The Arrow Cape
One less famous section of the samurai arsenal was the Horo or arrow-catching cape. This consisted of layers of material tied to the samurai that was used in two ways:
1. To be tied to the rear and allowed to balloon as the samurai galloped back to his line of battle, the purpose of which was to stop arrows from penetrating the rear of his armour.
2. To hold over the front and above the head with the arms extended, to catch arrows.
This arrow cape in samurai lore represented the placenta in the womb and was considered ‘safe’, as though a warrior was inside of his mother.
The Fan
A samurai fan should have ten ‘ribs’ which represents the great virtues in Buddhism:
1. Refrain from killing living things.
2. Refrain from stealing.
3. Refrain from sex.
4. Refrain from lying.
5. Refrain from taking intoxicants.
6. Refrain from taking food at inappropriate times.
7. Refrain from singing, dancing, playing music or attending performances.
8. Refrain from wearing perfume, cosmetics and decorative accessories.
9. Refrain from sitting on high chairs and sleeping on luxurious, soft beds.
10. Refrain from accepting money.
The Book of Samurai tells us that samurai accepted gold by having the coins placed on the front of a fan, while decapitated heads to be presented were placed on the rear face of the fan. For this reason some fans were painted with a mottled snow effect so show the pattern of blood drops which would remain after the head was disposed of.
Armour
The Costume of Death
If a samurai wished to announce his intention to be victorious on the field of battle or die without retreating, he would create the costume of death. This was done by cutting short the ties fastening his helmet and armour to indicate that he would not be tying them again, meaning that he was riding to his death and would not be returning or that he would only return if victorious. Furthermore, if a samurai was set on killing a superior because of a grudge, he would wear this consume of death before he made the kill – thus anyone found in such a get-up would be questioned as to his intentions.
The Hole in the Helmet
At the top of a samurai helmet is a small ventilation hole; tradition says that the 98,000 gods of war enter into the samurai through this hole to give him power.
Sweet-smelling Helmets
Samurai may burn incense inside of their helmet so that when they are killed their head will smell sweet to the enemy.
Ghost Bodyguards
Legend holds that in the tenth-century war known as Tenkei no Ran, one of the major players, Masakado, had an arch-enemy called Tawara Toda (sometimes Hidesato). To protect himself, Masakado employed phantom doppelganger bodyguards that looked and talked just like he did. Toda, wanting to find the real Masakado, moved through the crowds, feeling for a pulse on each figure until he found the one with a pulse, at which point he cut him down. It has actually been postulated by some that the story is based on real events. Masakado apparently feared the awesome archery skills of Toda, so he had five of his retainers dress just like him on the battlefield and move around, hoping to draw off his enemy’s fire. Toda killed three before he finally identified the real Masakado and brought him down.
The Samurai Ancestral Home
Haunted manor houses, castles with bloody histories and spectres in the gardens are all seen by the English-speaking world as a Western idea, chilling us at Christmas as we revisit old legends (people have actually forgotten that ghost stories are a Christmas tradition; remember Dickens’s A Christmas Carol). However, Japanese folklore has its fair share of family hauntings attached to the ancient warrior families and their castles. According to the Budoshoshinshu (paraphrased here from William Scott Wilson’s translation), each and every ancient family home, be it castle, fortified manor house or simple residence, has its blood-filled history and its own ghosts.
Usually it involves the ghost of a low-ranking samurai who, wishing for vengeance due to mistreatment, attacks or infects a samurai who has the virtues of a true knight and therefore dies from a wound or from illness. The example given in the text is of Takeda Shingen and his retainer Amari Saemon, who people believed was killed by the clan’s ghost.
The second way a ghost manifests itself is by taking possession of a samurai retainer who gives bad advice and brings the clan to ruin, becoming similar to Wormtongue from Tolkien’s world. The manual states that there are six ways that this malignant spirit can use its host to cause problems:
1. He has power to stop a lord hearing good council.
2. By replacing honourable advisors with men of a mean ilk who are under the ghosts sway.
3. The possessed retainer will inform the lord that having children is paramount and brings suitor-wives below his station, alongside this promoting dancing, games and women until the lord is far from the path of righteousness.
4. With all the ostentatious entertainment, the clan treasury is empty; at this point the ghost will use its host to get the lord to fill its coffers by taxing the people, bringing locals to hate their lord and to be poor and in the end causing all forms of monetary issues.
5. The ghost will then disapprove of military training and the upkeep of the clan’s equipment and military prowess, bringing all the retainers to a state of uselessness.
6. All of the above lead to the ruin of the lord; this is the way a devil will enter a retainer and destroy a clan (or is an excuse for bad management).
Samurai Training
Maybe the greatest weapon for a samurai is the training endured to become a warrior of great achievement. In an example of samurai training, Hearn tells us that samurai boys were taken to execution grounds to witness gruesome executions and were to do so without a show of emotion; this exercise was adopted to vanquish any internal horror. He goes on to state that when returning home, the samurai boys were given blood-coloured rice to make sure fear was eradicated from their minds. To further stamp out any fear, they were told to go to the execution grounds at night and take the heads of the dead to show they had no terror left in them.
Seppuku – Ritual Suicide
The Japanese ritual of seppuku (self-disembowelment) is identifiable to most people and comes with two major names: 切腹 (seppuku) and 腹切 (hara-kiri).
The most popular word for Japanese ritual suicide is hari-kari, but this is a mispronunciation of the correct term, hara-kiri. The two names above are actually two uses of the same ideogram but reversed. Seppuku is 切 (cut) and 腹 (belly), while harakiri is 腹 (belly) and 切 (cut). The former is more formal while the latter is more casual.
Seppuku Facts
It can be voluntary or enforced. A warrior may take their own life if the battle is lost.
To be decapitated when bound is disgraceful but to be decapitated after cutting one’s own belly is a high honour.
If a warrior refused to commit suicide it could ruin the entire family.
Originally there was no second or assistant, but as time progressed the position of kaishakunin was introduced; this was a friend who decapitated the victim to make his passing quicker as death by disembowelment was excruciatingly painful and could last hours.
The handle of the dirk used to commit suicide was taken off and the blade wrapped in paper so that the prospective suicide could not use it to fight his way out of the situation.
The inspecting officer would sit approximately three metres away so that the prospective suicide could not grab his sword and fight his way out.
The kaishakunin would stab the victim through the heart from behind if they thought that they were going to move to attack.
The goal of the assistant was to leave the skin of the throat attached so that the head did not roll around after decapitation – a difficult cut.
The assistant had their own assistant who would take over if they found it difficult
to perform the deed.
Samurai women may perform seppuku by inserting a dagger into their throat.
The victim may secure their legs so that when they die they fall correctly.
One of the last seppuku rituals to take place was that of actor and writer Yukio Mishima, who in 1970 seized a military official to further his political aims. Failing in his attempted coup, he then committed ritual suicide. It is thought that the event was brought about to provide a stage for him to perform the ritual.
Different Types of Execution
Sensu-bara
A substitute for seppuku where the victim takes up a fan instead of a dagger; when they take up the fan they are decapitated.
Mizu-bara
This substitute for seppuku appears as two versions. The first is recorded by Seward, who says that a cup of water is lifted up instead of a dagger, at which point the decapitation occurs. The second states that the person to be beheaded will dip their finger into water and use the moist finger to make a symbolic cut on the abdomen, at which point they are beheaded.
Te-bara
Another substitute for seppuku where an imaginary cut with the hand is made and the victim is decapitated.
Uchi-kubi
A criminal kneels down and hangs their head, at which point they are decapitated.
Shibari-kubi
A criminal is bound with their hands behind their back as they kneel down. An assistant will lift their toes off the ground from behind so that they lean forward, at which point they are beheaded.
Hiyaburi
To be burnt alive at the stake. This punishment was largely doled out to arsonists, but there are also examples of Christians being killed this way.
Nokogiribiki
A person is restrained and their head is sawn off.
Haritsuke
Crucifixion. The only difference to the Western style is that the legs are splayed and spears are jabbed into the torso in an X-shape.
Seppuku and punishment is an extremely interesting topic; for a full understanding see Seppuku by Rankin and Hara-kiri by Seward.
Skinning a Human Face
As discussed previously, if there were too many decapitated heads to bring back from a victory, a samurai leader may give the instruction for noses to be taken instead. However, it is not only noses that should be cut; in fact it is quite wrong to take only the nose, because some samurai may not be as honourable as their reputation and in the face of disgrace they may actually kill women or monks to secure a nose and claim a kill. To combat this, the rule of skinning the face came into play. The samurai would have to cut from around the top lip and base of the nose, around and up to the eyebrows, or they would have to cut down from the top lip and around the chin. Using either of these methods would prove that it came from a warrior male, as warriors tended to have facial hair and women would change their eyebrow shape. In addition to this, it was recommended that the samurai bring back the sword or a part of the helmet from the fallen foe. All of these were measures to stop a samurai cheating his way to a quick reward.
10
DEALING WITH THE DEAD
The way of life for a samurai was that of killing. His job was warfare and business was good, especially in the Sengoku period, which is also known as the Warring States period.
The following is a sermon for the dead, and if this spell is chanted the fallen dead will immediately attain Buddhahood and enlightenment; this is done so that a samurai will not be cursed or given over to divine punishment for killing their enemy.
諸悪本末無明来実検直儀何処有南北
(Shoaku honnmatsu mymyourai jikken chokugi kashoyu nanboku)
Incense is also used in connection with the dead and comes from Buddhist traditions. Putting incense near a body protects the departing soul from dealing with malevolent spirits. However, this does not seem to deter jiki-ko-ki, who are ‘incense goblins’ who love to devour smoke. Also, there is the belief that if you light incense and concentrate on someone who is dead then you can cause their soul to manifest itself in the smoke. One example is the old Chinese legend of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, who called to have spirit-summoning incense brought to him so he could see his dead love, the Lady Li.
Receiving Decapitated Heads
Inspecting a decapitated head was a very magical and supernatural experience. The enemy may be physically dead, but it was still considered to be dangerous as the spirit of the dead enemy was thought to be vengeful at this point. Therefore, some rules were set in place to ensure the safety of the lord and his home from the retribution of the fallen warriors:
Sometimes the head was not allowed inside some parts of the camp or residence and should be shown at the gate.
The lord was to be dressed for battle and armoured.
Archers should stand on either side of the lord to protect him from the ghosts of the enemy.
The lord should never look directly at the head; he should glance to it from his left side and maybe over a fan or sleeve.
There should be someone who is born in the year of the horse present at the ceremony.
A war cry should be given and dedicated to the gods of war.
When samurai used to categorise the decapitated heads of their victims they would put them into five basic groups: right-eyed, left-eyed, heaven-eyed, earth-eyed, buda-eyed (half closed).
However, it is said that there is one more type of head – a head that should not be shown to the lord, the ‘head of hatred’. This is a head which is distorted and set grimaced, left-eyed and with a clenching of the teeth. These unsightly heads should not be shown to a lord.
Preparing Decapitated Heads
To wash decapitated heads you should start with the lower ranks. If the head belonged to a man of position, comb the hair and tie it with a twisted string made of paper. If it is the head of lower-ranking samurai or soldier, just tie it with left-handed rope.
The Headboard
The board for a head to rest on should be 24 cm square. It should have an upward-facing nail to fix the head in place and the corners should be rounded off. The whole thing should be made of Chinaberry wood.
The Box for the Head
The box in which a samurai would place a head should be 45 cm high, 24 cm in diameter and should bear a swastika written on the cover. Sew two pieces of fabric together and wrap the container with the cloth and secure it at the top with a knot. When the container is sent with the head back to the family, put a kibo arrow across and under the knot of the cloth covering the box to make the head presentable.
Poking the Eyes of the Dead
To help get a head ready for presentation, the samurai would sometimes use the pommel of his sword to push the dead eyes deeper into their sockets. They would also use a long, thick pin which rests alongside their sword in the scabbard to push the tongue back in the mouth. Also they would pull out the eyelashes to help keep the eyes closed and sometimes the teeth were blackened with an iron solution as a sign that the head had a high place of honour (as only lower people had unstained white teeth).
The Book of Heads
On a Japanese battlefield after a day of conflict, each samurai would bring his prized head with a piece of evidence to show that he had killed a real warrior. If the head was accepted, the deed would then be written in the book of heads so that he could be rewarded correctly at a later date.
Disposing of Heads
See image on page 48. The enemy heads should be thrown away in the direction of Shikan 死喚. To find out this magical direction, count the appropriate spaces on the diagram provided there.
On the days of the Rat, the Horse, the Hare and the Cockerel, count clockwise nine directions when counting from the Hare (you should start counting from one on the day mentioned; therefore, an example of the direction of Shikan is the direction of the Monkey if counting from the Rat – nine places including the start point).
On the days of the Ox, the Ram, the Dragon and the Dog, Shikan is the ninth directi
on counting from the Dragon.
On the days of the Tiger, the Monkey, the Snake and the Boar, Shikan is the ninth direction counting from the Snake.
After finding the correct direction, take the heads and gibbet them; this will make the ghosts of the heads call their fellows and lure them to their death, for the dead always want company.
The heads of aristocrats and generals should be gibbeted on chestnut wood while lower-ranking heads should be put on pear tree wood. When a number of heads are to be gibbeted, put up a chestnut wooden post on the right and a pear wooden post on the left, then put silk tree wood across them. The head of the general or lord should be wrapped in a horo arrow-cape when gibbeted; this is called Buddha-gake.
A Ritual over the Dead
In the morning, stand east of your encamped position and face westwards. Stab a togariya (reinforced arrow) into the ground beside the head of the dead person, hold a short samurai horsewhip while making the Naibaku mudra and chant the following words:
能く死する者は能く死して治す。円相を廻らして念仏す。
(Those who die well will die to be at peace, I pray to Amitabha for the creation of Enso, that is, the highest form of enlightenment)
The Dark Side of Japan: Ancient Black Magic, Folklore, Ritual Page 7