#history of japan

Beloved anime con panelist and anthropologist Charles Dunbar spent early Sunday afternoon presenting one of their newer panels, Samurai Stories. As is often the case with a Dunbar panel, it was informative, engaging, and left the packed audience with a greater understanding of–and appreciation for–one of Japan’s most well-known classes.

Dunbar went into great detail on the history of the samurai in Japan and how they were able to do everything from reinventing themselves (they were everything from a warrior class to nobles) to helping establish dynasties. If you weren’t at the panel, here are some interesting samurai facts that you missed out on:

• While commonly being associated with Japanese culture, the very early samurai actually came to the country from Korea
• There is a legend that famed samurai Minamoto no Yoshitsune disappeared after being betrayed, emigrated to Mongolia, and changed his name to Genghis Khan in an effort to exact revenge. While an obvious myth, how great would it be if this were reality?
• The early samurai actually detested swords, preferring instead lances and bows and arrows, thanks to those weapons’ effectiveness in distance fighting. Why wait until you are a sword’s length away from your enemy when you could have taken them out from afar?
• Tomoe Gozen, a famed female samurai who proved her warrior worth to an unbelieving spouse, lived into her 90s and died as a Buddhist nun. These days, her image is sadly also the trademarked mascot of a Taiwanese squid restaurant.
• Usagi Yojimbo was Japan’s attempt to explain samurai to the U.S. In addition to a series of comics, Yojimbo also appeared in several episodes of the 1980s version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• If you’re looking for the most accurate portrayal of samurai, look no further than Akira Kurosawa’s epic Shinichi no Samurai. This film almost never saw the light of day, thanks to the then-occupation of Japan by the U.S., whose forces banned samurai flicks because they may inspire people to rise up against the ruling class. 
• George Lucas basically ripped off the history of samurai to create the Jedi in Star Wars.

–Mike Fenn, AB staff blogger

I know someone must have already done this by now, but damn it, it’s funny!