Real Samurai Explains Rules for Peace and War // 17th cent. Scrolls of Natori-Ryu // Primary Source 

Thanks to Antony Cummins and Yoshie Minami for the use of their translation, which is available at: www.amazon.com/Book-Samurai-One-Fundamental-Teachings/dp/1780288883

"if you are unaware of a person's stupidity, then it cannot be helped. But if you are aware of it, and still have dealings with this person, then you are also considered to be stupid." Seems like a pretty good life lesson.

Those who speak with you about others behind their back, Will also speak with others about you behind your back

That is a lot of items to keep on your person. And never forget to craft a highly defensible garden.

People, people. You should always remember trial cuts.

Wow wow wow. I have been fascinated with feudal Japan since getting Shogun as a reading assignment in 7th grade.This was magnificent. Bravo!

It is always better to be a Warrior in a garden, rather than a Gardner in a War.

This channel is awesome, thank you very much for the content! It would be interesting to hear the account of chinese traveler Ma Huan on the Majapahit empire. These historiographic accounts from travelers from everywhere around the world seem to be endless and very precious

The elaborate house defence sounds like an excuse for more senior samurai to have fancy homes.

Accept your mortality, whether from old age or suddenly. Also accept that that fate is possible for your loved ones. It's part of being human.

Never knew I could design my garden in a tactical way.

'The book of heads' that's a thing that existed in Japan during the Sengoku Jidai...

The decency to track down family of slain servants and compensate them, combined with the absolute madness of head trophies and an entire etiquette for them…..

*Hey Bro… Thanks for the heads up*

How cool is it that samurai gardens look amazing but are built defensively

Now it would be funny to read from a Ninja code book something like: Beaware of any Samurai living in anything fancier than a bamboo shack!

Fascinating. Thank you.

Make videos about Southeast Asia please such as Nusantaran Archipelago, Phillipines, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Champa, Khmer Empire, etc

"Those who gossip and spread rumors about others are cowards"

FANTASTICALLY entertaining, although the author would have taken my malignant head for such disrespect.

"Bishūkō Hiwa" is a story written by Tanizaki Jun'ichirō during which the main character becomes obsessed with "possible woman's head" and increasingly falls into brutality and dishonour. First, he cutted off the nose of an ennemy general, because he didn't have the time to cut-off the head and escape. But latter on he turned on his own Lord and took his nose, manipulated by female wiles and hatred. This shows that a warrior's mettle is not mesured solely in military prowess, but in an heroic attitude. In "Le Morte Darthur", there are many instances where a knight battles another knight but then regrets doing so after he finally asked his name ; therefore to ask "do you remember having comitted this crime ?" only after inflincting the sentence is a dangerous doctrinal error : although it is the practical thing to do for the reasons explained by the Natori's text, true culprits might escape and a faithful samurai may die a dog's death without ever having found employement and distinguished himself as a warrior. One should not be ashamed of refraining from a despicable attitude. A compromising stance is however possible. Have both of your swords in the saya, at your sides ; then tell of the condemnation and ask, whatever happens next the sentence can be executed on the spot with Iaijutsu, but because he has his Sword and is not taken by surprise, if he does not treat them as decorum, he can fight back or gather the resolve to commit Seppuku on the spot or after moving under your guard to a more appropriate place. One might remind the Natori-ryū that the attitude of Hachimantarō who went si far as to spare an ennemy general so as to not kill him in an unfair manner, even though he knew this would make the War longer. Likewise, Tamuramaro supplicated the Emperor for the life of Aterui to be sparred. The imperatives are different, the situations of the retainer in the Edo period and of a Minamoto hero or of the Shogun tasked by the Emperor ; but in both of those cases heroic attitude prevailed, even though the Imperial Court's will of slaying was ultimately fulfilled anyway. Nevertheless, to spare an ennemy commander, or to supplicate Heaven for the life of a defeated ennemy King are much harder and bigger commitments, one should remember that almost all Daimyō were of the 5th junior court rank. This is why a compromising stance ought to be acceptable ; now, if the target escapes, then what shall he do with his honour sullied aside from living like vegetables, cattle and horses ?

I love these so much

Jesus life was rough

being a samurai is a lot like being a southerner.

Severed head etiquette seems quite the issue

Bushi isn't samurai. Bushi is warrior, and samurai are warriors actively serving somebody (as the name implies, it means "one who serves"). There were bushi not serving somebody, like ronins, who lost their master, or shugyosas, who choose to roam the lands seeking perfection in their martial arts.

Wise words. Edit: Up until the murdering the whole family part, although I should imagine it was a useful deterrent.

Look into Antony Cummins, very controversial figure in the MA and Japanese history communities. Neither one of the two mentioned can read Classical Japanese, Antony cannot read or speak the language yet he is trying to recreate this school. They have someone translate the Classical Japanese into modern Japanese then which Minami then retranslates. For those who don’t know Classical Japanese is extremely different than modern. After that he reinterprets in English to sound better. So the accuracy must be taken with a grain of salt. If you are familiar with Japanese history texts you probably know who Karl Friday is, and he too says to avoid Antony. Again he doesn’t actually know japanese and interpreting it to what he sees fit. He even talks about this in videos.

the painting 7:39 seems to show a flashlight?

Please do one about knights

Where is the video from Louis and the witness account of the Battle of Saracens 1250? Did you delete that video?

So wait....did they have refs to pause the battle for head collection or???? Mean while the Ashigaru be like "WTF, we're the ones who killed all those guys with our guns...why do they get all the heads?" lol.

No mention of tea ceremonies? If you guys are into samurai anime, you should check Hyouge Mono. It's not ur usual samurai anime, it focuses on politics and tea ceremonies lol.

Ah Jesus Christ. I think a lot of these are impractical. But I get the point of them; it ingrains honor and integrity into the culture and its people. Respect is very important in traditional cultures.

For the EMPEROR!!! Banzai!

How much money does this man spend in stock footage?

A rather alarming amount of importance is being given to the kill counting and reasons to kill other people.

No monsters but possession by fox is normal.

Now my weebs abilities can attain new hights!!!!!!

Tenno heika BANZAI!

We all know how it feels when somebody steals the head of your kill.

As a Japanese I've never heard about this. So I googled it. the Scrolls were written by a military scholar Masazumi Natori for samurai's in Kishu clan, but they were not very popular among the samurais. The clan adopted other school of military conduct. And this Natori-ryu became a guiding code of conducts for Ninjas, I learned. It was very interesting. Thank you.

Best lesson: Don't deal with stupid people

Now I know how to present a head. Always useful.

Some people say they've seen monsters, but these stories usually don't make sense and are probably not true. Anyway, here's what to do if you meet someone who's been possessed by a fox...

That was a lot more etiquette about presenting severed heads than I expected.

11:25 that's actually quite funny. It's like saying after you killed someone "oh yeah, I'm here to kill you for that".

If you think you've seen a monster or something strange...just keep it to yourself. If only we could all be so wise

Such a fascinating mixture of morality, prudence, and psychopathic bloodthirsty madness.

I will make sure to never display an improperly prepared head to my commander.

A lot of this was actually fairly instructive to life generally, especially that stuff about stupid people, gossip and taking sides in an argument...

“Since they might be killed, samurai should not have elaborate houses.” Also “But if their lord wants them to survive, samurai should have elaborate houses.”

For Godsakes; Remember to mention *Trial Cuts* , people. Don't offer up improper heads either, dummies.

"If you see a monster dont talk about it" I loved that one.

Malignant heads would make a great band name. All the cover art can be heads with their eyes and tongues popping out and stuff with a katana jabbed through it from the top.

Not having dealings with a stupid person is something I must learn.

*A list of the tools - because it is wise to carry these, no matter what age you live in.* Katana and Wakizashi - personal defense weapons A Quick Rope - cordage, today - paracord/550 cord A Set Square - available in the school supplies at Walmart, with the rulers - the triangle one A Stone Pencil - a writing instrument - Sharpies and Ball point pens Money A mirror - can be used for signaling Tweezers A Comb A cloth - Weapons maintenance items Medications A Fire Striker - magnesium strikers in the camping section A Wooden Taper - probably also for fire starting Paper - for notes *"Be prepared like this when travelling, and even during normal times."*

"With extreme repedity, inform the person of his crime, then IMMEDIATELY strike and finish him." This had me DYING! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

it's amazing all this was normal just 300+ years ago.. An educated, moral person talking meticulously about the proper handling of freshly severed heads..

That part where you’d get killed and then they’d tell you why is savage

6:26 ''Also know that those who talk to you about others behind their backs, will also talk about you when you are not with them'' Wisdom right there.

*_"if you are unaware of a person's stupidity, then it cannot be helped. But if you are aware of it, and still have dealings with this person, then you are also considered to be stupid."_*

Samurai: The supernatural doesn't exist Also samurai: They maybe possessed by a fox

"Oh, samurai! What noble and reserved warriors who...[listens to pages of rules dealing only with decapitation]..never mind.

I can see Ghost Dog reading this on his roof with his pigeons.

Could you make a video on the Chinese accounts of the Tocharian please

I really enjoy the practicality of this. Great selection.

Every single part of this was really interesting, but I'm mostly surprised by the amount of rules about taking heads.

No wonder Japanese are so disciplined.

"Place horse dropping inside a paper and wipe your blade" Damn, that blade must smell like...shit. Beware of the head snatchers, too. Those bastards, they stole all my heads!, the book of heads will be incomplete!

Fascinated by the words of the person who has written these. These are surely from a wise man. I was surprised about the things was said about back biting as it is exactly the same thing was mentioned in Islam. "Backbiting is the word you would say behind someone but you avoid saying it in front if him/her. A person who does it is a weak person. And someone who talks behind someone else for you will talk about you behind you".

11:29. OMG this is too good.

The section on heads will prove very useful to most people's lives today.

They are meant to be 'ready to die' at any time. Such a powerful mindset.

I don't know if samurai had such crazy laws but it is shocking to learn out. They are crazier than I thought.

Can't tell you how many times I have needed to write an oath, but not had sheets of paper....good advice

Who's here watching this after playing Ghost of Tsushima ? lol...

how are you gonna protect your _stuff_ ... from _criminals_ ? ♫ hire - a - samurai ♫

There's an awful lot of etiquette about severed heads after a battle.

Man, the Samurai thought of everything...including reminding me to wipe my blade with horse poop and to push the eyes/tongue back into the head I severed. 😉

I was presented with malignant head from my ex. If only she had known the proper head etiquette.

Seems rather a lots of concern over revenge killing and assassination! Also very funny about killing criminal before you finished reading the sentencing lol!

some of this is pretty solid life advice

1. Talking behind someone's back is cowardly. 2. Say it to there face is honorable. Seems like there's more of 1. that's becoming more popular 😉 nowadays.

The big irony is that this was most likely written after the Tokugawa Shogunate was established making a lot of the military advice useless. Practical, but useless.

I'm from Ireland, I think Japan is one of the most fascinating countries.

That was good. I think the ideas for dealing with insane or stupid people are still quite valid.

Dinner at a Samurai's place sounds intense...

This was incredible, thank you!

Defensive gardening, love it!

I want to say I think this is probably one of my favorite documentarie. I would like to hear something similar on maybe woman or emperor etc

Bushi items for daily use: long sword, short sword. My items for daily use: smartphone, headphones.

"If you see a monster just keep that shit to yourself."

Kinda like a Japanese version of Marcus Aurelius' meditations

New reality show. Tactical Gardening.

Bushido......... the dō of the warrior.......

Based samurai

11:44 This reminds me of 7 Dec 1941, where the declaration of war was to be presented just 30 minutes before the attack (and thus not enough time to warn Pearl Harbor).

In 1793, Britain sent its first envoy to Qing China, I would like to know what their accounts of tartars and chinese.

7 years ago I dreamt I had an oval mahogany office. & All around the oval office were the helmets of different Samurai warriors. It was absolutely awesome! Visitors would ask me about the helmets. It was a very real dream! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🌟