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Thread: Seven Samurai...items?

  1. #1
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    Default Seven Samurai...items?

    Hello all,

    A friend asked me if I'd heard what all the seven items a samurai of old was supposed to carry on his person at all times.

    I have never heard of anything other than the two swords being carried regularly by the everyday samurai. Anyone ever hear anything like this?

    Thanx.
    -James Smith
    Shintoyoshinkai Jujutsu (Gendai)
    Shuri Ryu Karate

  2. #2
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    I never heard of this, but did a quick browse through "Hagakure" and "Bushido" since those are the books most people who expose rules like this typically refer too as the source.

    Couldn't find anything, so that leaves me wondering if your friend talks to weird people who are into role playing games or get their historical information from Wikipedia.

    Sorry, not of more help.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil Yamamoto View Post
    I never heard of this, but did a quick browse through "Hagakure" and "Bushido" since those are the books most people who expose rules like this typically refer too as the source.
    Also never heard about this (and having read these and other books as well, although I admit I didn't browse through all my books).

    The mystification around seven can may-be explained because this number has its place in Japan's culture. In contrast to four (the pronounciation "shi" also means death) and nine (the pronounciation “ku" means agony or torture), seven is considered a lucky number (not only in Japanese culture).

    In fact in Japan, odd numbers are lucky and this can be seen in Shichi-Go-San, where parents celebrate the passage of their children into the next passage of childhood. Although in a samurai context, the age of five was more important for boys (first time they could wear a hakama) and seven was more important for girls (the first time they could wear an obi with their kimono).

    Buddhists believe in seven reincarnations. In Japan, people celebrate the seventh day after a baby's birth (in contrast they also mourn the seventh day and seventh week following the death of a beloved one). The Seven Japanese Gods of Luck (Shichi-fuku-jin: Ebisu, Daikoku, Benten, Fukurokuju, Hotei, Jurojin, and Bishamon) have been popular since the Edo period.

    Related to samurai culture (and making abstraction from the fact that seven was used in “Shichi-nin no Samurai" the wonderful movie directed by Akira Kurosawa), the number seven is of course important (be-it because of its importance in Japanese culture as a whole or because this number refers to seven virtues).

    May-be the seven items that are referred to as items that every samurai carried with him were his seven virtues: gi (justice), yu (corage), jin (benevolence), rei (respect), makoto (honesty), meiyo (honour) and chuugi (loyalty).

    So there might be 3 explanations: first, I missed something when reading books on samurai culture (could well be because I was not reading them to obtain a PhD in History); second, this seven item thing is pure nonsense; third, this comes from a philosopher who considered that carrying virtues is more important than carrying material items. From what I know today, I would go for option 2 but would be delighted to learn more when proven wrong.
    Last edited by Guy Buyens; 26th February 2011 at 09:14.
    Guy Buyens
    Hontai Yoshin Ryu (本體楊心流)
    BELGIAN BRANCH http://www.hontaiyoshinryu.be/

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