swordsmanship myths

Fliege · Post by **Fliege** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:24 -0700

Does anyone know if there are any japanese myths about how people first learned how to use the sword?

Leonardo-san · Post by **Leonardo-san** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 20:32 -0700

Depending on the sword style, there are a variety of them.
Some had legends of learning swordsmanship from the Tengu.
Some from other kami.
I wish I had time to go dig up some notes and book references, but I don't at the moment. See what I can do over the next couple of days. Plus some others may have some excellent references.

Stan Sakai · Post by **Stan Sakai** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 22:27 -0700

Japan's greatest hero, Yoshitsune, learned the art of swordsmanship from a tengu.

Angelcake the Fox · Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:17 -0700

Stan Sakai wrote:Japan's greatest hero, Yoshitsune, learned the art of swordsmanship from a tengu.

There's ALOT of myths about the tengu.

I'm starting to wonder if the tengu myths were based on real people.

Fanfan · Post by **Fanfan** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:38 -0700

A reference about japanese gods :

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/tengu.shtml

The article about Tengu and links are really interesting ones!

Fliege · Post by **Fliege** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 20:42 -0700

Thanks!

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 22:53 -0700

stan goes over the creation myth pretty thoroughly in grasscutter. but it would be fun to know more about the actual training of yoshitsune. maybe in grasscutter 3...

also, i'm really interested to learn about "the other time" usagi dueled the tengu of the mountains. not sure which issue i'm talking about (must be somewhere in fathers & sons), but usagi flashes back to the time he battled the tengu. there's a throwaway gag at the end where usagi mentions his punishment was far worse the other time he battled the tengu...i'm dying to read that!!!

Thommo · Post by **Thommo** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:16 -0700

May be unrelated, but:

Mr. Stan, Wikipedia article "daimyo" states that there are 3 types of japanese feudal lords - shinpan, fudai and tozama. Is this touched somewhere in Usagi stories?

Thommo · Post by **Thommo** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 4:09 -0700

Nobody knows, eh?

Post by **Steve Hubbell** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 10:58 -0700

Thommo wrote:May be unrelated, but:

Mr. Stan, Wikipedia article "daimyo" states that there are 3 types of japanese feudal lords - shinpan, fudai and tozama. Is this touched somewhere in Usagi stories?

Wikipedia wrote:Ieyasu also divided the daimyo into three groups, depending on how close they were to the ruling Tokugawa family: shinpan, who were related to the Tokugawa, the fudai daimyo, who had been vassals of the Tokugawa or allies in the battle, and the tozama daimyo, who opposed the Tokugawa but were defeated.

I had to take a quick look at the Wikipedia article to see if I was thinking of the right definitions for the different groups....

I don't recall any of the terms being used (I could be wrong), but I am sure that they were never used as the basis of a story. It might be too soon following the Battle of Adachigahara and the Shogun of Usagi's world might still be consolidating his power and organizing his administration, the act of which contributed to the creation of the various groupings.

Then again, I think we have only met two Daimyo of Usagi's world, three counting the future husband (?) of Tomoe Ami....

Abayo.....

Thommo · Post by **Thommo** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:43 -0700

2 daimyo? You mean Hikiji and Mifune?

Post by **Steve Hubbell** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:47 -0700

Those are the only two that I could think of off the top of my head.

There was probably another one in "The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy" but I don't remember his name (and he is dead now anyways).

Can you think of any appearances of other Daimyo in Usagi Yojimbo?

Thommo · Post by **Thommo** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:06 -0700

Yes, Lord Tamakuro was Daimyo, for sure.

http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/characters/tamakuro.html

And young Noriyuki will be lord, I think, if he survives all assasinations. And there were all kinds of lords in Grasscutter prologues, even though it was well before Usagi time.