History
Posted: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
by lorien1973
Online Discount Mart Home & Garden Decor
The image of a Samurai warrior- imposing, menacing, wielding a large sword over his head, owes its origin to the rice paddy. For it was a shift in the socio-structure of islands east of mainland Asia, that gave birth to the need for warriors.
Over a period of 500 years, up to circa 200A.D., a growing sector of the nomadic tribe population turned from hunting and foraging skills to agriculture. With the growing of rice, came permanency, and territorial rights/disputes. By the second century, there were jealousies to deal with amongst the clans.
The ruling force of Japan gained a toehold on the southern peninsula of Korea in the fourth century, and from that base, began negotiating truces, marriages, and exchanges of goods and technology.
At that point in time, the Japanese warriors were still foot soldiers, armed mostly with short swords, knives and shields. Their armor, made of iron, was basically only good for repelling arrows - surprisingly similar to what medieval knights wore at the time. It was from their sometime enemies the Koreans, that they learned the advantages of using horses for battle. But first, they had to learn to ride with a saddle, and use stirrups, to free both hands for using a bow while charging into a fight. It was a skill that would lead to the use of the famous Samurai swords.
The Yamato clan, undisputed rulers of Japan, raided westward once too often, and a concerted effort forced them off the Korean peninsula. It was now late in the sixth century, and as they regrouped to take up arms again, their leader died. Since the Great Leaders kept so many concubines it was hard to tell who was in line for succession, it meant another war within the country. The winner, who became the first “Heavenly Warrior Emperor" of Japan, was also a wise warrior. He knew that a leader’s power to rule, lay in military strength, but only if it were controlled. Emperor Temmu established an army of peasant conscripts, but their weapons belonged to the government. Horsemen were required to train continuously, while peasants trained ten days out of one hundred. Skills that were practiced, included the use of crossbows and spears, swinging swords, firing catapults, and all forms of combat.
Diplomatic feelers went out to mainland China, with careful avoidance of Korea. But this did not mean peace for Japan. From the north, came the Emishi, skilled horsemen who fought a vicious, guerrilla type war. Their strike and withdraw tactics cowed and defeated the peasant troops. The government could only afford to equip their mounted troops as archers, and the peasant conscripts with even less. Enter the Kanto, the “professional" soldier, who became known as the Samurai, “those who serve".
It was now the eighth century, A.D. Iron armor rusted, and the warriors switched to leather, which was lighter and allowed for quicker movement. The Samurai also adopted the curved sword of the Emishi, which were so effective from horseback. A thousand years after rice cultivation caused squabbles between neighbors, the painting of a warrior who wielded a great Samurai sword, was complete.
This Article has been viewed 1,623 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.