Samurai & Ninja

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Sarugaku Moon by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡 芳年

Sarugaku (猿楽) was a popular form of theater in Japan during the 11th to 14 centuries. It is similar to a modern-day circus with performances ranging from acrobatics, juggling, pantomime, and drum dancing.

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Learn about seppuku in Japanese samurai history

The seppuku custom dates back to the 12th century as a means for the upper and samurai classes exclusively to atone for crimes, regain lost honor, or avoid disgraceful capture. When executed correctly, seppuku was considered to be the noblest way for a samurai to die, and from eyewitness accounts of such ritualistic suicide, probably the most painful.

Read more about it here.

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You may have come across videos showing people cutting rolls of bamboo mats. some of them going completely through the roll or only making it halfway. This is Tamashigiri or the Japanese art of test cutting. It literally just means “test cut”, and started getting popular in the 17th Century or the Edo Period in Japan.

You’ll sometimes find gruesome details on this regarding the things that were used as the test subjects. But usually, it’s really just wara or rice straw, tatami mats, the previously mentioned bamboo, and thin metal sheets.

So what’s the gruesome part? Sometimes these tests were done on cadavers or convicted criminals (but not anymore!!!).

The purpose of tamashigiri was to test out how well a sword was made. These days, it’s a question of skill. So those compilations of people cutting mats? They weren’t testing the blade. The blade has no fault. If it doesn’t cut right through the mat, it’s assumed to be a lack of practice, not a dull sword.

There’s actually a class available in Kyoto to get the whole samurai experience, with real bows and arrows, and swords! (But supervised.)

Read more here.