Musuis Story - 1612 Words

Newsletter for October 6-10 Musui s Story is a samurai s autobiography that portrays the Tokugawa society as it was lived during Katsu Kokichi s life (1802 - 1850). Katsu Kokichi (or Musui) was a man born into a family with hereditary privilege of audience with the shogun, yet he lived a life unworthy of a samurai s way, running protection racket, cheating, stealing, and lying. Before we discuss how Musui s lifestyle was against the codes that regulated the behavior of the samurai, it is essential that the role of the samurai in Japanese society be understood. The Japanese society was divided into four classes: samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants. The samurai was a class of warriors, emerged from Japan during the constant†¦show more content†¦At his arrival at Mishima, he claims being a retainer in the service of Harima-no-kami of Mito in order to intimidate the guards. According to the book, Mito was one of the three highest-ranking collateral houses of the tokugawa family. Musui will deliberately continue his transgressions during his adult years. He kept visiting the Yoshiwara repeatedly in many occasion, he traveled without permission, dealt with merchants, and became materialistic. At one occasion, he even shamelessly pulled a big farce (p. 135) of committing seppuku, which was considered as a sacred samurai ceremony, in order to get money from peasants. What is striking in all this is that he shows no indication of regret for his act, but instead describes the whole situation with pride. Definitely, during his entire life, Musui did not live a life worthy of a samurai ethical standards expected from all tokugawa samurai. He lied and stole. And throughout his autobiography, he describes his encounters with thieves, beggars, priests, merchants, gamblers, confidence men, as if he were taking proud of his actions, presenting himself as a hero, instead of a disloyal samurai. He displays in the text no sorrow, regret, nor repentance, but pride instead. The peaceful Tokugawa period presented problem to many samurai, and Musui s life is just one of the many examples of lives that those samurai lived. Samurai had no battles to fight. Many had low income or joblessShow MoreRelatedMusuis Story1289 Words   |  6 PagesMusuis Story The time after the fifteen hundreds marked a time of great change in Asian countries. Places like China saw a new dynasty take control of the country. And almost every Asian civilization from India to Indonesia came in contact with people from western nations which changed the way people did business and the way Asians viewed the world. Japan, however, seemed to keep separate from the rest of Asia in the way that they were hesitant to deal with westerners. Despite their separatenessRead MoreMusuis Story1634 Words   |  7 PagesMusui’s Story: A Transition From Isolation to Interaction The varying social interactions between status groups in Katsu Kokichi’s autobiography, Musui’s Story, convey a shift from the hierarchically strict Heian/Kamakura epochs to the more socially open late Tokugawa period. Throughout the work, Katsu illustrates his various dealings and communications with peasants, merchants, artisans and fellow samurai. While in theory a social hierarchy still presided, Musui’s Story dismisses the notion thatRead MoreKatsu Kokichi’S Autobiography, â€Å"Musui’S Story,† Documents1324 Words   |  6 PagesKatsu Kokichi’s autobiography, â€Å"Musui’s Story,† documents the life of a samurai in Japan’s late Tokugawa period who adopted the name Musui in his retirement. Katsu is something of a black sheep within his family, being largely uneducated and deemed unfit for the bureaucratic office s samurai of his standing were expected to hold. As such, he typifies in many ways the lower ronin, or masterless samurai, many of whom famously led roaming, directionless lives and wreaked havoc among the urban poorRead MoreIn Today’S World, Japan Is Up There As One Of The Most1324 Words   |  6 Pageslegendary Miyamoto Musashi and his predecessor, Itto Ittosai, who both boast undefeated records in combat throughout the entire course of their life. Those two samurai are what fit into Most people’s ideas of what a samurai is meant to be. However, Musui’s story provides us with an autobiography of a samurai, Katsu Kokichi, who does not at all fit in with all these generalizations associated with samurai. Our storyteller in fact ascends from quite a high ranked clan evident of their one hundred koku ofRead More Japans Post War Economic Journey Essay1856 Words   |  8 PagesNew York, NY: About Japan: A Teachers Resource. Retrieved from http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/postwar_japan_1952-1989 Johnson, R. (2005). Six men who built the modern auto industry. Motorbooks. Katsu, K., Craig, T. (1991). Musuis story, the autobiography of a tokugawa samurai. Univ of Arizona Pr. Nakata, Y., Mosk, C. The demand for college education in post war japan. University of Alabama. Retrieved from http://www.cba.ua.edu/assets/docs/efl/WP_114.pdf Murata, S., Stern