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SixOfSpades · 03-09-2004, 06:03 PM

The annoying thing is that, if we're going to be historically accurate, just about anybody worth naming in Japan was a samurai. If your family owned land, you were samurai. If you held any official position, you were samurai. Obviously, these sorts of conditions did not automatically imply that the holder of the name "samurai" was automatically brave, loyal, strong, hardy, or even particularly honorable. Another point was their guns: During the 16th century (the height of the Japanese civil wars, and hence the most samurai-crazy era), every lord worth his salt had a battalion of hand cannoneers, and the men trained to use them. (Don't be misled by The Last Samurai on any of these points--nothing in that film ever happened.)

And look, it's 3:00, and I've got to go. More later.

03-09-2004, 06:03 PM	#6
SixOfSpades Dracolisk Join Date: September 16, 2001 Location: Bellingham, WA, USA Age: 48 Posts: 6,901	The annoying thing is that, if we're going to be historically accurate, just about anybody worth naming in Japan was a samurai. If your family owned land, you were samurai. If you held any official position, you were samurai. Obviously, these sorts of conditions did not automatically imply that the holder of the name "samurai" was automatically brave, loyal, strong, hardy, or even particularly honorable. Another point was their guns: During the 16th century (the height of the Japanese civil wars, and hence the most samurai-crazy era), every lord worth his salt had a battalion of hand cannoneers, and the men trained to use them. (Don't be misled by The Last Samurai on any of these points--nothing in that film ever happened.) And look, it's 3:00, and I've got to go. More later. __________________ Volothamp's Comeuppance Everything you ever needed to know about the entire Baldur's Gate series......except spoilers.