5 Samurai Laws That Could KILL You

Being a samurai sounds like power. The law says otherwise. Only samurai could wear two swords, and in 1588 Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered every farmer to hand over his swords, saying the metal would become nails for a giant Buddha. Revenge for a murdered father was legal, but only after your name went into a government register. Following your lord into death was banned in 1663, and when a loyal retainer of the Okudaira family did it anyway in 1668, the shogunate had his children executed and cut the family's land. And yes, a samurai could legally cut down a commoner who insulted him, but he had to report it at once and bring a witness, or he could be sentenced to death himself. Sources: Hideyoshi's sword hunt edict (1588) and the Hoko-ji Great Buddha; kataki-uchi (revenge) registration and its ban in 1873; the junshi ban (1663) and the Okudaira / Sugiura case (1668); kiri-sute gomen in Tokugawa law (Kujikata Osadamegaki, 1742). #samurai #japan #history #edo #shorts