Sword hunt

Sword hunt

Several times in Japanese history, the new ruler sought to ensure his position by calling a nihongo|Sword hunt|刀狩|katanagari. Armies would scour the entire country, confiscating the weapons of the enemies of the new regime. In this manner, the new ruler sought to ensure that no one could take the country by force as he had just done. The most famous sword hunt was ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1588.

word hunts in Sengoku Period

Prior to the sword hunt called by Oda Nobunaga towards the end of the 16th century, civilians were free to carry swords for defense or simply for decoration. Nobunaga sought an end to this, and ordered the seizure of swords and a variety of other weapons from civilians, in particular the Ikkō-ikki peasant-monk leagues which sought to overthrow "samurai" rule.

In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, having become "Kampaku" (Imperial regent), ordered a new sword hunt; Hideyoshi, like Nobunaga, sought to solidify separations in the class structure, denying commoners weapons while allowing them to the nobles, the "samurai" class. In addition, Toyotomi's sword hunt, like Nobunaga's, was intended to prevent peasant uprisings, and to deny weapons to his adversaries. This hunt may have been inspired by a peasant uprising in Higo the year prior, but also served to disarm the warrior-monks of Mt. Koya and Tōnomine. Toyotomi claimed that the confiscated weapons would be melted down and used to create a giant image of the Buddha for the Asuka-dera monastery in Nara.

The 'Taikō's Sword Hunt,' as it came to be called, was accompanied by a number of other edicts, including the Expulsion Edict of 1590, by which Toyotomi sought to establish a census and expel from villages any newcomers who arrived in or after 1590. The chief goal of this was to place a check on the threat posed by "rōnin", masterless wandering samurai who had the potential not only for crime and violence in general, but for banding together to overthrow Toyotomi rule. It may be important to note that Hideyoshi, like most of this period, believed in rule by edict, paying little or no attention to legal principles. Also, while the Sword Hunt ostensibly succeeded in denying weapons to potential rebels, it also created discontent throughout the nation, increasing the number and passion of potential rebels.

By the time of Tokugawa Iemitsu (r. 1623-1651), the third of the Tokugawa shoguns, this separation was hereditary and unchangeable.

word ban in Meiji Restoration

The Meiji Restoration of the 1860s was the beginning of a period of major modernization and Westernization. In 1871, extensive reforms were passed and executed, abolishing the "han" system, and thus ending feudalism and the class system.

In 1876, "samurai" were banned from carrying swords. A standing army was created, as was a police force. This 'sword hunt' was performed for, ostensibly, different reasons, and certainly with different methods than those of several centuries earlier. Ironically, perhaps, this sword hunt put an end to the class system while the earlier ones were intended to deepen the distinctions between commoners and nobles.

Today, Japan has a Sword and Firearms Law which, much like gun control laws around the world, governs the possession and use of weapons in public. The purchase and ownership of certain swords within Japan is legal for licensed individuals, though the import and export of such items is tightly controlled, particularly in the case of items that might be labeled as national or cultural artifacts. Swords that have been converted into or manufactured as Shin gunto or Kai gunto are illegal for individuals to own.

ee also

* By 1553, there were more arquebuses per capita in Japan than in any other country" [http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/diamond_rich/rich_p5.html How to Get Rich] : A Talk by Jared Diamond [6.7.99] ] . Since they required much less training than longbows, they were essential to the unification of Japan under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. For the same reasons of the sword hunts, later shoguns discouraged the production of guns so that, by the 1840s, it was a lost art.

References

*Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford: Stanford University Press.
*Sansom, George (1963). "A History of Japan: 1615-1867." Stanford: Stanford University Press.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sword of Dracula — is a horror comic book published by several publishers, including Image Comics , IDW Publishing, and Digital Webbing. The series focuses on a group of UN connected commandos called the Polidorium. The series is created by writer Jason Henderson… …   Wikipedia

  • Hunt [1] — Hunt (spr. Hont), 1) Henry, geb. 1773 zu Willington in Wiltshire, Sohn eines reichen Pachters, war erst Gutsbesitzer, dann Brauer in Bristol u. als einer der besten Jäger u. Angler bekannt; er zeigte sich bei dem projectirten Einfall der… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Sword and Sorceress series — The Sword and Sorceress series is a series of fantasy anthologies edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley. As she explained in the foreword to the first volume, she created the anthology to redress the lack of strong female protagonists in the sub genre… …   Wikipedia

  • Sword of the Dark Ones — Infobox animanga/Header name = Sword of the Dark Ones caption = ja name = ラグナロク ja name trans = Ragnarok genre = Fantasy, AdventureInfobox animanga/Manga author = Kentaro Yasui illustrator = Tsukasa Kotobuki publisher = flagicon|Japan Kadokawa… …   Wikipedia

  • Hunt, Henry — ▪ British politician born November 6, 1773, Upavon, Wiltshire, England died February 15, 1835, Alresford, Hampshire  British radical political reformer who gained the nickname “Orator” Hunt for his ubiquitous speechmaking in which he advocated… …   Universalium

  • Hunt, James Henry Leigh — (1784 1859)    Essayist and poet, was b. at Southgate, and ed. at Christ s Hospital. A selection of his earliest poems was pub. by his f. in 1801 under the title of Juvenilia. In 1805 he joined his brother John in conducting a paper, the News,… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • hunting-sword — huntˈing knife or huntˈing sword noun A knife or short sword used to dispatch the game when caught, or to skin and cut it up • • • Main Entry: ↑hunt …   Useful english dictionary

  • Leigh Hunt — James Henry Leigh Hunt (October 19, 1784 ndash; August 28, 1859) was an English critic, essayist, poet and writer. BiographyEarly lifeHe was born at Southgate, London, Middlesex, where his parents had settled after leaving the USA. His father, a… …   Wikipedia

  • Leigh Hunt — James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 de octubre de 1784 – 28 de agosto de 1859) fue un crítico, ensayista, poeta y escritor inglés. Contenido …   Wikipedia Español

  • The Sword of Truth — Cover designs for the 11 books of the first edition In Chronological Order[1] …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”