Samurai Horses

KISO UMA  木曽馬 

(JAPANESE KISO HORSE)

 

The horses ridden by the Samurai weren’t the sleek, long legged beasts you see in the movies, but were stub faced, long haired, short legged, shaggy looking creatures that resembled stocky ponies rather than modern-day thoroughbreds called Kiso-uma.

Samurai mounted their horses not from the left, like modern equestrians, but from the right side of their steeds.

 

History and Background

The Kiso Horse is a breed of critically endangered equines that developed primarily as a Japanese war horse. Native to Honshu, the largest and most populous island of Japan, it is one of the eight indigenous breeds of the country and is also used for light draft work and riding purposes. With their short, pony-like stature and gentle disposition

The origination of the Kiso horse, local name Kiso-Uma, is still shrouded in mystery. Exact origin of the Kiso and other ancient horse breeds of Japan is uncertain. They are believed to be descended from either the plateau horses of Central Asia or the Mongolian horses of the grasslands.

The only thing known is that they developed in Japan more than 1000 years ago sized more like a pony, and gets their name from the river Kiso that flows through the region where this breed originated. During this time they were used both as a mount in the battlefields, as well as an animal for agricultural and transportation works.

Bred and raised in the severe environment of cold mountains over many years, the Kisouma is very robust and can live on simple diet. Its hooves are so hard that it does not need to be horseshod.

Kisouma can steadily climb up and down narrow and steep mountain trails with their sturdy, stable legs.

There are records of horses being raised systematically in the Kiso region of Nagano Prefecture as early as the 6th century.

Kisouma have been raised for military and agricultural purposes since the Heian period (the 8th-12th century) for military purposes as well as in agriculture and transportation. In the twelfth century, the region was able to produce, according to legends, 10,000 cavalry mounts for Kiso Yoshinaka’s army.

In the Edo era (1600-1867) there was again emphasis on military use. Kiso canyon belonged to the Owari feudal clan. Records from this time regarding the ancient types have been a valuable aid to modern horse breeders. The government of the Kiso area considered the Kiso horse a strategic material, and produced many; numbers again reaching more than 10,000.

Records from the Edo period indicating the importation of horses by the Dutch to be given as gifts to the Shogun. Although it cannot be sure, these animals, generally referred to as “Persian,” may have been Arabians or perhaps a variety of Turkmen. Most white and Piebald horses are for Shoguns, high ranking Commander and samurai. 

During the Meiji period (1868-1903), Japan fought against several foreign countries. Because Japanese horses are generally small in size, the authorities discouraged breeding purebred Kiso and encouraged a crossbreeding program between the Kiso and larger purebred horses from Europe and North America were imported to increase the size of Japanese horse and make them more suitable for military use. 

To encourage this, the government introduced training classes throughout Japan to increase the use of horses in agriculture. The goal was to motivate farmers to breed larger horses to ensure a supply for the army. Foreign breeds imported included Thoroughbred, Anglo Arabs, Arabs, Hackney and several draft breeds including Belgian and Bretons. Two recognized breeds, Kandachi horse of Aomori and the Yururi Island horse of Nemuro, Hokkaido, are the descendants of native horses crossbred with larger European horses. The result of these many importations was the almost total disappearance of local Japanese breeds except in very remote areas or on islands.

Thoroughout World War II Japanese government program was administered for the purpose of castrating purebred Kiso males. Consequently, almost all Kiso stallions were castrated. The Kiso was effected more dramatically by this administration plan because the breed had traditionally been considered a good military horse. Other Japanese horses were primarily used for agricultural purposes.

 

In Japan today there are eight recognized native breeds all of them identified with a particular region and each displaying some differences in color size and conformation. Despite the fact that all of them are ponies, they played an important role in the Japanese history, being used for work, pleasure, and in combat. Unfortunately, all of them are very rare, and except for the many recently formed organizations fighting for their survival, some of them would already be extinct. There are today only 149 Kiso horses left, which are often seen in processions in local festivals. They are also used as riding horses.

 

Currrently the eight Japanese native breeds, it is critically endangered:

Kiso horse

Main production area: Nagano Prefecture, Honshu island 

Hokkaido Washu (also called "Dosanko")

Main production area: Hokkaido

Noma horse

Main production area: Ehime Prefecture

Taishu horse

Main production area: Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture

Misaki Horse

Main production area: Miyazaki Prefecture

Tokara Horse

Main production area: Tokara Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture

Miyako Horse

Main production area: Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture

Yonaguni horse

Main production area: Yonaguni Island, Okinawa Prefecture

 

All of these local breeds are known for their endurance, their ability to survive on poor food and in severe weather conditions and they all share the characteristics of having extremely tough hooves.

 

Physical Characteristics

The horses of the Kiso breed have a mid-sized stature with a massive head, a thick, short neck. The trunk is long, with legs are also short but sturdy, while the hooves are tough, well-shaped and well-formed. The mane is heavy and so is the tail. The males (studs and stallions) are insignificantly larger than the females (mares); a dorsal stripe that runs down the back (mane to tail) is considered to be a primitive marking. The Kiso horse stands at an average height of just over 13 hands (52 inches, 132 centimeters). Their average weight is 992 pounds.
For Male: 450 kg  Female: 300 kg

Coat Colours

The most common colors are bay, gray, brown, chestnut, roan, cremello and, more rarely dun. They do not, in general, have white markings on legs or face but a black dorsal stripe is extremely common.

 

Personality and Temperament 

The horse has the ability to adapt to different climates.  The horse is said to have a mild personality as well as an easy-going temperament.

  

Performance and Endurance

In 2015 tests were conducted by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation and shortened from Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai), on the short-legged, heavy-set, shaggy-haired native Kiso horse (131 cm high), compared with a modern bred horse (152 cm high) and found that the pony-like Kiso was faster and more agile than expected. Carrying a 62kg rider in full armor and weapons, traditional Abumi stirrups and Kura (saddle) making 92kg in all, and using a purebred Kiso horse, the type used by the samurai, they discovered that the horse could gallop 100m in 12.03 seconds, a fraction faster than a modern bred Sawago horse, which managed 12.07 seconds. In the Figure 8 test, the smaller native horse was found to be more agile, and able to make a tighter turning circle.

 

As for the endurance of native Japanese horses, a test done by the Nihon Kacchū Kiba Kenkyūkai (日本甲冑騎馬研究会, Japan Armoured Equestrian Research Society) established that a trained Kiso horse was able to run for 1 km with an average speed of 21 km/h carrying an armoured rider, and it was able to run for about 3.5 km before being exhausted.

Some reference videos from the Koyodai Kiso horse ranch in Japan (紅葉台木曽馬牧場):

The first video showed Samurai horsemanship on Kiso horses.

The second one is from a photo shoot for a book about Samurai and their horse.

The third one showed Japanese pony size horses galloping down the hillside. Despite of their large head, short and thick neck, Kiso horses also have short sturdy stable legs with a stocky body and their hooves are well formed and hard they can steadily climb up and down narrow steep mountain trails.

Thank you for looking!

Geisha, Oiran and Tayu

What is the difference between Geisha, Oiran and Tayu?

Geisha (芸者) (/ˈɡeɪʃə/; Japanese: [ɡeːɕaalso known as geiko (芸子) (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or geigi (芸妓), are female Japanese trained entertainer performing artists and entertainers who is trained in traditional Japanese performing arts styles, such as dance, music, singing and playing an instrument, and otherwise entertaining guests. Their distinct appearance is characterised by long, trailing kimono, traditional hairstyles and oshiroi make-up. Geisha entertain at parties known as ozashiki, often for the entertainment of wealthy clientele, as well as performing on stage and at festivals.

Although not primarily prostitutes, some did sleep with clients and many retired by becoming the mistress of a client, or sponsored by one or more, and so forth.

Oiran (花魁) is a collective term for the highest-ranking courtesans in Japanese history, who were considered to be above common prostitutes (known as yūjo (遊女, lit. 'woman of pleasure')) for their more refined entertainment skills and training in the traditional arts who was very popular and highly regarded, mostly for her beauty, in the brothels of Yoshiwara in Edo (Tokyo). In the Edo period, prostitution conducted in specified areas, called yuukaku (遊郭), like Yoshiwara and was legal. A regular Yoshiwara prostitute was called a yuujo (遊女) which means “play woman.” (Other types of prostitutes had other names.) An oiran was like the pinup girl of Edo—many of the bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) that exist as woodcut prints are of oiran.

There are no oiran left in modern Japan since prostitution is illegal now. There are some borderline almost prostitution businesses around, but the women who work in them are not called oiran or yuujo.

 

Tayū (太夫) Divided into a number of ranks within oiran category, the highest rank of oiran were the tayū (太夫) , who were considered to be set apart from other oiran due to their intensive training in the Japanese traditional arts in tea ceremony, kodo, ikebana, Japanese calligraphy, poetry, dance,  singing, and the playing of traditional instruments, such as the koto. The fact that they lived and worked in Kyoto, the political capital of Japan, which remained the cultural heart of the country when the seat of political power moved to Tokyo. Though oiran by definition also engaged in prostitution, higher-ranking oiran had a degree of choice in which customers they took.

The prestige this education conferred on them allowed them to refuse clients. They were the only entertainers to attend the Imperial banquets.

Some picture references on Oiran:

Link to some nice photo references: 

https://www.kokoro-maiko.com/english/

Some links on the subject:

https://blossomkitty.com/2020/02/27/geisha-oiran-and-tayu-misunderstood-women-of-japan/

https://myobjectofdesire.wordpress.com/2021/03/02/oiran-vs-geisha/

https://myobjectofdesire.wordpress.com/2021/01/31/the-kimono-motifs-and-patterns/

Thank you for looking!

Posting on forum

Beware when you post on Planetfigure forum.

Here is my recent experience.

I have been a Planetfigure member for the past 16 years. I posted figure review threads on the forum. Over the years I had been targeted by the forum trolls and keyboard bullies making hatred, racist and threaten comments towards me and my threads and posts. They had all get away with it without any consequences and they are still posting these days. The community posting guidelines do not mean anything to them. 

I have recently asked the forum moderator and the new owner to delete my threads but the new owner indicated my threads had passed the editing time frame and refused on my request.

Previously, I had some of my really old threads which had passed the editing time deleted by the moderator without any problems. The new owner had asked me to disable my account so that my name is not associated with them but my threads will still being posted in the forum. The moderator indicated if I want to leave the forum just self deleted my self and if  I do not log back in within 14 days, the account will self-delete and the member name is user #####. The posting content remains, but their about content is removed. (What is the point deleting my name but my threads are still being posted in the forum?)

There is nothing in the forum rules and terms regarding threads that cannot be deleted by the original poster of those threads on request.

Regarding ownership and copyright of my threads and posts on PF. 

All posts and threads created by the users are the responsibility of the user by I.P. address. The owner or administrator claims no ownership over any content posted by the users. If I want my threads to be deleted, the administrator or the moderator has to delete on the user request. It is their liabilities to delete my threads.

Copyright is the automatic right of the creator of the work, (the author), i.e. the person making the post from the point that the first 'recorded' the work in a tangible manner. In this case, from the point I type it in on the keyboard. So this would mean that as the 'creator' of the post, I am the copyright owner.
Unless as part of the act of posting the author agrees to hand over copyright to their work, the forum does not own copyright to the threads and posts - ergo they are not the copyright owner and have no grounds to object and does not has ownership of my threads and posts.

At this point all my threads and posts are being “kidnapped” by the forum and by the new owner ignoring copyright infringement.

Update:  Finally all those threads have been deleted!

Battlefield Trophies

 

During battle, samurai would collect the heads of their opponents. Once taken, the heads would be returned to the base camp for registration. The name of the victor, his weapon used, any other circumstances regarding the duel and the name of the head was recorded on a piece of stiff paper, and tied to the hair queue.

The head was then cleaned, prepared and perfumed for display, a task completed by specially trained women. If a samurai found himself too "busy" to take the head off for registration, or his assistants had already left the field with other heads, cutting off the upper lip and nose together was also acceptable. Then, after the battle had ended, and after reuniting the pieces like a macabre jigsaw puzzle, the head could be properly cut off or reclaimed. For reasons unknown, any heads missing the lip and nose were known as onnakubi, or "woman’s heads."

Following the battle, the heads would be inspected by the commander in chief of the victoroius forces in a solemn ceremony known as the Kubi-jikken. The way the heads were displayed, and the preparations for the viewing ceremony were quite detailed. It was believed that heads could fly, and so a contingent of weapons ready bodyguards surrounded the lord during the ceremony.

Some heads were not presented to the lord. The reasons being, the facial expressions were often interpreted as being lucky or unlucky kills depending on such things as the direction the eyes are looking, whether the head is biting its lip, which eye is open, etc. Heads deemed to be showing in-auspicios expressions were taken away and attended to by Buddhist priests instead.

After the ceremony, the heads of the samurai killed in battle from both sides, vanquished and victor, were buried in large pits known as kubi-zuka, or head mounds. Most battlefields have a head mound in the vicinity.

Incidentally, the record number of heads taken by a single man in combat at the Battle of Sekigahara was Kani Saizo, a samurai serving under Fukushima Masanori, who took a claimed 22 heads, but having left the bulk of his taken heads on the battlefield, could only prove 17 kills, still winning the stakes for the most heads taken.

There is a certain etiquette for holding the head of a warrior. When holding the neck,

the left thumb should be in the ear hole, and the right thumb should be in the cheek.

Kubi jikken (首実験) is a term translates to “head inspection” in Japanese. It was a ceremonial practice by which severed heads of executed enemies were examined by the victorious to verify the identity of the deceased and ensure that the proper legal and ritualistic protocols were followed. Samurai would typically bring the heads back to the castle. The namakubi (生首) were commonly prepared before this inspection by women, usually by their wives clean, groom, dress and arrange them meticulously before presentation. They would get more rewards if they brought the head of someone important so they would sneakily blacken the teeth (black teeth were a symbol of aristocracy) of peasant heads to pass it off as someone of higher standing.

A woodblock print by artist Yoshitoshi Tsukioka portrays Hideyoshi and the head viewing Ceremomy.

A rare scene of a formal head-inspection ceremony presided over by military strongman Mashiba Hisayoshi (Toyotomi Hideyoshi), seated on a chair in his camp and surrounded by his retainers. A kneeling Samurai holds up each severed head for Hideyoshi’s inspection, who customarily holds a fan in front of his face to avoid recognition by the dead. The heads of slain enemy soldiers were collected by their killers to claim monetary reward or recognition.

Thank you for looking!