Life, Nihon, and why Kurogane is an extremely odd ninja
I'm not having a very good few days. Nothing solely in particular's to blame, but lots of little niggly things, and the fact it's just so wretchedly hot here right now does nothing to help. Or the fact the idiots outside my window are singing bastardised versions of pop songs. Loudly. And badly. Ugh.
Anyway, I've been doing some research for Nihon fic, and two points about it have been bothering me - namely, the placing of Nihon in 'our' history, and the classification of Kurogane as a ninja. Since I didn't want to dump this lot below at the end of one of my fics and kill anyone reading them with word-overload, I decided to dump it in another post. If you're interested, it's below. If you're not, I sincerely hope you're having a better few days than I am~!
Kurogane’s Japan - Nihon - is a horribly perplexing place to try and set historically, using information from ‘our world.’ The art shows feudal-era type architecture, but the feudal-era was characterised by massive in-fighting amongst the samurai, after they seized the power in the country from the nobility. The Emperor of the time was little more than a puppet - which is something I cannot see Kendappa-ou ever submitting to. Ever.
The Heian period preceding the feudal-era, however, is also a pretty awful contrast - to call someone a ‘good fighter’ in the Heian period was a pretty big insult. Class was shown through skills such as poetry and perfume-making, the colours of clothing, and how many folds you had in your fan.
Somewhere in the middle of this mess is Nihon.
Then there’s the problem of Kurogane himself. His father, Lord of Suwa, was nobility and a warrior - judging by the relative timeline and setting, it probably wouldn’t be too far off to call the man a samurai. Youou, therefore, raised in those ways, would’ve learned the ideals of the samurai, of that nobility - which then makes his swearing to be Tomoyo-hime’s ninja (/shinobi, take your pick) somewhat…awkward. Is Kurogane a ninja or a samurai?
Samurai followed the principles of (what came to be known loosely in the nineteenth century as) bushido (‘way of the warrior’). They were about honour - when they went into battle they chose a single opponent, announced their challenge, listed off their noble pedigree and set about trying to kill them. Samurai came at you from the front, and prided themselves on strength, loyalty, honesty, respect, kindness, courage and rectitude. Very chivalrous, but it didn’t always work.
Ninja followed the principles of ninjutsu - set up to be a direct contrast to bushido. Ninjutsu was designed to be practical - if it got the job done, a ninja would do it. Stealth was prized over strength; ninjas were used most commonly as spies, planters of misinformation, instigators of trouble, and assassins. Seduction, poisoning, sneak attacks…a samurai would consider these tactics shameful. Ninjas did not. (Ninjas were also often of a lower-class than samurai - or were samurai fallen from their original rank who did not wish to commit seppuku.)
And so - Kurogane. Sworn a ninja, but, when we first meet him in Tsubasa, obsessed with strength, and apparently about as stealthy as a brick. (Slaughtering attackers on a roof? Under the moon? While yelling at them?!) He seems to take the samurai’s approach to fighting - announcing his intentions to fight to his opponent, and then sulking for forever and a day when either a) his opponent runs off before he can finish trying to maim them, b) Yuuko/Fai/Mokona/some other crisis interrupts him when he’s trying to maim someone, or c) he loses/breaks/can’t obtain his precious sword (of the moment) to go about maiming someone.
Kurogane is limber - dodging attacks from the kudan in Hanshin he flings himself out of the way pretty well (is that a handspring?), and he seems perfectly at ease with running, leaping, jumping, swooping and stalking about rooftops with very little bother. He can - probably - be stealthy (sort of); announcing his attacks is one thing, but sometimes his enemies just do not see him coming. Also, there’s the dark wardrobe. Samurais liked bright colours.
Kurogane attacks people head-on, obsessed with strength, courage, loyalty, honesty and (probably?) honour - but the principles of kindness and rectitude seem to have gotten a little lost by the wayside by the start of the series start. Travelling with the group, however, helps Kurogane pick them up again - and by the series end, we have a pretty decent warrior. So…Kurogane is a mix. He has the basic principles of a samurai and the skills of a ninja, and uses both as he sees fit - an honourable ninja.
*resumes melting in the heat*
Anyway, I've been doing some research for Nihon fic, and two points about it have been bothering me - namely, the placing of Nihon in 'our' history, and the classification of Kurogane as a ninja. Since I didn't want to dump this lot below at the end of one of my fics and kill anyone reading them with word-overload, I decided to dump it in another post. If you're interested, it's below. If you're not, I sincerely hope you're having a better few days than I am~!
Kurogane’s Japan - Nihon - is a horribly perplexing place to try and set historically, using information from ‘our world.’ The art shows feudal-era type architecture, but the feudal-era was characterised by massive in-fighting amongst the samurai, after they seized the power in the country from the nobility. The Emperor of the time was little more than a puppet - which is something I cannot see Kendappa-ou ever submitting to. Ever.
The Heian period preceding the feudal-era, however, is also a pretty awful contrast - to call someone a ‘good fighter’ in the Heian period was a pretty big insult. Class was shown through skills such as poetry and perfume-making, the colours of clothing, and how many folds you had in your fan.
Somewhere in the middle of this mess is Nihon.
Then there’s the problem of Kurogane himself. His father, Lord of Suwa, was nobility and a warrior - judging by the relative timeline and setting, it probably wouldn’t be too far off to call the man a samurai. Youou, therefore, raised in those ways, would’ve learned the ideals of the samurai, of that nobility - which then makes his swearing to be Tomoyo-hime’s ninja (/shinobi, take your pick) somewhat…awkward. Is Kurogane a ninja or a samurai?
Samurai followed the principles of (what came to be known loosely in the nineteenth century as) bushido (‘way of the warrior’). They were about honour - when they went into battle they chose a single opponent, announced their challenge, listed off their noble pedigree and set about trying to kill them. Samurai came at you from the front, and prided themselves on strength, loyalty, honesty, respect, kindness, courage and rectitude. Very chivalrous, but it didn’t always work.
Ninja followed the principles of ninjutsu - set up to be a direct contrast to bushido. Ninjutsu was designed to be practical - if it got the job done, a ninja would do it. Stealth was prized over strength; ninjas were used most commonly as spies, planters of misinformation, instigators of trouble, and assassins. Seduction, poisoning, sneak attacks…a samurai would consider these tactics shameful. Ninjas did not. (Ninjas were also often of a lower-class than samurai - or were samurai fallen from their original rank who did not wish to commit seppuku.)
And so - Kurogane. Sworn a ninja, but, when we first meet him in Tsubasa, obsessed with strength, and apparently about as stealthy as a brick. (Slaughtering attackers on a roof? Under the moon? While yelling at them?!) He seems to take the samurai’s approach to fighting - announcing his intentions to fight to his opponent, and then sulking for forever and a day when either a) his opponent runs off before he can finish trying to maim them, b) Yuuko/Fai/Mokona/some other crisis interrupts him when he’s trying to maim someone, or c) he loses/breaks/can’t obtain his precious sword (of the moment) to go about maiming someone.
Kurogane is limber - dodging attacks from the kudan in Hanshin he flings himself out of the way pretty well (is that a handspring?), and he seems perfectly at ease with running, leaping, jumping, swooping and stalking about rooftops with very little bother. He can - probably - be stealthy (sort of); announcing his attacks is one thing, but sometimes his enemies just do not see him coming. Also, there’s the dark wardrobe. Samurais liked bright colours.
Kurogane attacks people head-on, obsessed with strength, courage, loyalty, honesty and (probably?) honour - but the principles of kindness and rectitude seem to have gotten a little lost by the wayside by the start of the series start. Travelling with the group, however, helps Kurogane pick them up again - and by the series end, we have a pretty decent warrior. So…Kurogane is a mix. He has the basic principles of a samurai and the skills of a ninja, and uses both as he sees fit - an honourable ninja.
*resumes melting in the heat*