1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Bogelbaum here. Japanese samurai movies are a 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: century old tradition, and their tropes have been picked up 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: in stories all over the world. George Lucas has said 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: that one of his inspirations for the original Star Wars 6 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: movie was at eight samurai film called The Hidden Fortress. 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: Another classic samurai picture, Jimbo, was loosely adapted into Sergio 8 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: Leone Western a fistful of dollars. Pop culture frames samurai 9 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: as near mythic figures. We're told samurai belonged to an 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: elite class of Japanese warriors who always fought fair, loyally 11 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: defended their medieval lords, and hued to a unifying honor 12 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: code known as bushido. Filmmakers sometimes pit them against dark 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: robed ninja assassins fearsome mercenary. The classic movie Ninja carries 14 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: razor sharp throwing stars and has mastered a martial art 15 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: called ninjatsu. Many more modern tellings even give one or 16 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: both of these characters supernatural powers like flight or invisibility, 17 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: but magical talents aside. Just how accurate is our modern 18 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:15,680 Speaker 1: outlook on samurai and ninja. To find out, we interviewed 19 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: three historians. Japanese history is broken down into eras and periods. 20 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: Particularly relevant to our discussion here are the Sengoku period 21 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 1: of fourteen sixty seven to sixteen o three c and 22 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:32,559 Speaker 1: the successive Tokugawa period or Edo period that lasted until 23 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight. The ladder Tokugawa period takes its name 24 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: from a shogun family that assumed control of Japan in 25 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: sixteen o three. Shogun were hereditary military dictators who had 26 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: been running the country since eleven ninety two c E. 27 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: On paper, they served Japan's emperors, but in practice these 28 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: figures were far more powerful, and it was they who 29 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: truly called the shots. Earlier centuries had been played by 30 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: constant warfare, but things stayed calm under the Tokugawa regime. 31 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: International trade was tightly regulated, and the shogun took pains 32 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: to discourage political squabbles. This was also a time when 33 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: Japan redefined its relationship with samurai. But we spoke with 34 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: Thomas Conlin, a professor of East Asian history at Princeton University, 35 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: via email. He explained the samurai became an identifiable social 36 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: status only in the fifteen nineties. Before then, all of 37 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,959 Speaker 1: society was militarized and there was no distinction between peasants 38 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: and warriors. Such ambiguity didn't sit well with one game 39 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: changing warlord, General Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He issued a nationwide sword 40 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: hunt edict in eight during these Angoku period. This prohibited 41 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: farmers from owning weapons of any sort. Under these new rules, 42 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: only samurai and samurai alone could bear arms. We also 43 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: spoke with historian Nick Kapoor of Rutgers University via al. 44 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: He said, basically, people who were known to have fought 45 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: in battles recently were considered samurai and were forbidden to 46 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: go back to farming, and people who were known to 47 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: be currently farming land had to surrender their weapons. In 48 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: a lot of cases, it was self reported and people 49 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: basically got to choose. Toyotomi's reforms carried over into the 50 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: Tokugawa period. In effect, they laid the groundwork for a rigid, 51 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: hereditary caste like system that put samurai above artisans, merchants 52 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: and peasants. By then, the feudal wars that defined the 53 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: single Ku period had long passed, with no battles to wage. 54 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: The samurai were given bureaucratic and administrative roles. Hindsight sometimes 55 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: has a way of glamorizing warfare. We also spoke by 56 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: email with Sarah Paul, a historian of early modern and 57 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: modern Japan who teaches at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 58 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: She said, during the long piece of the Tokugawa era, 59 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: when samurai came to work more as administrators than as fighters, 60 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: any romanticized the earlier times of war in the twelfth 61 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: to sixteenth centuries, for instance, when samurai actually fought. The 62 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: last showgun was overthrown in eighteen sixty eight, ending the 63 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:16,479 Speaker 1: Tokugawa period. Afterward, Japan entered its reformative Meiji period, which 64 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: embraced industry and centralized governance. Historically, the samurai had served 65 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: feudal lords and enjoyed special privileges, but all that soon changed. 66 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: Paul explained. The official status of samurai was abolished in 67 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine, and their privileges were voked in the 68 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,359 Speaker 1: early eighteen seventies. With the abolition of their lord's domains, 69 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: many former samurai were out of work, unable to get 70 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: jobs in the new government. In the eighteen nineties, they 71 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,919 Speaker 1: their children, and many Japanese began trying to define a 72 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: way of the samurai. The operated both as a nostalgia 73 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 1: for the supposedly moral good old days and as a 74 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: critique of the modernizing trends of the time. Enter nicobay Idazo, 75 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: a diplomat and author. He radically transformed the way future 76 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: generations would look at samurai. In eight nine, nat the 77 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: Bay published an influential book called Bushido The Soul of Japan. 78 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: The text presents itself as an introduction to bushido. According 79 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 1: to nitle Bay, this was the traditional universal code of 80 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: conduct observed by real world samurai, except it wasn't. Kapor 81 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: noted the so called samurai code of Bushido did not 82 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: exist in the single co hey day of samurai warfare. Indeed, 83 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: the word bushido itself wasn't coined until the peaceful Tokugawa period. 84 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: But it is from Bushido the Soul of Japan that 85 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: we get some of the most pervasive myths about samurai 86 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: values and behavior. Thal said Samurai were not all the moral, noble, 87 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: well to do spiritual swordsmen depicted in film. They did 88 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 1: not have a single coherent moral code that defined how 89 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: they thought and acted, and Kapoor said, just like warrior, 90 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: as anywhere else, samurai raped and looted and pillaged, and 91 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: we're constantly betraying their lords. Speaking of misconceptions, it's time 92 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: to talk Ninja. Supposedly, they were cell swords who performed 93 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,480 Speaker 1: covert operations, gathered intelligence, and assassinated people in the cover 94 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: of darkness. Ega and Coca, two neighboring regions in southeastern Japan, 95 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: are usually cited as the training grounds where Ninja honed 96 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: their deadly skills. Sometimes you'll even hear that Ninja formed 97 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: a hereditary class or cast not unlike the samurai. The 98 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: lore is pervasive in pop culture every year. Some enthusiasts 99 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: even dress up to celebrate Ninja Day on February twenty two. 100 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: Not to rain on anyone's parade, but these storied mercenaries 101 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: are kind of fabricated, Kapoor said, Ninja as we know 102 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: them today did not actually exist. He explained that the 103 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: word ninja comes from two Chinese characters meaning stealth and man, 104 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 1: which is pronounced shinobi by the way, by most Japanese 105 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: language speakers. Medieval Japan had its share of folks who 106 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: snuck into castles, and embraced undercover warfare. Historical records show 107 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: samurai weren't above such tactics, Kapor said, we have a 108 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: lot of documents about these activities, but they were carried 109 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: out by a variety of people. There was never any 110 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: specialized class of assassins living in hereditary clans and selling 111 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: their services for hire. This is pure myth, which, liked 112 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: the myths about the samurai, was created during the long 113 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: and peaceful Ido period. Despite this, ninja fables are nothing new, 114 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: Paul said. Even by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, ninja 115 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: had become a pop culture phenomenon in Japan, so there 116 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,679 Speaker 1: were all sorts of fantastic fictional depictions in art, literature, drama, 117 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: and the light. Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini 118 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and 119 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: lots of other mythical topics, visit how stuff works dot com. 120 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: Brainstuff is production off I Heart Radio. For more podcasts 121 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: from my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 122 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.