Module 10 Discussion Post

Law and Precepts for the Warrior Houses 42

This warrior society's preoccupation with honor was accompanied by the belief that warriors possessed a fundamental right of self-redress (iiriki kyusai) and that such self-redress, which permitted reprisal for even the most triflin offense, was part of what Sengoku writers called "the manly way" (otokodo). Bu� the exercise of self-redress by a vassal not only might go against the loyalty he owed his daimyo, it might also threaten the very order the daimyo was trying to maintain in his domain. Not surprisingly, therefore, the daimyo took steps to restrain their vassals from pursuing self-redress. Chief among these steps was the inclusion in their house codes of articles-known as kenka ryo-seibai, or articles "dealing with both/all parties to a fight" (henceforth referred to simply as kenka articles)-that threatened punishment, without regard for who might be right or wrong, of any vassals who entered into a dispute or fight.

A classic example of a kenka article can be found in the house code of the [magawa: "If any warriors [i.e., vassals] engage in fighting, both parties will be executed regardless of who may be right or wrong.''9 Not all daimyo prescribed such severe punishment for fighting as execution, but all kenka articles were military enactments designed to demonstrate the daimyo's authority to sum­ marily mete out punishment to their vassals without any reference to such principles as reasonableness (dori) and justice, which had been fundamental guides to warrior law from the time of the Joei Code in the Kamakura period.

THE YUKI HOUSE CODE 1o

The authoritarianism of Sengoku law is clearly observed in the following articles from the house code of the Yuki family of Shimosa Province in the Kanta. Articles 3 and 4 are, for example, typical kenka laws (although the revocation of family names is not a typical form of punishment found in the house codes as a whole). Strict authoritari­ anism also informs article 22, prescribing execution for disloyal vassals and their fam­ ilies; article 23, disallowing vassal marriages without the Yuki's permission; and article 72, prohibiting vassals from "making plans" without first consulting the Yuki daimyo.

The articles dealing with warriors setting out for battle (articles 26, 67, and 68) appear to be efforts by the Yuki to break the habit of their vassals, typical of warriors

8, Katsumata Shizuo, "Sengoku-ho,'' in Iwanami shoten, ed., Iwanami koza Nihon rekishi, vol. 8, p. 189.

9. Sato et al., eds., Chilsei hose/ shiryo shil, vol. 3, p. 117. 10. The formal name of the Yuki Code is Yuki-shi shin-hatto. It contains 104 articles and two

supplementary (tsuika) articles.

Wm. Theodore de Bary et al., ed., Sources of Japanese Tradition, 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001)

424 THE MEDIEVAL AGE: DESPAIR, DELIVERANCE, AND DESTINY

from earliest times, of fighting one against one. One of the notable developments in Sengoku warfare was the gathering of warriors (as officers) and peasant soldiers (as "men") into disciplined armies whose success did not allow the kind of one-against­ one fighting tactics and individual heroics so common in pre-Sengoku battling.

Article 3. If a fight (kenka) or quarrel should arise, for whatever reason, and the participants should call upon relatives and associates to come together with them and form bands, those who form those bands will be punished without regard for the reason or reasons that provoked the fight or dispute. Be attentive to this ....

Article 22. Hereafter, those who are disloyal to the Yuki will be executed along with their families. They will also have their names revoked and their lands confiscated and assigned to others ....

Article 23. Henceforth, there will be no marriages without Yuki permission,

This applies not only to marriages with people from other houses but also from one's own house ....

Article 26. Wherever it may be to, you must not gallop forth as a lone rider without receiving orders from the Yuki. But when summoned by the Yuki, you must not be tardy. If you have business that must be attended to or are sick, send a replacement. ...

Article 28. No matter how distinguished his family background may be in terms of loyalty to the Yuki, a person who is indiscreet and neglects his duty as a warrior will have his family name revoked and his lands confiscated .... No matter how loyal his family has been, a person who is disloyal will be punished without leniency ....

Article 51. In a dispute between a parent and child, the child will be consid­ ered to have acted without justification .... But if a parent alienates his oldest son and heir and replaces him with a younger son and, in the process, is himself disloyal and induces the younger son to be disloyal too, then the parent is in the wrong ....

Article 53. No matter how many times a child may serve the Yuki loyally while both his parents are alive, if he should die the parents are not to interfere. The successor to his family will be decided from here by the Yuki ....

Article 65. There is a great deal of talking these days. You must not speak

· badly of people of this house or other houses while on the verandah of the Yuki fort. Slander among men of the Yuki is also strictly forbidden ....

Article 66. The warrior who works land worth five kan will report to camp wearing armor and helmet. He will be provided with an outfitted horse. The

warrior possessing land worth ten kan will report to camp with a suit of armor

and a horse. Warriors with land worth fifteen kan or more will report to camp with retainers.

Article 67. To gallop forth heedlessly and without thought because you hear the sound of the conch shell from the main fort that signals taking to the field

424 THE MEDIEVAL AGE: DESPAIR, DELIVERANCE, AND DESTINY

from earliest times, of fighting one against one. One of the notable developments in Sengoku warfare was the gathering of warriors (as officers) and peasant soldiers (as "men") into disciplined armies whose success did not allow the kind of one-against­one fighting tactics and individual heroics so common in pre-Sengoku battling. Article 3. If a fight (kenka) or quarrel should arise, for whatever reason, and the participants should call upon relatives and associates to come together with them and form bands, those who form those bands will be punished without regard for the reason or reasons that provoked the fight or dispute. Be attentive to this .... Article 22. Hereafter, those who are disloyal to the Yuki will be executed along with their families. They will also have their names revoked and their lands confiscated and assigned to others .... Article 23. Henceforth, there will be no marriages without Yuki permission. This applies not only to marriages with people from other houses but also from one's own house ... Article 26. Wherever it may be to, you must not gallop forth as a lone rider without receiving orders from the Yuki. But when summoned by the Yuki, you must not be tardy. If you have business that must be attended to or are sick, send a replacement. ... Article 28. No matter how distinguished his family background may be in terms of loyalty to the Yuki, a person who is indiscreet and neglects his duty as a warrior will have his family name revoked and his lands confiscated .... No matter how loyal his family has been, a person who is disloyal will be punished without leniency .... Article 51. In a dispute between a parent and child, the child will be consid­ered to have acted without justification .... But if a parent alienates his oldest . son and heir and replaces him with a younger son and, in the process, is himself disloyal and induces the younger son to be disloyal too, then the parent is in the wrong .... Article 53. No matter how many times a child may serve the Yuki loyally while both his parents are alive, ifhe should die the parents are not to interfere. The successor to his family will be decided from here by the Yuki .... Article 65. There is a great deal of talking these days. You must not speak badly of people of this house or other houses while on the verandah of the Yuki fort. Slander among men of the Yuki is also strictly forbidden .... Article 66. The warrior who works land worth five kan will report to camp wearing armor and helmet. He will be provided with an outfitted horse. The warrior possessing land worth ten kan will report to camp with a suit of armor and a horse. Warriors with land worth fifteen kan or more will report to camp with retainers. Article 67. To gallop forth heedlessly and without thought because you hear the sound of the conch shell from the main fort that signals taking to the field

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THE MEDIEVAL AGE: DESPAIR, DELIVERANCE, AND DESTINY

39. Do not neglect to keep your weapons prepared. 44, When you are victorious in battle, do not hesitate [ and allow the enemy to

recoup], Attack him again.

Although Nobushige's testament deals with many other matters, including eti­ quette, learning, and moral cultivation, many of its precepts concern the art of war and the proper conduct of a warrior.

The Sengoku age was, of course, a time of constant conflict, and hence we should not be surprised to find the authors of house precepts preoccupied with military matters. Such matters, as we have seen, are also the main focus of the Sengoku house codes, especially in regard to the relationship between the lord (the Sengoku daimyo) and his vassals. There is, however, a significant difference between how the house codes and the house precepts approach the lord-vassal relationship. Whereas the daimyo in their house codes, as noted, seek to assert their authority by summarily demanding that vassals be obedient and loyal, the authors of the house precepts (some of whom were daimyo) attempt to promote and sustain vassal loyalty primarily through persuasion. The principal form of persuasion advocated by the precepts is strong leadership. Thus a number of Sengoku house precepts devote much of their attention to instructing daimyo and other warrior chiefs how to behave as great leaders, especially wartime leaders, who will inspire their vassals to brave-and loyal-deeds in their service.

The testament of Asakura Soteki, son of the daimyo of Echizen province and a leading battle commander of his family, is probably the richest source of precepts aimed at promoting great leadership. Here are some of the precepts:

3. When it comes to military matters, the commander must never say that anything is impossible, He will reveal his inner weakness.

9. When fighting a major battle or managing a difficult retreat, the com­ mander's warriors will test him by observing his conduct with particular care. The commander must not show the slightest weakness at these times, and should not speak.

10. Call the warrior a dog, call him a beast: winning is his business. 53. For a person who aspires to be a commander, it is essential to earn a rep­

utation as a man of bow and arrow inferior to none.

[Hanawa, ed., Zoku zoku gunsho ruiiu, vol. 10, pp. 1-9; PV]

' " THE "SEVENTEEN-ARTICLE TESTAMENT OF ASAKURA TOSHIKAGE

(ASAKURA TOSHIKAGE JU-SHICHI-KA-Jt5).

Asakura Toshikage was a leading vassal of the Shiba, a collateral family of the Ashikaga

that held constable appointments to several provinces. Taking advantage of a great

Law and Precepts for the Warrior Houses

succession dispute that fractured the Shiba in the mid-fifteenth century and plunged it into the turmoil of the Onin War, the Asakura under Toshikage seized control of one of the Shiba provinces, Echizen. Appointed the new constable of Echizen by the shogunate in 1471, Toshikage became one of the first Sengoku daimyo and the founder of a family dynasty that ruled Echizen for a century.

Toshikage's testament, which contains seventeen precepts (in imitation, perhaps, of the seventeen articles of Prince Shotoku's constitution), is often considered to be a house code. In content, however, it is much more like a set of house precepts. In the first two precepts, Toshikage presents one of the earliest and most forceful assertions that, in the Sengoku age, warriors should be judged more on ability than status. Yet, although he thus places ability ahead of status, Toshikage seems to be ambivalent when choosing between ability and loyalty. In precept 9, for example, he says that those warriors "who are unskilled and lack ability, but are steadfast in spirit [that is, are loyal], deserve special attention." But the most distinguishing characteristic of Toshikage's testament is its overall rationality. The highlighting of ability in the first two articles is itself an example of this, as is the advice to heirs and followers in precept 4 that they should not covet famous-and expensive-weapons. A sword worth a thou­ sand hiki, he observes, is no match for a hundred spears worth one hundred hiki each.

Most impressive of all from the standpoint of rationality is Toshikage's criticism of

the commander who, in his preparation for and conduct of battle, wastes time worrying about auspicious days and favorable directions (precept 114). Other records of the Sengoku age attest that many if not most commanders did, in fact, waste much of their time worrying about such things as auspicious days and favorable directions. Some Sengoku daimyo even hired special advisers, called "gunpai men" because they carried a fanlike object called a gunpai, 14 whose jobs included making decisions about days and directions, judging the workings of the yin and the yang, and consulting the

Classic of Changes (Yijing).

1. In the Asakura domain you must not appoint people on the basis of se­ niority. They should be chosen for ability and loyalty.

2. You must not assign people without ability to lands or positions just be- . cause they have served the Asakura family for generations.

3. Even though the country may be at peace, station spies in domains far and near and always keep abreast of conditions in them.

4. You should not covet famous swords and dirks. The reason for this, to use an example, is that a single sword worth one thousand hiki cannot win out against a force of a hundred men supplied with spears costing one hundred hiki each ....

14. The gunpai were also sometimes carried by daimyo and other chiefs as symbols of com­

mand in battle. Today, gunpai are wielded by the referees in sumo matches.

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430 THE MEDIEVAL AGE: DESPAIR, DELIVERANCE, AND DESTINY

/ 5. We should not eagerly invite troops of the four schools ofsarugaku 15 down from Kyoto for the pleasure of viewing them. W ith the money s�ed, we could select talented people from our domain, send them to Kyoto for dance training, and take pleasure in them ever after.

6. There will be no performances of nii at night within the fort precincts. 7. There will be no dispatching of agents to Date and Shirakawa for fine

horses, falcons, and the like on the grounds that they are for the use of san1ura1. ...

8. At the time of the first attendance of the year, all who are in the service of' the domains, beginning with those bearing the Asakura surname, should wear coats made of wadded cotton; and all coats, without exception, should bear the Asakura crest. If some, claiming consideration of status, should wear elegant clothing, lesser samurai of the domain will be reluctant to attend those occasions that are given to show and display. If these lesser samurai, falsely citing illness, should fail to appear for a year or two, the number of samurai attending upon the Asakura will decrease to a small number.

9. Among the men who serve the Asakura house: those fellows who are unskilled and lack ability but are steadfast in spirit deserve special attention. But this does not apply to those who, although of splendid appearance and manner, are weak-spirited ....

10. If you treat one who has neglected his duty and one who has served faithfully the same way, how can you expect the one who has served faithfully to maintain his spirit?

11. Make every effort not to employ riinin and similar types from other prov­ inces as secretaries.

12. No one skilled in an art, whether clergy or lay person, should be sent to another domain. However, a person who relies solely on his ability and neglects duty is of no use.

13. It is extremely regrettable if a commander, when fighting a battle that can be won or laying siege to a castle that can be taken, should change his time schedule after choosing an auspicious day and considering which directions are good and which are bad. But if a commander, disregarding,auspicious days and favorable directions, assesses in detail the realities of the military situation, lays detailed plans for attacking, responds flexibly to circumstances as they pre­ sent themselves, and maintains his basic strategy, he is sure to be victorious.

14- About three times each year you should direct three vassals, known for their ability and honesty, to travel around the domain and inquire into the views

. of the four classes of people ....

15. Sarugaku is a theatrical form from which n6 is derived, As used here, sarugaku may

mean n6.

Law and Precepts for the Warrior Houses 431

15. Other than the Asakura fort at Ichij6notani, no other fortifications are to be constructed in the domain. All major vassals, without exception, are to move to lchijonotani.

16. When traveling around to visit shrines and temples or markets, stop your horse occasionally and offer some praise for an unusual place or express a few words of sympathy for one that is run down.

17. When you receive direct reports, you should not permit the slightest discrepancy in regard to truth or falsehood. If you hear that some functionary is seeking to enrich himself, you should firmly impose suitable punishment.

[Sato et al., eds., Chilsei hosei shiryo shil, vol. 3, pp. 339-343; PV]