Post by Otagiri Tatsuzou on Dec 19, 2004 19:18:23 GMT -5
The Early Warrior and the Birth of the Xia
Jian Zhao
www.joho.nucba.ac.jp/NJLCCarticles/vol032/02ZHAO.PDF
One of the quotes contained in this history of an early Chinese warrior tradition is one from the "Battle at Hone between Song and Chu" (638 B.C): "The gentleman does not inflict a second wound or take a grey-haired prisoner."
What makes this interesting is the echo of that quote in the Budoshoshinshu 2300 years later: "It has been transmitted from times long ago that a man is not struck by his lord twice. "
www.cjp.fi/liikan/liikan-jitsu/classic-extracts/warriorcode-budoshoshinshu/yuzan3.html
One of the features of the xia tradition is that it was not feudal. A warrior chose to serve a particular lord who appreciated that warrior. It was a personal relationship and not one bound by duty or civil or hereditary obligation. Indeed, the xia were seen by some as outside the normal boundaries of society - knight-errants which carry a little bit of threat with them.
The article is a little long but well worth the read.
Jian Zhao
The xia, or the Chinese knight-errant, was born to the warrior class in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) and, there, many of its behavioral characteristics bear similarities to those warriors in that period. In this article, the early warrior conduct and ideology are to be analyzed to show the formation of the prototype of the xia warrior and the early xia tradition. The earlies antithetic reaction towards the emergence of the xia as a powerful social group, that of Han Fei (280-230 B.C.), is also to be introduced, as well as the military tradition and the legendary sword culture, which were forming a background for the growth of the xia warrior
www.joho.nucba.ac.jp/NJLCCarticles/vol032/02ZHAO.PDF
One of the quotes contained in this history of an early Chinese warrior tradition is one from the "Battle at Hone between Song and Chu" (638 B.C): "The gentleman does not inflict a second wound or take a grey-haired prisoner."
What makes this interesting is the echo of that quote in the Budoshoshinshu 2300 years later: "It has been transmitted from times long ago that a man is not struck by his lord twice. "
www.cjp.fi/liikan/liikan-jitsu/classic-extracts/warriorcode-budoshoshinshu/yuzan3.html
One of the features of the xia tradition is that it was not feudal. A warrior chose to serve a particular lord who appreciated that warrior. It was a personal relationship and not one bound by duty or civil or hereditary obligation. Indeed, the xia were seen by some as outside the normal boundaries of society - knight-errants which carry a little bit of threat with them.
The article is a little long but well worth the read.