Ways of the Warrior

[Lucas]

So I have always been a big fan of reading up on the various warrior castes through out the world.

Of course I am not the only one to do this.

There, obviously, are many similarities shared between cultures that have been spawned or are closely related to the traditions of the warriors that grew and developed out of each culture.

Simply because I often have nothing better to do than to research this kind of stuff, I have recorded a lot of these things into my own logs.

Right now I am at work and I decided, partially to help give this section of the forum a little traffic, and partially because I want to put a lot of these ideas in a place other than my own computer, I will put some of my thoughts in this thread.

I'll have to wait till I get home to copy and paste some junk here from my plethora of un ordered, jumbled notes.

I'll mainly be putting forth simliarities I have noticed between the east and the west. As the east and west have always been seen as so seperate and different, it is interesting to note many of the similarities that exist between cultures that never shared knowledge during the times when these martial warriors put their ideas, ideals, faiths, and beliefs into practice through the ways of the warrior.

It has been my conclusion (though I am far from the first) that the mindsets and beliefs people develop out of living the life of a warrior, within a war like culture, and developing traditions based on the necessity for many of these developments, are quite similar. Sometimes astonishingly so.

Though I do not have any of my notes with me, I when I get the time to put some of my thoughts here, I will likely start with mine own ancestors in the west. Those being of Germanic origin.

I will also at some point bring into the "new world" natives, as well as Africans into this thread as well. Though to begin I will focus on east and west.

I invite any and all discussion here regarding, simply, ways of the warrior.

For my part, I will be putting forth these types of similarities/coincidences, found between cultures that have always been seen as so distant and seperate during these formulative years of man kind. Most likely I will leave out much of the modern day, as with our state of communication, similarities in cultures today would not be so unheard of.

We are all the same species after all.

[sanjuro_ronin]

The Spartans and the samurai had so much in common, you'd think that samurai were misplaced Spartans.
Warrior societies are something that very few of us can relate to, including the military.
Probably warrior cults is a better term.
To be born into a warrior caste/cult is something that truly made them unique.
To have that kind of mindset from the very beginning...

Of course, with civilization came the death toll of warrior cults and societies and rightly so.

I mean, can you imagine how misplaced someone that is breed to be a 'traditional" warrior would be in this day and age ?

[Lucas]

I mean, can you imagine how misplaced someone that is breed to be a 'traditional" warrior would be in this day and age ?

Thats something I was thinking about the other day. Many of the beliefs that these guys had that would lead to certain actions would simply have them branded as criminals, and locked up.

Its funny that you mention spartans and samurai. My roomate and I were talking about those 2 groups just the other day.

oh ya, LUNCH TIME

[Lucas]

too busy last night, no comp time. will continue my nerd fest this weekend.

[Lucas]

I'll have internet back in about a month. Shut it off a week and a half ago because I am moving.

Finally no more roomates. yay


but ya, no one cares, but ill post this crap in here later. june later...

so as i am posting to myself, i can be assured that i will re post again to myself the things i promised to post to myself previously...i think

[jdhowland]

Good idea for a thread.

I don't have much time to post, either. But here are a few suggestions for future subject headings, lest I forget:

The breakdown of the military aristocracy in the Han period and the survival of civilian and military traditions into modern times.

The Knights Templar.

Does chivalry really come from asian culture (the Hunnish invasions of Europe)?

The "Jomsvikings"

The origins of Hanseatic power in the need to defend trade against pirates.

Should monastic fighting arts be seen as a separate category of military arts?

Be well.

jd

[sanjuro_ronin]

The breakdown of the military aristocracy in the Han period and the survival of civilian and military traditions into modern times.

A thread (book) all its own.

The Knights Templar.

What about those smelly corrupt losers?

Does chivalry really come from asian culture (the Hunnish invasions of Europe)?

No.

The "Jomsvikings"

What about them?

The origins of Hanseatic power in the need to defend trade against pirates.

AARRR Matey !!

Should monastic fighting arts be seen as a separate category of military arts?

yes, so should civilian arts.

[jdhowland]

[QUOTE=sanjuro_ronin;856554]

Of course, with civilization came the death toll of warrior cults and societies and rightly so.

QUOTE]


Warrior societies as a specialized class only exist within civilizations. You could say that modern social structures or civilian military technologies replaced the warrior aristocracies.

jd

[jdhowland]

[QUOTE=sanjuro_ronin;863618]

What about those smelly corrupt losers?QUOTE]


Yes. They were, indeed, smelly. And they did lose much of the time. In the end, they lost everything. But I find all the quasi-monastic, quasi-military orders fascinating. The acts you can justify by appealing to divine authority are appallingly diabolical. Hitler was dangerous, not because he was evil, but because he was a charismatic idealist. Many of the Knights of the Temple may have been dangerously sincere idealists. Not to say there wasn't corruption, as well.

Be well.

jd

[sanjuro_ronin]

[QUOTE=jdhowland;866152]

Of course, with civilization came the death toll of warrior cults and societies and rightly so.

QUOTE]


Warrior societies as a specialized class only exist within civilizations. You could say that modern social structures or civilian military technologies replaced the warrior aristocracies.

jd

To an extent, perhaps, but true warrior societies like the Spartans and Samurais have gone the way of the Do-Do.
Warrior cults have remianed, but are more "role playing" than anythign else.
As for the current military culture, it tends to have more "wannabes" than warriors and we have to remember that, being a soldier is a job, being a warrior is a way of life.
There are many soldiers, but few warriors.

[sanjuro_ronin]

[QUOTE=jdhowland;866154]

What about those smelly corrupt losers?QUOTE]


Yes. They were, indeed, smelly. And they did lose much of the time. In the end, they lost everything. But I find all the quasi-monastic, quasi-military orders fascinating. The acts you can justify by appealing to divine authority are appallingly diabolical. Hitler was dangerous, not because he was evil, but because he was a charismatic idealist. Many of the Knights of the Temple may have been dangerously sincere idealists. Not to say there wasn't corruption, as well.

Be well.

jd

Being decendent of the Order Of Christ, Iwas exposed to alot of the crap when I was younger, I loved the Martial part of it, couldn't care less for the "divine" BS that was used to justify crap.
The Templars were , at the grass root levels, a ffine warrior cult, the problem is that, at the higer levels, like all cults, it stopped being a "practise what you preach" environment.