CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Has anyone heard of the legend of the great samurai who was riding down the road on his horse and came up on a boy? When the samurai deemed that the boy did not bow low enough he drew his sword and the boy was no more. This happened on three occasions with the same result. The boy was no more. There is suppose to be some moral to this tale. Has anyone heard this and know the moral?

Um....bow really really low to passing samurai?

SirThinks2Much wrote:Um....bow really really low to passing samurai?

I have a feeling it's a little deeper than that.

It's an unfinished thought process at the moment, but I believe that there's an element of pride versus humility in there somewhere.

Rev. Doc wrote::lol: I have a feeling it's a little deeper than that.

"Know your place," I suppose.

...cuz Samauri is evil?

It would probably help to hear the tale told in full (as I haven't heard it except for this thread) to catch any nuances that may exist. Those that are not eliminated in translation, in any case.

However, I am inclined to believe the story has fairly little depth as well.

Hmm, when you say the boy was no more, do you mean he was killed or vanished into thin air?

Sounds a ton like in the Bible were Elijah (or was it Elisha? (spelling?)) was made fun of by several younger people for being bald and he cursed them and they were soon after eaten by lions.
Possibly it has a "respect your elders" theme to it.

that story reminds me of a comics named Scarface.

I have not heard of the story before, but the samurai did have the right to cut down one of the peasant class who did not show the proper respect.

well this is the first time i've heard of this story, however i have read about this happening. From what i've read, samurai used to kill peasents for any reason, not bowing low enough or if it looked funny, to test the sharpness of their blades, not bowing when they passed, mostly just those subjects and other that are close to it.

desperado wrote:Sounds a ton like in the Bible were Elijah (or was it Elisha? (spelling?)) was made fun of by several younger people for being bald and he cursed them and they were soon after eaten by lions.
Possibly it has a "respect your elders" theme to it.

The Elisha story has much greater depth than that. First of all, the word translated as "youths" indicated a larger age range than we would expect--this would include men from their teens to their thirties.

Second of all, the youths' statement is pretty deep. There are two implications of what they said: (1) "Go on up" was like their way of saying "If you're a man of God, why don't you go up to heaven like Elijah?" This shows their disbelief in the works of God and contempt for Elisha. (2) "Baldhead" was a derogatory for a leper--or a detestable person. So when they insult Elisha, they mock God. Considering their age, they also could have meant the statement as a threat (since Elisha is nothing but a "filthy leper" to them anyway). Chapter 4 of The Case for Faith does a better explanation than I ever could.




To get back at the original topic, I am kind of annoyed at how some people (your typical Last Samurai fans) lament the loss of the samurai culture. These people are usually people who also believe in helping the underpriveliged. So it doesn't bother them that the poor and underpriveliged live under the brutal and exacting whims of the samurai?