Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/167

 women undertook the duty of vengeance if there were no men in their family to discharge it. It was a duty that had the sanction of custom ranking as law. A bushi need only solicit the permission of his feudal chief to constitute himself an avenger of blood. He could count almost certainly on obtaining sanction, and thenceforth the consummation of his purpose was secure against official interruption or punishment. It frequently happened that having discovered his foe, he made application to the chief of the fief where the latter served to authorise a public duel, and in such a case lists were duly chosen, soldiers appointed to guard them, and all precautions adopted to secure fair play. The life of a nation governed by such customs could not fail to abound with strange and vivid episodes.

Japanese fencing, numerous as are the styles professed and practised by different schools, is altogether of the broad-sword type. As a rule, not invariable, however, the sword is grasped with both hands, the point upward and the hilt about three-quarters of an arm's-length from the body. The cuts are almost entirely downward or horizontal, the only upward cut employed being directed at the lower part of the adversary's fore-arm, and the only point a rapid lunge at the throat. Two swords are often used. Sometimes they are crossed, and in that position they occasionally pin an opponent's blade, creating a situation of great danger for him at the moment of