Re: [HIST] Japanese Culture shock

On Tue, 25 Jun 2002 16:29:18 -0400, Ryan M Gill <rmgill@mindspring.com>
wrote:

>"Developed" in the 10th Century. But what everyone really looks at as 
>far as imagery is from movies set in the later periods from mid 1500s 
>up through.

While there were developments in armour and weapons (as far as blades
went,
blade quality took a nose dive in the 16th and 17th centuries), the
"imagery"
of samurai hit its stride in the 12th Century, onwards. 

> It seems like the period just prior to the Shogun's 
>expansion of power was the exciting period. 

The "exciting" period is the several hundred years between the Heien era
and
the Tokugawa era. The period of the two imperial courts, and the Onin
War
(where ashigaru started to form) are particularly interesting.

>And as I said, what people know of from the movies takes place in 
>these later periods not the far earlier periods. Tsubaki Sanjuro and 
>Yojibo take place in post 1600 Japan.

What I know isn't from movies, but from reading. Everything I talked
about
with regard to samurai versus knights was from the pre-Sengoku Jidai
period. 

Oh, and Yojimbo and Sanjuro take place in the late 19th Century.

>My point is comparing Japanese Feudal technology of 16th or 17th 
>century (or even early 19th century) periods to pre 1600 European 
>forms is a bit anachronistic is it not? 

I was comparing Japanese 13th Century to European 13th Century. Lamellar
armour was used, though the sweeping portions of the helmet were much
different from later eras (indeed, the construction of the helmet was a
bit
different), the armour had little metal in it, the body of the armour
was box
like instead of rounded, and the samurai were still dual-armed (bow and
sword). It's still a valid comparison, though.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
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