侍の逸話 · SAMURAI STORIES, HONESTLY TOLD
Short, true (and sometimes gloriously untrue) tales of the samurai — each one tagged so you know what's record and what's legend. Hiroshima is famous for one chapter of its past. These are the other seven hundred years.
A documented surprise and two legends worth their salt — tagged, as always, so you know which is which.
A man named Yasuke, who arrived from abroad, entered the service of the warlord Oda Nobunaga and appears in the records of the day — a foreign-born retainer in 16th-century Japan.
◆ DocumentedOne warlord is said to have sent salt to his great rival when an embargo left the rival's people without it — fight him on the battlefield, not by starving civilians. A beloved tale; the records are thinner than the telling.
◇ Told for centuriesA famous lord, blind in one eye, is remembered by a story that he removed the ruined eye himself so an enemy could never grab it. Whether it happened or not, the nickname stuck for life.
◇ Told for centuriesWe separate the record from the good story. The tag tells you which is which.
African samurai · Yasuke true story
One of Oda Nobunaga's retainers stood out for a reason no swordsmanship could explain: he had arrived from Africa.
Battle of Miyajima · Itsukushima 1555
One of Japan's most famous night attacks was fought on an island so sacred it is now a World Heritage Site.
Three arrows story · Mori Motonari
A dying warlord, three sons, three arrows — Japan's most quoted lesson in unity may not have happened the way it is told.
Samurai helmet shapes · kawari-kabuto
Some samurai went into battle wearing helmets shaped like rabbit ears, giant seashells, or a sweep of golden hair.
One-eyed samurai · Date Masamune
He lost an eye to childhood illness, earned the name 'One-Eyed Dragon,' and — the story goes — once removed the ruined eye himself.
Enemy in salt meaning · Kenshin Shingen
Two bitter rivals — and one of them, the story says, sent the other salt.
Did samurai use katana · samurai weapons
The katana is the icon. On the actual battlefield, it was closer to a sidearm.
Is bushido real · origin of bushido
The neat 'samurai code' the world quotes was crystallized after the samurai were gone — partly in English, for Western readers.
Peasant who became samurai ruler · Hideyoshi
Japan's most powerful man once carried another man's sandals.
Greatest samurai warrior · Honda Tadakatsu
One general was celebrated in the records for surviving dozens of battles without a single serious wound.
Female samurai · onna-musha
Samurai were not only men. Some women trained, armed, and fought.
What did samurai do in peacetime · Edo samurai
Two and a half centuries of peace did something no enemy could: it made the samurai poor and bored.