日本 中世 社會의 武士에 대한 인식

The Social Perceptions of the Samurai Class in the Middle Ages of Japan

The military prestige(武威) of samurai class in the middle ages of Japan was accepted in the contemporary society in both positive and negative aspects of the word. The samurais in the capacity of tsuwamono(兵) were a group of functionaries with martial arts by which they were distinguished from other groups. They came into being as a consequence of the demand from the nation and society that called for their military skills; therefore, their military prestige had a justifiable recognition due to their protective role of the latter. Though in a limited sense, it cannot be denied that their military prestige was considered valuable to some degree. However, they were also the object of fear: as the martial arts was trained to kill or injure, they were imagined as nonchalant and cruel killers and assassinators. Also, violence and plundering for which the samurai class were engaged earned for them a contempt from the people; they were even branded as butchers (屠膾), barbarians (夷狄), a heterogeneous species (異類), or brutes (禽獸). Their violence and cruelties were not limited to war times and randomly committed toward ordinary people, thereby making themselves feared, despised, and isolated from the society. In the meantime, the samurai class embraced pride and honor on their part as descendants of the tsuwamono family. Especially, the jito(地頭) of the Kamakura shogunate assumed a sense of pride as a holder of the police force as well as the coercive attitude corresponding to their self-esteem. But, on the whole, they more often dealt with their local community by illegal military prestige than by the other way. As a matter of course, they got through mental reformation after the late 13th century, which caused the class not to become self-conscious of their position alone, but even to make out the written norms as well. However,despite their claim to the soothing administration(撫民), the rule by military prestige still went on, and in that sense soothing was very limitedly exercised.