Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/171

 night by a samurai for the sake of trying the temper of a sword or the efficacy of a special stroke. This bloody practice is often quoted as conclusive evidence of the samurai's inhumanity, and certainly it merits the extremest condemnation. But instances of it were rare. The law, too, was in some degree responsible, for it allowed a military man to exercise within his own house authority so unlimited as to be certainly productive of abuse. Thus, if a servant committed a theft, or rode on his master's horse, or engaged in a liaison with a handmaid, he was at his employer's mercy; and undoubtedly the latter did not fail to exercise his authority, for it is recorded that during the Kwanyei era (1624–1644) two or three deaths occurred monthly in Yedo from such causes.

The fact is that, like all systems demanding severe moral discipline, the samurai's habits were apt to degenerate into extravagance. Absolute indifference to death, brusque and haughty manners, immediate and forcible resentment of anything like an insult, openly displayed contempt for whatever is gentle or effeminate, readiness to face any odds in defence of the weak against the strong,—these are traits which, though admirable so long as their display is confined to legitimate occasions, become unsightly when they perpetually seek opportunities for display.

The extreme development of the latter type was the kyōkaku ("champion of the weak"), called also otoko-date ("gallant") and yakko