It is with clarity that I say that for anyone outside of a pure Japanese cannot be a Samurai even in the most advantageous of situations is impossible means to me that no Okinawan can achieve Samurai status regardless.
I quote, "Japanese have historically been unable to accept non-Japanese into their society (this culture and society has Samurai as an intricate/interwoven fabric of said society). This intolerance goes beyond both race and language. Persons of Korean or Chinese ancestry who are physically identical to the Japanese and whose families have lived in Japan for generations and are totally assimilated into the culture are not accepted as Japanese. "
To further express this it is clear that even those who are Japanese tend to be removed from the culture and society upon their return from living and working outside of Japan, etc.
I also quote, "To be regarded as and treated as a Japanese you have to be born in Japan, of Japanese parents, and raised as a Japanese in the full cultural implications of the word."
Both quotes tell me emphatically and irrefutably that Okinawans even when married to a Japanese cannot nor can their offspring lay claim to and be "Okinawa Samurai" in the most literal sense.
Although your arguments make a lot of sense they are predicated on our perceptions, beliefs and understanding from an American system of beliefs, perceptions and understanding where the only means by which we could understand otherwise is through total immersion in the Japanese social fabric for at least two decades to even achieve a modicum of understanding as I gleamed from the study of Japan Kata where one person did just this and then exclaimed that even with this they were treated as gaijin - foreigners.
SG made an excellent argument but in the literal kata like environment that is Japan it fails to persuade - me.
p.s. I mean literally a Japanese Samurai. There is always, like here in the U.S., that one may borrow that title and call themselves Okinawan Samurai using the definition of Japanese Samurai but "LITERALLY" they cannot be Samurai as like Miyamoto Musashi type Samurai.
Bibliography:
Clarke, Michael. "Shin Gi Tai: Karate Training for Body, Mind, and Spirit." YMAA Publishing. New Hampshire. 2011.
DeMente, Boye Lafayette. "Kata: The Key to Understanding & Dealing with the Japanese." Tuttle Publishing. Tokyo, Vermont and Singapore. 2003
No comments:
Post a Comment