The Public perception and portrayal of the samurai is vastly different from reality, largely because of the way that samurai have been portrayed in modern media such as movies, anime and video games. The truth is that the inspiration for the Samurai “image” comes from a very specific time period, completely ignoring the very long time in which the Samurai was evolving into something similar to what popular culture currently accepts as reality. Seems like modern media has issues with the samurai. This might be because it’s easier to think of them as unchanged, but that’s not actually the truth. Samurai have changed a lot over the decades since their beginnings, developing into what people see them as only towards the end of their existence. It’s …show more content…
In the earliest sources revolving around Yoshitsune’s endeavours in the Genpei war, the name “Benkei” is never once mentioned. However, in Yoshitsune: A 15th Century Chronicle, a retelling of the same events, Yoshitsune befriends a seven-foot tall warrior monk named Benkei who becomes his sworn protector to the very end. The enormous monk is celebrated to this day for his undying devotion to Yoshitsune, and his famous standing-death has become a motif of extraordinary loyalty and purpose. The truth is, Benkei probably never existed. He is more likely the fictive work of romanticizing minds in the 15th century who wished to embody the virtue of loyalty that was becoming a part of the idealized samurai of that time period. Considering the two examples I’ve just given of samurai ideals that developed over time (ritual suicide and loyalty), it’s no stretch of the imagination to consider that the samurai in existence prior to the Tokugawa period (1600-1868 A.D.) were nothing at all like those you see depicted today in anime, video games, and other mediums. It was not until the 17th century that the samurai would become anything like the characters that entertain and inspire us