Faceless in the Time of Honor

The circle of vengeance and truth in the ancient culture

'Otoko no Michi'

The brief few chapters by Alain Silver touched on a lot of various aspects of the Samurai way of life. This including details of both the origin of the name 'Samurai' as well as the way of life attributed with a rank such as this. One aspect in particular from the chapter I wanted to focus on were the specific 'perks' or attributes that were attributed to the lifestyle of the samurai. Some of these perks in hindsight may be viewed as beneficial, while others may seem like more of a hinderance. There are various external details to mention that also influence the context of these details but the one constant that seems to remain the same throughout it all is the concept of honor, or "saving face" as its sometimes deemed more colloquially. As Alain Silver says at one point, "Otoko no michi [the manly way] made a loss of face less tolerable than dying."

Tobei, the Brother in-law confronts his wife

Why was such an emphasis put on retaining ones honor against all other odds? This question resonated through the various mediums of film and samurai stories as well. As one example, in the film Ugetsu (1953), the brother in-law of the main character in the story (who is an artisan) has only one desire in life - that of becoming a samurai. Believing it will instill him with some sense of honor, he puts this personal mission above all other things, eventually leading to the dismay of his wife. The value of honor attributed with Samurai is among the most highly coveted things that one can achieve. Another example of a film which largely deals with the struggle for honor would be that of Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937). In this film, a impoverish Ronin desperately struggles to gain the favor of a local samurai in order to restore his honor. The ending may be up for some slight interpretation but as stated in my previous blog, I believe the entire film becomes a metaphor for how the quest for honor can lead to ones own downfall. Not every aspect of these films can be entirely based in fiction either. Why would so many samurai in films place it at such high importance if it were not in actuality as well? Its these questions that one must ponder when interpreting such media.

Life in the circle

As Alain Silver puts it quite elegantly, "in the society of feudal Japan, the 'necessary' death is to some degree self perpetuating." To elaborate, it is the code of all samurai to answer each insult with a duel. As stated prior, the loss of 'face' to an extent is a fate worse than death. However, due to the rules of Confucian society at that time, every death must be avenged. This sometimes in extreme cases even resulting in wives or children having to fight to avenge a passed loved one. What these two clauses together then create for society is essentially an endless circle of vengeance. This again showing how honor above all else is the main focus of the samurai.

One immensely 'on the nose' example is the video game literally titled For Honor: The Samurai (2018). This is just one minor instance, but the fact that the concept resonates and is paired with the culture so strongly shows how important the two entities are to one another. The duality of the samurai and honor dates nearly back to the 17th centaury with the creation of Bushido [the collection of all the codes of honor and morality created by the samurai]. Its these principles I believe that essentially led to the need for family members to avenge fallen loved ones, as it appears above all else the legacy of the samurai and their honor must be preserved.

a duel to preserve honor, shown in Seven Samurai (1954)

The words of truth

Another major concept from the recent reading I found interesting was that of a certain specific attribute associated with the rank of samurai. That in particular being the concept of the 'word of the warrior.' What this essentially meant was, if a samurai said something, a pedestrian must instantly believe it as true at face value. This however comes with its own downsides, as if the samurai lies and is found out by the pedestrian later, they would immediately loose all sense honor. I believe this is another example showing how preserving the loss of face was of utmost importance to the samurai.

As stated at the begging, from a broad perspective, some of the attributes associated with a samurai can at times seem like more of a hinderance rather than a benefit. The circle of vengeance especially seems like something that would become problematic over the years. Even the concept of the 'Word of the Warrior' may seem helpful on the surface yet if one samurai is not careful In his idol talk, it may lead to further trouble down the road. So why then were these attributes given? It seems to show more and more that the concept of preserving one's own honor his held as the pinnacle of importance in ancient feudal Japan. Whether or not this concept prevails in more modern samurai media is yet to be analyzed in more detail, however with such a prevalent concept in these early days of Japanese samurai media/film, One could only assume these ideals may still remain in some form or another.