Loyalty of the Samurai
Alone, he sprang onto the bridge and shouted in a mighty voice, "let those at a distance listen and those that are near see; I am Tsumui Jomyo Meishu, the priest. Who here dares to fight me, a warrior worth one thousand men? Come out, anyone who thinks himself worthy." (Leonard 77). And unloading twenty-four arrows like lightning flashes, he slew twelve men and wounded eleven more....He threw off his shoes and ran barefoot across the beams of the bridge like a large cat stalking its prey. He pulled out his "naginata" (pole-sword) and sliced through five more of the enemy, but on the sixth it snapped....Flinging it aside, he drew his sword and cut down eight men. As ferocious and ruthless as they may have seemed, the samurai were nicknamed "the gentlemen warriors" for their sly and cunning ways. In fact, the word Samurai means "to serve" and that's exactly what they did. This paper will discuss what honor and loyalty mean to a samurai. "The samurai prized honor above wealth or life." ("Japanese Samurai" "World Book", 1986 Ed.). A samurai warrior did not care for wealth or riches. That meant nothing to them for having the honor of the people around you, can-not be bought, but must be earned.
An honorable death was a samurai's dream. They were not afraid of death because they believed that when they died, 40 days later they would come back in a different life form, depending on how honorable a death they had. On occasion, however, a samurai was forced to commit seppuku, disembowelment with one's sword, in apology for offending his lord in some way. Because it was so painful, seppuku had become a ritual that restored a samurai's honor if he had lost it. It was also the way in which a samurai was supposed to follow his lord in death, a practice officially prohibited in the Edo period, but honored as the ultimate in sacrificial loyalty. If a soldier was badly injured or was about to be captured by an enemy he would commit seppuku instead of being captured. He would grab his short sword and stab it into the left of his lower torso, then slide it to the right and diagonally. For instance, the captain of a large ship transporting Japanese cars to America was caught in a bad storm resulting in water damage to some of his cargo. When he got back to Japan, his sense of dishonor led him to commit seppuku. Bushido, "the way of the warrior" (http://members.aol.com/nuclearwinterz/nwzinc There is no other class today that shows the amount of loyalty and honor as the samurai did. The sense of honor and complete loyalty of the samurai to their masters is something to be looked upon and admired. "The samurais' life was like the Cherry blossom's, beautiful and brief; for him, as for the flower, death followed naturally, gloriously." (Sestir 1). A great e
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Approximate Word count = 1056
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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