The Real Samurai:

The Bow and Arrow was the Weapon of Choice

By James L. Secor, Ph.D.

The picture we have of the brash, arrogant samurai ready and willing to cut down anyone who didn't show proper respect is a fairly recent addition to historical mythology. The cult of the sword and the bushido of the samurai are 17^th century accretions.

The first Way of the Warrior, never codified as such, can be traced back to the Tale of the Heike, a retelling of the war between the Minamoto and the Taira in the late 12^th century. The weapon of choice at that time, and up until the 17^th century, was the bow and arrow. Skill with a bow had been highly prized almost since the beginning of time.

In early diaries and court records there is constant mention of target or shooting matches. In the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji, written by a woman at the turn of the 11^th century, the sword as proper accoutrement for both Courtier and Warrior is completely missing. Quite simply put, it wasn't.

A special genre of literature arose around these samurai called the war histories or war romances. They influenced all other cultural exploits that followed in their wake. There is the Tale of the Heike, the Collection of Tales from Times Now Past and the History of the East, to name the most famous. But they are so popular they are really too numerous to count. Romances though they be, they are nevertheless accurate re-tellings of the wars for dominance that culminated with the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603.

What is striking about these histories is the amount of military and cultural history found in their pages. They were, it must be admitted, written close to the time of the actual occurrences for the most part. It is from these, then, that the ethos of the samurai was built. Never will you read that a samurai strapped on his sword for better protection.

You may read, however:

Munetsune always kept his bow and quiver leaning against a wall of his night duty room. . .

Or

There was no way Mutsuru could decline the order. So he left at once and soon returned with a bow and arrow. . . .

Or

He had gone to sleep with his clothes on, so he simply got up, slung a quiver across his back, led out a horse from the stable, and rode out toward the Osaka Barrier to give chase, alone. . . .

Or

It was at this moment that Sawamata no Shiro and his forces rose to their feet and saw this. Some tried to put on their bows and arrows. Some tried to bridle their horses. Some stumbled and fell in confusion. Some tried to run, abandoning their bows and arrows. . . .

Or

The two men started galloping toward each other, arrows ready on their bows, and made the first shots. . . .

So, the bow and arrow was the weapon of choice, just as the gun is today. But, because of 1500 years of development, these weren't just your regular, average, everyday bows and arrows. The Japanese had developed the longbow centuries before the British.

The Japanese arrow had multiple heads, one for every occasion - including one to just knock you senseless. And they made noises intended, of course, to frighten the enemy. Samurai arrows whistled and chirruped and screamed. If they didn't scare the soldiers, they frightened the horses. A samurai on the ground was almost assured of death.

The arrowhead, too, were customized. Split head, barbed, hooked, triple hooked--all intended to inflict harm and be assured to stay in place. Pulling these beauties out caused more damage than the hit. With torn muscles and ligaments and great gaping holes in their bodies, there was no more fighting. Often, death ensured.

The open V-shaped head was intended for cutting the cords of the armor. Once loosened, an area of attack was claimed. Fire arrows were also used. For messages, the silent, mundane-headed arrow was used, once by a traitor telling the enemy how best to end the siege and bring down the fort. So powerful were some of these samurai that it is recorded in the Tale of Hogen that a shot arrow passed through one soldier to kill another.

The humming bulb arrow, its noise produced by a clever bulb near the tip, had a hard wooden head. It, too, could be shot with enough force to pass through an arm or leg. Apparently, the bulb remained intact. Fanciful, true, but a good estimate of the skill of these bowmen. Often it is reported in the Tale of the Heike, shooting contests by opposing samurai took place before and during battle.

Swords, on the other hand, were only used in close hand-to-hand combat, usually the last stage of an attack. Even then, before closing, the samurai rained arrows on their opponents. It wasn't until the 17^th century that swords became famous as status--and romantic--symbols.

Jim Secor is a freelance writer who has traveled extensively overseas, especially Japan and China. Jim received a Master's from Johns Hopkins and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas before studying at the National Puppet Theatre of Japan (Bunraku), the first foreigner ever to do so. He has published in all genres and produced several plays over the years and has taught theatre, writing and literature in three countries. Jim is now teaching at Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University in China. He is a columnist for MWC News.