The samurai Warriors of Japan were adept not only in of course
sword play, but also the art of flower arranging and poetry! Rather
different from their western equivalents of the time who probably
couldn't even read or write. These very special Japanese wore
two swords: one long for fighting, this sword must always draw
blood when drawn-true story! But in practicality it didn't always
mean you had to lop some poor peasants head off. A knick on your
thumb or fore-arm would do, just enough for the sword to "taste
blood." This would then be cleaned with a silk cloth. Never
must a samurai's blade be touched by a hand.
The smaller blade carried by these Japanese Samurai was used
in the ritual disembowelment of oneself. This was usually for
one of two reasons, you'd shamed yourself in someway and couldn't
live with said shame (maybe flinched in battle or something) or
your Lord ordered you to due to some transgression of the warrior
code or merely on a whim. Another reason the Samurai might kill
himself is if he failed to protect his Lord. Once your Lord is
dead you're effectively out of a job and shamed. Not a good situation
to be in and one where your choices were limited. Basically you
had two paths you could choose from. You could either turn Ronin,
or bandit, or commit seppuku (suicide) by inserting the blade
in one side of the stomach and drawing it across exposing the
entrails. Nice…oh and remember not to shame your family
my making out it hurts too much. Think I'd turn ronin and do my
best to live with the shame! Luckily (!?) when a Samurai committed
seppuku (suicide) he would have a second standing next to him
to take off his head a couple of seconds into the disembowelment.
There are many more interesting facts about this fascinating
group of people that I'll go into at some later date.
