I like the bit about 'Common women have to pay to marry samurai'. Uh... you mean like a dowry? That thing that pretty much every culture has had for most of history?
Dakota Holmes I was thinking the exact same thing. Dowry existed pretty much everywhere in every culture for a ridiculously long time. Even if you were a princess and your country was richer than another nation, you paid a dowry. Example, when Catherine of Aragon was married to Arthur, son of Henry the VII, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile basically gave the English a Navy as her dowry.
don't go too far people. In my country (india) people still practice this and yes, i'm ashamed of it. I guess some of us are still stuck somewhere between 15 - 17 century AD.
Actually a dowry was paid by the woman's family, not the woman. It was more like a "Here, take this useless woman off our hands, and take this gold for your trouble" (yes I'm being hyperbolic, sue me). So not exactly the same thing.
To pay for the bride is not a dowry, it's a brideprice. A dowry has numerous functions including the establishment of the household and even insurance against harm being brought against the bride if the laws of the country stipulate that if a wife dies soon in marriage, the dowry returns. It can also be used to sustain the wife after the husband's death, as well as be given to her own children in inheritance. In Ancient Sparta for example, there was an extremely wealthy upper class and very powerful group of women called the heiresses, due to the Spartan custom that a man's wealth passed to his wife when he died, not his children. She, adding this to her own legal property as well as ownership of her dowry, would then divide this equally between her sons and daughters. So then you had daughters entering marriage with a vast amount of property as well as dowry, and repeating the process a generation down. The consequence was a very enriched class of women with massive political influence. Dowries are largely extinct now due to the fact more women work than they did before as well as the general deconstruction of the family unit and values in many countries (I would argue this is a bad thing but others may differ), but the notion that dowries were simply the consequence of the *lack* of value placed on women in any role is very much not true and could in many ways work to the advantage of a woman. This of course is culture dependant, but even in cases of arranged marriages, brides were rarely 'sold'.
@Mr Lee Well as far as I am aware, a dower is property or wealth paid to the bride by the husband to support her upkeep in the event of his death (common if men marry later than women), whilst brideprice is paid to her family so that he is able to marry her at all.
@@tiberius5245 Actually, Roman suicide sometimes did mean cutting their own stomach open. Look up how Cato the Younger killed himself: "Cato did not immediately die of the wound; but struggling, fell off the bed...his son and all his friends came into the chamber, where, seeing him lie weltering in his own blood, great part of his bowels out of his body, but himself still alive and able to look at them, they all stood in horror. The physician went to him, and would have put in his bowels, which were not pierced, and sewed up the wound; but Cato, recovering himself, and understanding the intention, thrust away the physician, plucked out his own bowels, and tearing open the wound, immediately expired."
Kevin Morrice if only you’d of asked yourself the same question before commenting. Think I’m general, but think about being kind before you speak please.
Here's a problem with top 10s and top 20s, Why only 10 or 20? Why not 11 or 19 or 22? Why not just as many you need to mention to give the general idea, or to cover most of the popular ones in the category or just enough you can talk about in the time limit of video? I never click on these types of links, not matter how popular the channel, or good source. The nicely rounded numbers are fishy.
"It was war. People do aweful things at war." I'm french, I've been at war. You cannot be so true. What makes us quality humans, is to be able to grasp those facts. And act accordingly. Grazie mille signor Metatron.
Still, comparing the atrocities of Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, the USSR, or to a lesser extent Italy (not that Italy wasn't bad, but we're looking at comparisons between three of the most evil regimes in history) grossly undermines those atrocities. The reason the US felt the need to drop those atomic bombs was precisely because of the fanaticism of the Japanese army and culture, and because they gave us no indication of an easy surrender. Either way, the fire bombings of Tokyo were far deadlier, and I'm not sure why people focus on the atomic bombs.
@@owlblocksdavid4955 tell that to a Deontologist also the U.S didn't just use an atomic bomb on just those two cities which the majority of were filled with innocent civilians but they've been literally bombing numerous cities in Japan not just Tokyo and let's not forget that the U.S during WW2 WW2 unreasonably put all their Japanese citizens in internment camps and where they faced much discrimination and incarceration because they feared they were all spies for Japan which is obviously not true, as well as the history of U.S discrimination against Japanese since the 1800s
Yeah apart from the teenagers was the line that worried me.... I mean he is trying to justify what they did too children by saying oh well happens to adults too.... thats odd
@@robertcook2112 Well put, he just didn't want to engage with that aspect of it. Coercion of children into sex happened in Europe too however, though he didn't mention that; children were routinely married to middle aged men.
I fell in love with the romanticised version of Japan's feudal as a kid. Most people I run into get their notions from anime and manga. But the real history is much more interesting. It's good to see someone confronting largely Western held beliefs and ideals of the Edo and the Sengoku Jidai periods. I would love to see more on the end of the Jomon into the yayoi.
It's more tragic and immediately definite, of course, but same idea. Exact same idea as Juliet stabbing herself, come to think of it, just with less decapitation.
If you think the wives killing themselves is tragic. You should read about the rajputs of india , I forgot the time period but it was before timur invaded india . The rajput were somewhat similar to the japanese in ww2 where they rarely surrendered and fought till they were killed. And when the wives heard that all the men of their family were dead , they all gathered together a set themselves on fire to stay with their husband on the other side as well. The practice is called Jauhar .
@@DrunkenAussie76 I certainly do. Even Shakespeare himself called out their actions as foolish. The idea of someone killing themselves after their lover died is honestly just disgusting imo. I don't care why you commit suicide, just don't.
And of course the Romans were all about suicide for honor. Same with their contemporaries: Boudica, Cleopatra, Hannibal, Mithradates; they killed themselves rather than be publically humiliated.
@@Tareltonlives Well Mithradates ordered a friend to kill him during a rebellion of his army when the situation looked hopeless to him. I would not say that this was "suicide for honor" or comparable to the seppuku.
Midevil Knights hunted not just as a means for attaining food but also they hunted as a way of training. It was common practice for Knights in training to go into the forest and premtively find wild animals to kill in order to physically and psychologically train themselves
***** Seems too depend on the animal, I imagine most game would be hunted with bows or crossbows, though some animals like boars seem to been hunted predominantly with speer and hounds. And on the topic of tactics in regards to men-at-arms(I.e. knights) their tactics changed over time and according to the situation. Take for example the English during the Hundred Years War, who fought predominantly fought on foot in contrast with their peers. However after grand victories such as Crecy the trend seems to have caught on the rest of western Europe and was quite popular until the renaissance. However some knights also fought on foot as a necessity as a consequence of their native terrain, for example Norway or Scotland.
Whataboutism, and appealing to cultural sympathy/empathy/understanding to defend obnoxious cultural practices are not even arguments man, they are justifications. The video was informative yes, but poorly argumented.
Yeah, I always was kind of confused with how Ronin could be so disgraced when Miyamoto Musashi was a Ronin _himself._ Yet, Musashi is often regarded as the pinnacle of what a Samurai was.
I think the point is that it was not desirable to be a Ronin, but misfortune could happen to anyone despite themselves and a Ronin could still become a Samurai again and find a master later. I think it's also the case that Musashi became highly regarded as a Samurai by *some* people after his death. During his lifetime he was highly regarded as a swordsman but not as a pattern of what a Samurai was. I know you wrote this 2 years ago, I am just looking at comments and felt moved to respond.
I think the misconception comes from a mix of facts cherry picked left and right. Kabukimono were essentially ronin, Akechi Mitsuhide was a ronin before serving Oda Nobunaga and ultimately betray him, stuff like that. Many ronin did end up getting caught for petty crimes while trying to barely survive. Stuff like that. Plus there's the whole honor point, samurai means something along the lines of "one who serves," the idea of dying in service of a lord was far more respected than dying independent. The idea that you could fight for the Hojo one day and the Satake the next might sound ludicrous to a samurai from either side. That's not to say defections never happened, they did when the tides of war did. There's often hypocrisy in those honor-based system, but then again it's hard to judge fairly from the outside.
Ikr. Ninjas actually didn't carry shurikens because it would rattle and if you dropped them that'd be hard to explain.They were more for stealth and being a messenger. Not for combat.
I just read "The 47 Ronin Story" by John Allyn and found your video very much in line with Allyn's descriptions of samurai. The book even mentions a FEW ronin did turn criminal but most did not. Glad I saw your video since the Top Tenz one depressed me a bit after I finished such an inspiring book.
There's a difference between killing an animal for sport and for food. You should compare killing an animal for sport with killing another animal for sport, and killing an animal for food with killing another animal for food. But yeah it is hypocritical because even today we kill animals for sport here in the west. From foxes and ducks to lions and elephants in the savvanah or bulls in the arenas and so on and so forth. Judging Samurai for shooting arrows at dogs a few centuries ago is hypocritical.
I always love how they say dogs because they're mans best friends. You know, not like they totally never competed in hunting birds or boars or other creatures.
I agree with you, that there is a difference between killing animal for Sport and for food. But what Metatron points out is not just the western Tradition of killing for food. He also mentiones Foxhunting, what ist in fact just killing animals for pure fun. If we talk about Hunting, in my opinion, there is also, if we do it really for food or for fun and Sport. And most of the Nobility of the Western world saw it as a Sport. (That does not mean, that i oppose killiing animals for food. I really love meat an see it as part of our culture.) At a last point, I think, we should not forget the reason of Training. One may discuss, if this is moral or not, but in any case, i think, there is a Difference between killing animals for fun or to improve you arching skills.
So it's somehow hypocritical to call out another culture for doing something other people do in the West that we also find disgusting? Sure, makes perfect sense.
Bini Farmer Someone who is OK with killing foxes for sport, would be a hypocrite if he judged the japanese for shooting arrows into dogs for sport. If you find both of these wrong then you're not a hypocrite, but I'm talking about the west in general. We (the west) do hunt animals for sport to this day, so it's down to the individual to place judgement.
hm I don't rememver if he refereed to the movie as whole, but he usually mention on it on his videos about japan, for example, the fact that the "samurai don't use guns cause of honor" part is bullshit.
True, the Samurais had been using guns and artillery for 300 years before the movie's timeline. I would suggest the review of HistoryBuffs, so many things you can learn from that guy :D
Am I wrong but it seems to me that TopTenz got all of their information from movies and anime. ps. Here are 10 reasons why I don't watch TopTenz, Watchmojo or other that kind of channels. I feel slightly bad that 'block youtuber' script don't work any more and I haven't found replacement.
it never changes because it's a descriptive term, used to describe something that will always be inherent in human nature. That 2 opposing forces must clash and one must consume the other. Sad but true.
@@thazmat Thing is, statements like "War never changes" sound profound because they resonate with something people believe. Lots of people *do* think war never changes, along with everything else in the world...and hence that nothing *can* change, so why bother trying to stop abuses of power or whatever? War never changes, the more things change the more they stay the same, it'll happen no matter what you do to stop it. Except it *can* be changed if people *bother.*
A very good video, and I must say, I had almost exactly the same reaction to some of the points as you did, and I know very little about oriental history, and so don't really understand the majority of cultural taboos and requirements that occurred. The point about dogs though, I genuinely paused the video for a moment to have my own little rant, about how they would hunt dogs for sport. My response was something along the lines of: "What? In Europe people would hunt foxes for sport, and some still do today? So what's so different about hunting dogs? Cuteness factor?!? Bullcrap. Utter bullcrap." And so, when I unpaused the video after a moment, I was both mildly shocked and quite pleased to see that you had exactly the same counter-example as I did. It's great to see someone put actual reason, evidence, and an unbiased viewpoint to use, debunking videos like this, and like you said at the start, trying to educate people who may have been formerly misled by videos such as the one debunked. Good work Metatron, keep up the great videos!
Thank you very much for responding, I really enjoy your videos, they're quite a nice change from the majority of stuff online. People like you, Shad, and demomanchaos all make fascinating videos that are always entertaining to watch.
Dogs are loyal beings that evolved alongside us. Killing them for sport is, well, not only wasteful but inefficient. Foxes aren't domestic and they often cause damage to livestock and/or goods. To me, it seems that it takes a particularly savage person to kill an animal that isn't harmful to you, or if it isn't a food source.
Your video took everything out of context toptenz. The fact that you have paid so much attention to this video and even to random people here shows that you know it too and are insecure. This video just didn't "add more information", metatron added the actual context to it like you should've done in the first place. When you leave out the context it makes all of these things seem like they were practiced among most of the samurai. And then you even say things like "and for some reason people are obsessed with japan" which just shows your true charlatan intention for the video. You don't have any more integrity just because you're pretending that showing up here actually makes a difference. Congrats on completely misrepresenting an amazing Warrior Culture just for views because you did that well.
um actually...the guy debunked like 3 or 4 facts only. the rest of the points was just his personal opinion and further explanation, he couldn't debunk the fact itself.
I watched a documentary and it said, "they sometimes tested the sharpness of their blades on people, but the Japanese found it distasteful and found better ways of doing so." A history documentary..... or some random top 10s video dude on the internet. I wonder which is a better source for real historical facts.
This is why i like to research subjects Myself. Unfortunately finding a Source that is Correct gets harder with the internet because False information travles Faster than the truth and some people think just because they seen it on Tv or Read it on some random site online that it is Factual
The ronin thing is particularly bizarre to me. Samurai became ronin for a variety of reasons. Some went on pilgrimages to hone their skill. Some became mercenaries. Others became body guards. To say that they were all criminals or refused to work is simply wrong. In fact, some ronin actually put away their swords and took up other skills such as farming or merchant.
Just subscribed to your channel (coming here from Shadversity) and your medieval Japan focus piqued my interest. Thank you for making this video specifically, because a lot of the misconceptions you call out the Top Tenz video on are still perpetuated today, and they shine a bad light upon samurai, much worse than a realistic perspective warrants.
2:10 iirc they also did this sometimes when they didn't have tameshigiri, with limbs and stuff stuck up on things such as the tameshigiri would be. If you even GOOGLE tameshigiri and read up on it, this being done on criminals that were alive was "occasional", meaning not a frequent thing. I completely agree with your statement on it being capital punishment as well, as it definitely was back then. I can't stand videos like that where they are trying to tell people about "HISTORY" and are being all like, " hey get smart off this shit buddy XD!!! " and then proceed to just spew a bunch of horseshit botched information. These people are just trying to make money off of gullible idiots who think that everyone on youtube is telling them correct information when they have the ability to just google what people are talking about while the video is paused and research whether what they're saying is true or not. Another good video Metatron.
If I had a choice in the method of my execution...I'd choose decapitation by a skilled swordsman over electric chair or firing squad any day. My first choice would be old age of course.
15:33 *CURRENT YEAR!* Really? In [THE CURRENT YEAR]!? I mean *COME ON!* I thought you were better than this Metatron. Here we go again... CURRENT YEAR! U R R E N T Y E A R ! You brought this upon yourself.
I love it when you start debunking by "well, they actually did this but [..]so did e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e else around the world" if you could only imagine that most people do get the idea: NOT ALL SAMURAY DID THAT!" without YOU teliing us so.. I was expecting you to PROVE sth wasn't right in the original material but nope, no such case here
I am a HUGE fan of your channel, and am often very pleased to find that when you either debunk or introduce a subject that I previously believed to be true and independently research said subject, I find that I was wrong and have subsequently been corrected and changed my mind. To the degree of the preponderance of evidence presented, of course. I would absolutely love to see you do a video on ancient/Medieval shock troops and special forces akin to today's SAS and SEALs. There are so many videos out there with contradictory information and I'm sure the truth is probably hidden in there somewhere. As I believe your team is as reliable, unbiased, and rigorous as it gets on UA-cam I am hoping you will entertain my suggestion. Either way, keep the videos coming, your channel is an EXCELLENT source of not only information, but of also dispelling false information.
Lies are bad. Conveniently incomplete truths are even worse. The former was used more to cover ignorance and mostly easy to discover, while the latter was frequently utilized to support agendas, and sadly more convincing as well.
+Bruce Jedi Lee Well, when you point out for example that yes this thing happened but we have to see it in prespective (which i agree with) it isnt debunking. its apologetic in the sence that metatron puts it in context not proving it isnt true. I dont disagree with what he said by the way
ShaNagmaImmuru Well he also pointed out that almost everything he said was also grossly exaggerated or was only done by either a small group of Samurai or only durring a specific time period
I'm surprised you don't have more subscribers.A long while back I have mentioned I told my grand kids to use your videos on the renaissance,the ones on knights to be specific.They even told their friends where to get information. Anyway keep up the good work.
While I think that you might misinterpret some of their motivations in one or two cases, I am as bothered as you were by people who judge the past or cultures of the past from today's perspective. It is such a stupid thing to do. Nothing is easier than that. I recently came across an article in the Guardian from 2009 which called Shakespeare problematic because of how women are portrayed in his plays. Sometimes I get the feeling that these people must believe themselves to be the heroes of humanity for criticising the past, not realizing that they would have been like those people in the past and that they would done the exact same things under those circumstances.
Informative video but in TopTenz defense, I think you are mistaking 'debunking' with 'nuancing'. You did not debunk these claims, rather you nuanced them. Debunking involves showing the falseness of claims - which you do not - nuancing involves showing subtle differences in meaning or alternative perspectives to claims - which you do.
Thank you for both your academic and philosophical views. I searched for dai + katana and found your channel only to realize that about 2 years ago, wanting to know more about Latin, I visited you once. Nice to know that it has grown to a massive community. Thanks again for all your efforts!!
"Yeah the samurai did do that... but what about" Dude, I like your channel, but you didn't debunk a single thing, this entire video is just one giant whataboutism.
I'm afraid you didn't catch the meaning of this video that much. Did you perhaps not watch the entire video? He did debunk most of the things in the list, what you may have missed is the fact that TopTenzNet has clearly put low effort on his video and is shining light on some things that mostly were a rare thing while trying to criticize them as if the entirety of japan was at fault, not only that but also using the morality we have today towards a culture he does not and refuse to understand. Metatron did an amazing job at pushing aside the stupid criticism, although i agree that some had a, like you called them, "whataboutism" into them but the point is that every culture in the world had a similar, if not the same thing, they pointed against old Japanese culture. So it's quite pointless to try singling japan while the rest of the world was by any means better.
keep forgetting italians use ciao for 'hello' as well. We use "tchau" in portuguese as a way to say goodbye. It gave me impression you were saying like "bye" and leaving the channel somehow. Love cultural exchance.
Love the way you clarify the facts! I have Samurai blood dating back from the 17th century. Never knew all of the real and not because my Japanese great-grandparents moved here to Hawaii in the 1900's, and pop culture fuels the minds of many.
i liked most of the upload but not the debunking point 3, you didn't deny this happened, so the fact that it happened to adults too don't mean you ignore the child victims and focus on the adult's by calling it homophobic but not paedophilia
Thank you for reminding me to respect other cultures & try to understand before criticizing from my moral high horse. Seems simple, but it's easy to forget sometimes.
I disagree. While judging individuals should be done in context, I think it's important to judge cultures themselves. We don't want to dismiss the evils of the slave culture of the antebellum south, the anti semitic culture of early 20th century Germany, etc. Recognize that there were good parts of each culture, sure. But cultures can be more moral than others.
Enjoyed watching this. There are a lot of media outlets doing similar things over the past month as it seems they are REALLY upset with "Ghost of Tsushimas" success for some reason. I'm not an expert, though I have read Miyamoto Musashi a lot as well as The Hagakure and try to watch/read a lot of media on Japanese history, but it is clear they are heinously misrepresenting or lying about a great deal of things based on my knowledge. It's a real shame and in some cases a bit enraging. Cheers for this.
Great video! The only problem for me is defending imperial japan. (Or at least it sounds like it) Imperial Japanese did so many terrible things that fighting to the last man, suicide plane crashes, and attack at pearl harbor without a declaration of war should not go even top 10.
No, he isn't defending Imperial Japan. But the fact that everyone did shit on WWII was his point. Hell such as the Laconia Incident and American Fire Bombings on literal civilian cities(aside from the fact that inaccuracy from pilots was too common at that time). Sure thing we can blame everyone for their war crimes, but saying one is defending a certain country for a cultural concept that no longer existed in Imperial Japan(said Bushido was no longer a thing at that time and was just a template for a different code of honor, just like Chivalry).
It's been several years...but I sacrificed two lambs and consecrated them to the nutrition of my family. Yes, I slit their throats and apologized and thanked them. :) Those 4H lambs were good eating.
Its quite common in middle eastern societies to slaughter a sheep on weddings and such occasions, as a carnivore I don’t feel I can be judging them for that if they do it in a none sadistic way
Not a ceremonial sacrifice, but Greeks traditionally eat lamb on Easter Sunday. (Not that we don't eat lamb year round, but that one day holds special significance because of Christianity.)
15:40 I think what they might have been implying is that the trainer could use his senior position to coerce the apprentice into sexual relations, which wouldn't be properly consensual.
Interesting indepth analysis. I appreciate your time and efforts in making this video. One minor criticism: the audio quality is not as good as many of your previous videos. I found it harder to hear to I speak.
11:50 Fun fact (although i can not remember where i heard this so take this with a large grain of salt) the Japanese meant to declare war immediately before pearl harbor (like within an hour before the attack) but they forgot about the time difference. This probably is not actually true but it is plausible.
The story I've read I've read is that the declaration for war was sent in code. The Japanese diplomats in Washington took too long to decode it. The problem with that story is that ambassador already knew about the war plans.
mustarastas88 It's terrible to get heart surgery. It's terrible to kill an intruder at night. It's terrible to sit in a prison cell all day long. None of these things are inherently wrong. Sometimes they are, but not always.
Levi Paladin I don't think that heart surgery is terrible. But sure, that's personal opinion. What's the intruder thing supposed mean? Home invasion and self defense? At least here that's illegal. Not that it's an actual, common problem here.
Even if these are old, I appreciate greatly these debunking videos. Good work! And I suppose you've already watched it, but I thoroughly recommend you the film "Harakiri" de Koyabashi.
Thank you for giving me a better picture of the Japanese warriors. I've always found them pretty awesome in their honorable ways. But that top 10 gave me a pretty fuckedup picture of Samurai's. Thanks to you I know better
Too bad, most of the video was true. Making excuses like "knights did it too" doesn't make it better. Most Samurai, like most people in the Feudal era around the globe, were horrible people by today's standards. If you have a fantastical, romaticised view of someone from that era, it's probably false
The best way to think of samurai is to think of them as people. People are prone to be horrible, just look at the shitshow that America has become. Look at politics, look at religion, look at global conflicts. People can be shit, and the samurai were no different.
Great Video. I appreciate your channel and I agree that there's a lack of context that, while it might not justify said actions, it does show they weren't a particularly Japanese or Samurai issue. I would say, I appreciate the criticism of Bushido. By way of background, my academic training is in philosophy and theology. I think bushido suffers from the same things any idealistic code, which is ripped from concrete reality, suffers. We see this in current theology debates, let's say in the Catholic world where my theological training comes from, and the rallying cry to "heroic virtue" in terms of sexual ethics to some, which simply looks like, to quote a philosophy friend of mine, "obnoxious piety", which itself can lend itself to viciousness. That is not to say that all ideals, or idealism are bad, but there is something to the criticism, in particular to how it was applied in WW2, that struck a positive chord. I saw this, while acknowledging that your criticism stands. Just something of depth I appreciated in the original video.
The line between racism and ignorance does not exist, because of the symbiotic relationship between the two. Racism cannot exist without ignorance, and that ignorance is hard to maintain without racism. Not necessarily KKK levels of racism, but it doesn't stop being racist just because it's subtle and accidental.
@@timothymclean true. You can say the same thing about evil cultural practices, like ritual suicide. Yes. Other cultures did it. They were also wrong to do it.
Hey! Great video! I found this very helpful as I am currently developing Bushido style pvp mmo. I've subscribed, and later down the road when we get to beta, I might contact you to see if you might come point out some of my more obvious mistakes, if that is something you wouldn't be opposed to.
I appreciate you calling out Simon's moral superiority complex, as well as his blatant lies and those of omission. I've seen his content before and enjoyed SOME of it but damn this dude really takes liberties. I assume it's for shock factor and maybe he doesn't even believe the crap he spews. Overall you did well and continue to do so. I know I'm late for this party but ya
You kind of contradict one of your own points when you bring up that the Samurais stopped killing dogs because of pressure from monks and they realized how wrong it was, meaning it was bad for their karma. Breeding a domesticated animal to put it in a closed area and chase it down with a horse and bow to kill it, is not nearly the same thing as hunting a wild animal that destroys livestock and farms.
Private hunt was spread worldwide till 1700/1800. Every noble had a private area where he could hunt his captivated animals, they could be domesticated or wild animals caged and released for the hunt 🤔
I love most of your videos but here you seem to criticize a video that focuses on the worst aspects of an ancient class.... for only pointing out the worst aspects of an ancient class. Slightly befuddling. Edited to be fair the number one point on their list didn't actually relate to samurai so that criticism is more fair.
I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s racist to condemn the Samurai code of conduct. Samurais were a small subset of Japan. I’m sure there were lots of peasants who hated the Samurai for their culture of dehumanization and disregard for life, the romanticization of which led to atrocities in WWII. Similarly it’s not racist to condemn European feudal serfdom for its exploitative practices which ultimately led to New World slavery. I think we can all agree these practices are best not romanticzed and left in the past. Our values today are different not because morality changed like fashion but because we humans have worked hard to become more enlightened.
Meta my dude I really like your weapons videos. Learned lots ever since For Honor dropped. on a unrelated deal I'm going to look into getting you a haircut. It's time brah
I am an Indian and absolutely love your Channel from now because Simon had changed my opinion about Samurai for bad now you have fixed it...now I hate Simon...the lies these people spew over the internet...Simon's words were hurting me...thank u Metatron. ❤❤❤❤Japan and Samurai ❤❤❤
I love how you debunked this shameful display of the Samurai. All these things he find so shocking is done all over the world at some point in history..
While I like the information you provided in this video, calling the man racist and homophobic was completely unnecessary. What most people forget is that these things are based on the person's intent, is it based on the person/group race or sexual preference. In this case, I don't feel it was. He wasn't targeting them based on their race or sexual preference but because from his perspective, a) this happened in this place with this culture (race doesn't equal culture) b) a mentor is taking advantage of his position of power over a minor to have a sexual relationship Mind you this is all being looked at with a modern-day lense with modern standards (something I don't agree with).
Maybe because it's the most prominent one, the one that everybody and their mother know about lol not everybody knows what happened in China but everyone knows what you mean when you talk about pearl harbour
Lusor Jango Fett HFH obviously there is an alternative explanation, I‘m just pointing out that it‘s very suspicious given japanese mentality basically throughout all of history.
He actually answered this question in a comment. He chose Peral Harbor because its what people know about. Bringing up Nanjing, and having to explain it, would have made the video longer. And probably would have changed the whole tone.
+Miracle Yang World War 2 started when Japan invaded china... They just call it the sino japanese war to describe the theatre, just like the german-polish war, was also part of WW2.
15:00 I think you're just being flat out dishonest here. Homosexual relationships between Samurai teacher and student (wakashūdo) were explicitly supposed to be between an adolescent boy (wakashū) and an adult man (nenja), and any sexual conduct between the two was supposed to end as soon as the boy reached adulthood. Indeed, adult men were not supposed to have sex with each other (of course that happened, but that was against the norms). Wakashūdo was explicitly about sex between a young boy and an adult man (a man in a position of authority no less), and by today's standards it's abhorrent, it would definitely be considered statutory rape today, and pointing this out has nothing to do with ridiculing homosexuals
Although I do not agree 100%, your critique of the Horrifying Facts about Samurai video, your summary is pretty accurate. Thank you for clarifying many misconceptions that the Top 10 presents for the sake of click bait.
"What would happenj if you insulted a knight in medieval Europe. I think you see the point."
I guess the guy mocking the knight would see it too.
nah man knights were rarely nice dudes, like samurai. both were pretty sorry characters
@@DT-hb1gq thats what he basically said.
@@DT-hb1gq "The point" he is referring to would be the Knight's sword
Unless the guy had an extremely flexible neck, he wouldn't see the point sticking out from his back...
Psycho-logic ye but knights couldn’t actually point blank kill an insolent person like a samurai could
I like the bit about 'Common women have to pay to marry samurai'. Uh... you mean like a dowry? That thing that pretty much every culture has had for most of history?
Dakota Holmes I was thinking the exact same thing. Dowry existed pretty much everywhere in every culture for a ridiculously long time. Even if you were a princess and your country was richer than another nation, you paid a dowry. Example, when Catherine of Aragon was married to Arthur, son of Henry the VII, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile basically gave the English a Navy as her dowry.
don't go too far people. In my country (india) people still practice this and yes, i'm ashamed of it. I guess some of us are still stuck somewhere between 15 - 17 century AD.
Actually a dowry was paid by the woman's family, not the woman. It was more like a "Here, take this useless woman off our hands, and take this gold for your trouble" (yes I'm being hyperbolic, sue me). So not exactly the same thing.
To pay for the bride is not a dowry, it's a brideprice.
A dowry has numerous functions including the establishment of the household and even insurance against harm being brought against the bride if the laws of the country stipulate that if a wife dies soon in marriage, the dowry returns.
It can also be used to sustain the wife after the husband's death, as well as be given to her own children in inheritance.
In Ancient Sparta for example, there was an extremely wealthy upper class and very powerful group of women called the heiresses, due to the Spartan custom that a man's wealth passed to his wife when he died, not his children. She, adding this to her own legal property as well as ownership of her dowry, would then divide this equally between her sons and daughters. So then you had daughters entering marriage with a vast amount of property as well as dowry, and repeating the process a generation down.
The consequence was a very enriched class of women with massive political influence.
Dowries are largely extinct now due to the fact more women work than they did before as well as the general deconstruction of the family unit and values in many countries (I would argue this is a bad thing but others may differ), but the notion that dowries were simply the consequence of the *lack* of value placed on women in any role is very much not true and could in many ways work to the advantage of a woman. This of course is culture dependant, but even in cases of arranged marriages, brides were rarely 'sold'.
@Mr Lee Well as far as I am aware, a dower is property or wealth paid to the bride by the husband to support her upkeep in the event of his death (common if men marry later than women), whilst brideprice is paid to her family so that he is able to marry her at all.
Seppuku? Hah! Pathetic.
True samurai commit Sudoku.
Appley Animator *confused by numbers* “ARRRGH!”
Shamefur dispray
It first drove them INSANE before they took their lives, LOL!
@Jeffrey Scott seppuku is The same thing as Hari-kiri they are both accurate terms however I believe seppuku was actually the more used term
Epic meme
Seppuku wasn't that unique. Many defeated Roman generals routinely fell on their swords.
and that's the occidentalist view expressed in the vid: "to rob the enemy of the opportunity to kill u".
Falling on your sword is not the same as cutting your stomach open.
@@tiberius5245 Actually, Roman suicide sometimes did mean cutting their own stomach open. Look up how Cato the Younger killed himself: "Cato did not immediately die of the wound; but struggling, fell off the bed...his son and all his friends came into the chamber, where, seeing him lie weltering in his own blood, great part of his bowels out of his body, but himself still alive and able to look at them, they all stood in horror. The physician went to him, and would have put in his bowels, which were not pierced, and sewed up the wound; but Cato, recovering himself, and understanding the intention, thrust away the physician, plucked out his own bowels, and tearing open the wound, immediately expired."
@Jacob Locklear 99% chance of fanfic websites.
@Grant bro, don't even try...
You could also compare ronin to modern veterans who have trouble reintegrating with society after living in such a violent environment for so long.
similar with rambo
not realy
Yes! The moment after watching it, i posted the link to Metatron. Someone has to debunk those weasels!
They drew first blood, not me
Similar to robber knights and/or Knight Errants
Thank you for this video. It's great to see an "extended" commentary on material that is eye-catching, but leaves a lot to be explained.
even after 3 years, i still cant find who asked for your opinion
@@kevinmorrice It was me I admit it. I asked asked him for his opinion 3 years ago. I’m so sorry.
@@kevinmorrice And I haven't find who asked yours, so what's your point?
Brah, he is just defending a culture he loves. I don't see wat this has to do with you
Kevin Morrice if only you’d of asked yourself the same question before commenting. Think I’m general, but think about being kind before you speak please.
Why is Context always ignored?
As practice for when it's time to smear Donald Trump and anyone else who's politics aren't your own.
Context killed my little brother Timmy.
Because they're not Matt Easton :)
Because they're not historians.
Damn you context, we will get revenge for Timmy just wait...
The video you responded to was like the Buzzfeed of medieval "facts".
+5Ermacs
LOL
Here's a problem with top 10s and top 20s, Why only 10 or 20? Why not 11 or 19 or 22? Why not just as many you need to mention to give the general idea, or to cover most of the popular ones in the category or just enough you can talk about in the time limit of video? I never click on these types of links, not matter how popular the channel, or good source. The nicely rounded numbers are fishy.
"It was war. People do aweful things at war."
I'm french, I've been at war. You cannot be so true.
What makes us quality humans, is to be able to grasp those facts. And act accordingly.
Grazie mille signor Metatron.
Still, comparing the atrocities of Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, the USSR, or to a lesser extent Italy (not that Italy wasn't bad, but we're looking at comparisons between three of the most evil regimes in history) grossly undermines those atrocities. The reason the US felt the need to drop those atomic bombs was precisely because of the fanaticism of the Japanese army and culture, and because they gave us no indication of an easy surrender. Either way, the fire bombings of Tokyo were far deadlier, and I'm not sure why people focus on the atomic bombs.
@SHADOW PIONEER - ENT. it was a different time
@@owlblocksdavid4955 tell that to a Deontologist also the U.S didn't just use an atomic bomb on just those two cities which the majority of were filled with innocent civilians but they've been literally bombing numerous cities in Japan not just Tokyo and let's not forget that the U.S during WW2 WW2 unreasonably put all their Japanese citizens in internment camps and where they faced much discrimination and incarceration because they feared they were all spies for Japan which is obviously not true, as well as the history of U.S discrimination against Japanese since the 1800s
@@owlblocksdavid4955 Couldn't have said it better.
@SHADOW PIONEER - ENT. well if you were born back then you'd act like them too
A wife killing herself along side her husband actually sounds quite Shakespearian...
you're right
I agree. It's also similar to the practice of "sati" that once existed in India.
Jacob Furrow that it does.
@Jacob Farrow: careful dude the sjws might accuse you of patriarchy
That doesn't make it okay.
Toptenz is a fucking sensationalist. His vid about vikings was terrible. Thanks for making these videos, it's truly needed.
"Germans did what they did..." thanks for your kindness :'D
@@OSRSBrachydios as Stanis la Rochelle would say
Yeah apart from the teenagers was the line that worried me.... I mean he is trying to justify what they did too children by saying oh well happens to adults too.... thats odd
What a hand wave and a half
@@DevilsAvocado69 I look at it as a way to move on from the topic, so he doesn't risk getting demonitized.
@@robertcook2112 Well put, he just didn't want to engage with that aspect of it. Coercion of children into sex happened in Europe too however, though he didn't mention that; children were routinely married to middle aged men.
I fell in love with the romanticised version of Japan's feudal as a kid. Most people I run into get their notions from anime and manga. But the real history is much more interesting. It's good to see someone confronting largely Western held beliefs and ideals of the Edo and the Sengoku Jidai periods. I would love to see more on the end of the Jomon into the yayoi.
ua-cam.com/video/OeqA8vaS9-8/v-deo.html
The wife killing herself in my mind, is the same as her never “moving on” after your death. It’s the loyalty to you.
It's more tragic and immediately definite, of course, but same idea. Exact same idea as Juliet stabbing herself, come to think of it, just with less decapitation.
If you think the wives killing themselves is tragic.
You should read about the rajputs of india , I forgot the time period but it was before timur invaded india .
The rajput were somewhat similar to the japanese in ww2 where they rarely surrendered and fought till they were killed.
And when the wives heard that all the men of their family were dead , they all gathered together a set themselves on fire to stay with their husband on the other side as well.
The practice is called Jauhar .
Every body romanticizes Romeo & Juliet.........
@@House_of_Green
...gee, I wonder why people romanticise one of the worlds most popular romantic tragedies...
@@DrunkenAussie76 I certainly do. Even Shakespeare himself called out their actions as foolish. The idea of someone killing themselves after their lover died is honestly just disgusting imo. I don't care why you commit suicide, just don't.
It's funny-every one of these horrifying facts is also true for a European culture from the same period.
They never said they weren't.
Killing innocents is still wrong. Committing suicide is still wrong.
@@owlblocksdavid4955 Well, Suicide isn't necessarily wrong. But yeah, killing innocents certainly is.
And of course the Romans were all about suicide for honor. Same with their contemporaries: Boudica, Cleopatra, Hannibal, Mithradates; they killed themselves rather than be publically humiliated.
@@Tareltonlives Well Mithradates ordered a friend to kill him during a rebellion of his army when the situation looked hopeless to him. I would not say that this was "suicide for honor" or comparable to the seppuku.
Midevil Knights hunted not just as a means for attaining food but also they hunted as a way of training. It was common practice for Knights in training to go into the forest and premtively find wild animals to kill in order to physically and psychologically train themselves
Knights killed more animals. Better for the Samurais that only killed dogs
The real difference is the weapon used for that training.
It makes more sense to have a spear for a boar, and a nimble dog for bows.
*Medieval
Knyght Errant made a very good video on this topic!
***** Seems too depend on the animal, I imagine most game would be hunted with bows or crossbows, though some animals like boars seem to been hunted predominantly with speer and hounds. And on the topic of tactics in regards to men-at-arms(I.e. knights) their tactics changed over time and according to the situation. Take for example the English during the Hundred Years War, who fought predominantly fought on foot in contrast with their peers. However after grand victories such as Crecy the trend seems to have caught on the rest of western Europe and was quite popular until the renaissance. However some knights also fought on foot as a necessity as a consequence of their native terrain, for example Norway or Scotland.
love how you break things down and explain things and why. Keep up the good work.
Whataboutism, and appealing to cultural sympathy/empathy/understanding to defend obnoxious cultural practices are not even arguments man, they are justifications.
The video was informative yes, but poorly argumented.
@@goprev9715 okay boomer
@@goprev9715 You are obsolutely wrong.
Yeah, I always was kind of confused with how Ronin could be so disgraced when Miyamoto Musashi was a Ronin _himself._ Yet, Musashi is often regarded as the pinnacle of what a Samurai was.
I think the point is that it was not desirable to be a Ronin, but misfortune could happen to anyone despite themselves and a Ronin could still become a Samurai again and find a master later. I think it's also the case that Musashi became highly regarded as a Samurai by *some* people after his death. During his lifetime he was highly regarded as a swordsman but not as a pattern of what a Samurai was. I know you wrote this 2 years ago, I am just looking at comments and felt moved to respond.
I think the misconception comes from a mix of facts cherry picked left and right. Kabukimono were essentially ronin, Akechi Mitsuhide was a ronin before serving Oda Nobunaga and ultimately betray him, stuff like that. Many ronin did end up getting caught for petty crimes while trying to barely survive. Stuff like that.
Plus there's the whole honor point, samurai means something along the lines of "one who serves," the idea of dying in service of a lord was far more respected than dying independent. The idea that you could fight for the Hojo one day and the Satake the next might sound ludicrous to a samurai from either side. That's not to say defections never happened, they did when the tides of war did.
There's often hypocrisy in those honor-based system, but then again it's hard to judge fairly from the outside.
Misrepresentation of the ninja is also exceedingly common among pop culture
Ikr. Ninjas actually didn't carry shurikens because it would rattle and if you dropped them that'd be hard to explain.They were more for stealth and being a messenger. Not for combat.
Nicholas Jonas also for gathering intel
@@donovanmcfay9831 yeah that too
@@nicholasjonas2505 They were basically the equivalent of today's spies.
I just read "The 47 Ronin Story" by John Allyn and found your video very much in line with Allyn's descriptions of samurai. The book even mentions a FEW ronin did turn criminal but most did not. Glad I saw your video since the Top Tenz one depressed me a bit after I finished such an inspiring book.
ua-cam.com/video/OeqA8vaS9-8/v-deo.html
2:05 Look! Even in the drawing Simon uses there's a marking around the victim's neck, clearly implying they'll cut off the head first.
After watching the video, I am informed. After reading the comments, I am confused...
Lol, same here. I liked Top Tenz new Samurai video. Then click on this video and I don't really know what the heck is going on.
nights1515 XD i'm mainly confused as to why people are so mad
A lot of contrarian alt-righters in the comments.
assassintwinat8 Hahahaha!
Googelplus Sucksys Yeah those alt righters ruining everything you do realise that alt right is a label put on ones self
There's a difference between killing an animal for sport and for food. You should compare killing an animal for sport with killing another animal for sport, and killing an animal for food with killing another animal for food.
But yeah it is hypocritical because even today we kill animals for sport here in the west. From foxes and ducks to lions and elephants in the savvanah or bulls in the arenas and so on and so forth.
Judging Samurai for shooting arrows at dogs a few centuries ago is hypocritical.
I always love how they say dogs because they're mans best friends. You know, not like they totally never competed in hunting birds or boars or other creatures.
I'm a hunter, in the west, but I do not kill animals for sport. I find it to be barbaric.
I agree with you, that there is a difference between killing animal for Sport and for food. But what Metatron points out is not just the western Tradition of killing for food. He also mentiones Foxhunting, what ist in fact just killing animals for pure fun. If we talk about Hunting, in my opinion, there is also, if we do it really for food or for fun and Sport. And most of the Nobility of the Western world saw it as a Sport. (That does not mean, that i oppose killiing animals for food. I really love meat an see it as part of our culture.) At a last point, I think, we should not forget the reason of Training. One may discuss, if this is moral or not, but in any case, i think, there is a Difference between killing animals for fun or to improve you arching skills.
So it's somehow hypocritical to call out another culture for doing something other people do in the West that we also find disgusting? Sure, makes perfect sense.
Bini Farmer Someone who is OK with killing foxes for sport, would be a hypocrite if he judged the japanese for shooting arrows into dogs for sport.
If you find both of these wrong then you're not a hypocrite, but I'm talking about the west in general. We (the west) do hunt animals for sport to this day, so it's down to the individual to place judgement.
It's at the point I think you and Simon Wistler should box, Italy Vs England, Facts vs Bullshit, Long hair Vs Bald!!! :) Lol
have you made a video about the last samurai? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the movie
Me too
hm I don't rememver if he refereed to the movie as whole, but he usually mention on it on his videos about japan, for example, the fact that the "samurai don't use guns cause of honor" part is bullshit.
Yes please! I loved the movie and I've heard cultural criticism against it. I'd like to know your insights on the movie.
True, the Samurais had been using guns and artillery for 300 years before the movie's timeline. I would suggest the review of HistoryBuffs, so many things you can learn from that guy :D
+AT-TE CloneTrooper you're here to huh that's funny lol
Hey Mr. Metatron. Love your Stuff. I'm gonna be nitpicky myself... the worst thing the Japanese did in WW2 was not attacking Pearl Harbour...
Am I wrong but it seems to me that TopTenz got all of their information from movies and anime.
ps. Here are 10 reasons why I don't watch TopTenz, Watchmojo or other that kind of channels. I feel slightly bad that 'block youtuber' script don't work any more and I haven't found replacement.
koljkimm thoes channels are clearly SJW pandering machines
11:56 "and war... war never changes" -Fallout series
it never changes because it's a descriptive term, used to describe something that will always be inherent in human nature. That 2 opposing forces must clash and one must consume the other. Sad but true.
@@RakinkyOG thanks captain obvious
@@RakinkyOG r/woooosh
“The war has changed”
@@thazmat Thing is, statements like "War never changes" sound profound because they resonate with something people believe. Lots of people *do* think war never changes, along with everything else in the world...and hence that nothing *can* change, so why bother trying to stop abuses of power or whatever? War never changes, the more things change the more they stay the same, it'll happen no matter what you do to stop it.
Except it *can* be changed if people *bother.*
A very good video, and I must say, I had almost exactly the same reaction to some of the points as you did, and I know very little about oriental history, and so don't really understand the majority of cultural taboos and requirements that occurred. The point about dogs though, I genuinely paused the video for a moment to have my own little rant, about how they would hunt dogs for sport. My response was something along the lines of: "What? In Europe people would hunt foxes for sport, and some still do today? So what's so different about hunting dogs? Cuteness factor?!? Bullcrap. Utter bullcrap." And so, when I unpaused the video after a moment, I was both mildly shocked and quite pleased to see that you had exactly the same counter-example as I did. It's great to see someone put actual reason, evidence, and an unbiased viewpoint to use, debunking videos like this, and like you said at the start, trying to educate people who may have been formerly misled by videos such as the one debunked. Good work Metatron, keep up the great videos!
Thank you very much for your kind words ^^
Thank you very much for responding, I really enjoy your videos, they're quite a nice change from the majority of stuff online. People like you, Shad, and demomanchaos all make fascinating videos that are always entertaining to watch.
Tiche CoMC I'm glad you think so and thank you for watching and commenting ^^
Dogs are loyal beings that evolved alongside us. Killing them for sport is, well, not only wasteful but inefficient. Foxes aren't domestic and they often cause damage to livestock and/or goods.
To me, it seems that it takes a particularly savage person to kill an animal that isn't harmful to you, or if it isn't a food source.
As I have stated before in comments, thank you for breaking up these false truths and false realities. Keep up your great work Metatron.
It's sad how many people fell into the lies of that video. I'm glad I unsubscribe from that channel.
^ Lmao this guy guy thinks he's funny. You played yourself.
Your video took everything out of context toptenz. The fact that you have paid so much attention to this video and even to random people here shows that you know it too and are insecure.
This video just didn't "add more information", metatron added the actual context to it like you should've done in the first place.
When you leave out the context it makes all of these things seem like they were practiced among most of the samurai. And then you even say things like "and for some reason people are obsessed with japan" which just shows your true charlatan intention for the video.
You don't have any more integrity just because you're pretending that showing up here actually makes a difference.
Congrats on completely misrepresenting an amazing Warrior Culture just for views because you did that well.
+TopTenz time to get a new handler for that account. Maybe someone with more tact and a better grasp of the English language.
um actually...the guy debunked like 3 or 4 facts only. the rest of the points was just his personal opinion and further explanation, he couldn't debunk the fact itself.
It's not about you vs. the Metatron lol it's about the generalizations you presented as facts in this one specific video you made
I watched a documentary and it said, "they sometimes tested the sharpness of their blades on people, but the Japanese found it distasteful and found better ways of doing so."
A history documentary..... or some random top 10s video dude on the internet. I wonder which is a better source for real historical facts.
This is why i like to research subjects Myself. Unfortunately finding a Source that is Correct gets harder with the internet because False information travles Faster than the truth and some people think just because they seen it on Tv or Read it on some random site online that it is Factual
The ronin thing is particularly bizarre to me. Samurai became ronin for a variety of reasons. Some went on pilgrimages to hone their skill. Some became mercenaries. Others became body guards. To say that they were all criminals or refused to work is simply wrong. In fact, some ronin actually put away their swords and took up other skills such as farming or merchant.
Just subscribed to your channel (coming here from Shadversity) and your medieval Japan focus piqued my interest. Thank you for making this video specifically, because a lot of the misconceptions you call out the Top Tenz video on are still perpetuated today, and they shine a bad light upon samurai, much worse than a realistic perspective warrants.
2:10 iirc they also did this sometimes when they didn't have tameshigiri, with limbs and stuff stuck up on things such as the tameshigiri would be. If you even GOOGLE tameshigiri and read up on it, this being done on criminals that were alive was "occasional", meaning not a frequent thing. I completely agree with your statement on it being capital punishment as well, as it definitely was back then. I can't stand videos like that where they are trying to tell people about "HISTORY" and are being all like, " hey get smart off this shit buddy XD!!! " and then proceed to just spew a bunch of horseshit botched information.
These people are just trying to make money off of gullible idiots who think that everyone on youtube is telling them correct information when they have the ability to just google what people are talking about while the video is paused and research whether what they're saying is true or not.
Another good video Metatron.
If I had a choice in the method of my execution...I'd choose decapitation by a skilled swordsman over electric chair or firing squad any day. My first choice would be old age of course.
15:33 *CURRENT YEAR!*
Really? In [THE CURRENT YEAR]!?
I mean *COME ON!*
I thought you were better than this Metatron.
Here we go again...
CURRENT YEAR!
U
R
R
E
N
T
Y
E
A
R
!
You brought this upon yourself.
Wut???
+ᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) well, you see, the problem is that no one sign my contract
+Incubator QB hi evil cousin
Noobafet no
ᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚᅚ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) yeah
I love it when you start debunking by "well, they actually did this but [..]so did e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e else around the world" if you could only imagine that most people do get the idea: NOT ALL SAMURAY DID THAT!" without YOU teliing us so.. I was expecting you to PROVE sth wasn't right in the original material but nope, no such case here
I am a HUGE fan of your channel, and am often very pleased to find that when you either debunk or introduce a subject that I previously believed to be true and independently research said subject, I find that I was wrong and have subsequently been corrected and changed my mind. To the degree of the preponderance of evidence presented, of course. I would absolutely love to see you do a video on ancient/Medieval shock troops and special forces akin to today's SAS and SEALs. There are so many videos out there with contradictory information and I'm sure the truth is probably hidden in there somewhere. As I believe your team is as reliable, unbiased, and rigorous as it gets on UA-cam I am hoping you will entertain my suggestion. Either way, keep the videos coming, your channel is an EXCELLENT source of not only information, but of also dispelling false information.
Lies are bad. Conveniently incomplete truths are even worse. The former was used more to cover ignorance and mostly easy to discover, while the latter was frequently utilized to support agendas, and sadly more convincing as well.
I think this was mostly an apologetic video and not so much a debunking one
How?
+Bruce Jedi Lee Well, when you point out for example that yes this thing happened but we have to see it in prespective (which i agree with) it isnt debunking. its apologetic in the sence that metatron puts it in context not proving it isnt true. I dont disagree with what he said by the way
ShaNagmaImmuru Well he also pointed out that almost everything he said was also grossly exaggerated or was only done by either a small group of Samurai or only durring a specific time period
It's a debunking of the cherry-picking in the original.
You're right.
I'm surprised you don't have more subscribers.A long while back I have mentioned I told my grand kids to use your videos on the renaissance,the ones on knights to be specific.They even told their friends where to get information.
Anyway keep up the good work.
While I think that you might misinterpret some of their motivations in one or two cases, I am as bothered as you were by people who judge the past or cultures of the past from today's perspective. It is such a stupid thing to do. Nothing is easier than that. I recently came across an article in the Guardian from 2009 which called Shakespeare problematic because of how women are portrayed in his plays. Sometimes I get the feeling that these people must believe themselves to be the heroes of humanity for criticising the past, not realizing that they would have been like those people in the past and that they would done the exact same things under those circumstances.
"The Japanese did some really bad things."
China, Korea, Inner Mongolia and Hong Kong: "Please, tell me more."
ask spanish ,american and british all did at some point
@@tarlison2k1 as did china korea mongolia etc.
@@slamdancer1720 in war it's normal
Thank you so much for this Video!
I really got mad after seeing the toptenz clip.
You nailed it! 👍
Well time to block "TopTenz" from my youtube feed
@Johnson Adam more Simon for the rest of us
You didn’t and you still haven’t.
@@MarielaQue Enjoy the half truths he serves for your entertainment then.
weeb
Informative video but in TopTenz defense, I think you are mistaking 'debunking' with 'nuancing'. You did not debunk these claims, rather you nuanced them. Debunking involves showing the falseness of claims - which you do not - nuancing involves showing subtle differences in meaning or alternative perspectives to claims - which you do.
Thank you for both your academic and philosophical views. I searched for dai + katana and found your channel only to realize that about 2 years ago, wanting to know more about Latin, I visited you once.
Nice to know that it has grown to a massive community. Thanks again for all your efforts!!
"Yeah the samurai did do that... but what about"
Dude, I like your channel, but you didn't debunk a single thing, this entire video is just one giant whataboutism.
I'm afraid you didn't catch the meaning of this video that much.
Did you perhaps not watch the entire video?
He did debunk most of the things in the list, what you may have missed is the fact that TopTenzNet has clearly put low effort on his video and is shining light on some things that mostly were a rare thing while trying to criticize them as if the entirety of japan was at fault, not only that but also using the morality we have today towards a culture he does not and refuse to understand.
Metatron did an amazing job at pushing aside the stupid criticism, although i agree that some had a, like you called them, "whataboutism" into them but the point is that every culture in the world had a similar, if not the same thing, they pointed against old Japanese culture. So it's quite pointless to try singling japan while the rest of the world was by any means better.
@@deceptionception ua-cam.com/video/OeqA8vaS9-8/v-deo.html
Ciao! Sono felice di aver trovato il tuo canale perchè fai video molto interessanti!
ps. hai un gran bell'accento inglese :D
keep forgetting italians use ciao for 'hello' as well. We use "tchau" in portuguese as a way to say goodbye. It gave me impression you were saying like "bye" and leaving the channel somehow. Love cultural exchance.
top ten vids etc are like a jack of all trades, master of none. Love these debunking vids
Another great video Mr Metaman.
Love the way you clarify the facts! I have Samurai blood dating back from the 17th century. Never knew all of the real and not because my Japanese great-grandparents moved here to Hawaii in the 1900's, and pop culture fuels the minds of many.
This is devastating, I'm new to your (awesome) channel... I love Simon's work on Biographics/Geographics
i liked most of the upload but not the debunking point 3, you didn't deny this happened, so the fact that it happened to adults too don't mean you ignore the child victims and focus on the adult's by calling it homophobic but not paedophilia
I'm with you on this one. I felt that metatron didn't do a good job on that point.
"Germans doing their thing" I died when I heard that.
This was awesome thank you for those clarifications as always fantastic content
I love debunking videos :)
Also, I love your shirt in this video. :D
ahahah :D
Thank you for reminding me to respect other cultures & try to understand before criticizing from my moral high horse.
Seems simple, but it's easy to forget sometimes.
I disagree. While judging individuals should be done in context, I think it's important to judge cultures themselves. We don't want to dismiss the evils of the slave culture of the antebellum south, the anti semitic culture of early 20th century Germany, etc. Recognize that there were good parts of each culture, sure. But cultures can be more moral than others.
Enjoyed watching this. There are a lot of media outlets doing similar things over the past month as it seems they are REALLY upset with "Ghost of Tsushimas" success for some reason. I'm not an expert, though I have read Miyamoto Musashi a lot as well as The Hagakure and try to watch/read a lot of media on Japanese history, but it is clear they are heinously misrepresenting or lying about a great deal of things based on my knowledge. It's a real shame and in some cases a bit enraging. Cheers for this.
So you didn’t debunk it, you basically just said it’s all true but it’s absolutely fine and it shouldn’t be an issue.
Way to not watch the video
@@aridicaexmontaudon1296 ua-cam.com/video/OeqA8vaS9-8/v-deo.html
Great video! The only problem for me is defending imperial japan. (Or at least it sounds like it)
Imperial Japanese did so many terrible things that fighting to the last man, suicide plane crashes, and attack at pearl harbor without a declaration of war should not go even top 10.
No, he isn't defending Imperial Japan. But the fact that everyone did shit on WWII was his point. Hell such as the Laconia Incident and American Fire Bombings on literal civilian cities(aside from the fact that inaccuracy from pilots was too common at that time). Sure thing we can blame everyone for their war crimes, but saying one is defending a certain country for a cultural concept that no longer existed in Imperial Japan(said Bushido was no longer a thing at that time and was just a template for a different code of honor, just like Chivalry).
@@ousamadearudesuwa Yes but when one country is estimated to have killed more innocent civilians than Nazi Germany...
Just saw this video even though it’s seven years old. Thanks again Meta, You’re doing humanity and history a great service :)
Who sacrifices lambs still?
It's been several years...but I sacrificed two lambs and consecrated them to the nutrition of my family. Yes, I slit their throats and apologized and thanked them. :) Those 4H lambs were good eating.
Its quite common in middle eastern societies to slaughter a sheep on weddings and such occasions, as a carnivore I don’t feel I can be judging them for that if they do it in a none sadistic way
Abrahamic religions
You... don’t..?
Not a ceremonial sacrifice, but Greeks traditionally eat lamb on Easter Sunday. (Not that we don't eat lamb year round, but that one day holds special significance because of Christianity.)
15:40 I think what they might have been implying is that the trainer could use his senior position to coerce the apprentice into sexual relations, which wouldn't be properly consensual.
Interesting indepth analysis. I appreciate your time and efforts in making this video. One minor criticism: the audio quality is not as good as many of your previous videos. I found it harder to hear to I speak.
" 10 facts videos about this and that " are generally a huge, steamy, pile of BS.
The point you say about them saying being gay isn't okay is definitely not what they were saying.
Well done. Simon does sensation up the video a lot.
11:50 Fun fact (although i can not remember where i heard this so take this with a large grain of salt) the Japanese meant to declare war immediately before pearl harbor (like within an hour before the attack) but they forgot about the time difference. This probably is not actually true but it is plausible.
The story I've read I've read is that the declaration for war was sent in code. The Japanese diplomats in Washington took too long to decode it. The problem with that story is that ambassador already knew about the war plans.
The use of atom bombs in war is not dishonorable. It is terrible, but not necessarily wrong.
What's the difference between terrible and wrong?
mustarastas88 It's terrible to get heart surgery. It's terrible to kill an intruder at night. It's terrible to sit in a prison cell all day long. None of these things are inherently wrong. Sometimes they are, but not always.
Replay Bro By what moral standard?
Replay Bro Nm. I'm tired. You must be joking.
Levi Paladin I don't think that heart surgery is terrible. But sure, that's personal opinion.
What's the intruder thing supposed mean? Home invasion and self defense? At least here that's illegal. Not that it's an actual, common problem here.
Even if these are old, I appreciate greatly these debunking videos. Good work!
And I suppose you've already watched it, but I thoroughly recommend you the film "Harakiri" de Koyabashi.
Thank you for giving me a better picture of the Japanese warriors. I've always found them pretty awesome in their honorable ways. But that top 10 gave me a pretty fuckedup picture of Samurai's. Thanks to you I know better
Same.
Too bad, most of the video was true. Making excuses like "knights did it too" doesn't make it better. Most Samurai, like most people in the Feudal era around the globe, were horrible people by today's standards. If you have a fantastical, romaticised view of someone from that era, it's probably false
The best way to think of samurai is to think of them as people. People are prone to be horrible, just look at the shitshow that America has become. Look at politics, look at religion, look at global conflicts. People can be shit, and the samurai were no different.
"I do prefer cats" - nice.
But seriously now, I wouldn't watch toptez anymore, all the information is indeed taken out of context and so distorted.
Great Video. I appreciate your channel and I agree that there's a lack of context that, while it might not justify said actions, it does show they weren't a particularly Japanese or Samurai issue. I would say, I appreciate the criticism of Bushido. By way of background, my academic training is in philosophy and theology. I think bushido suffers from the same things any idealistic code, which is ripped from concrete reality, suffers. We see this in current theology debates, let's say in the Catholic world where my theological training comes from, and the rallying cry to "heroic virtue" in terms of sexual ethics to some, which simply looks like, to quote a philosophy friend of mine, "obnoxious piety", which itself can lend itself to viciousness. That is not to say that all ideals, or idealism are bad, but there is something to the criticism, in particular to how it was applied in WW2, that struck a positive chord. I saw this, while acknowledging that your criticism stands. Just something of depth I appreciated in the original video.
I would say this guy is misinformed, I wouldn’t pull the race card out on him. It has no basis. Love your videos btw
The line between racism and ignorance does not exist, because of the symbiotic relationship between the two. Racism cannot exist without ignorance, and that ignorance is hard to maintain without racism. Not necessarily KKK levels of racism, but it doesn't stop being racist just because it's subtle and accidental.
@@timothymclean holy shit you're right. ( not in a sarcastic way of course)
@@timothymclean true. You can say the same thing about evil cultural practices, like ritual suicide. Yes. Other cultures did it. They were also wrong to do it.
@Grant Yeah it was obvious bait
You like cats better than dogs? Unsubscribed jkjk.
Yes, they taste better.
Yes, they taste better.
... Thats fuckin racist.
+Linkxsc I assume you are talking about the guy who replyed comparing cats with a derogatory term?
Jimmie Smith
Yeah. The guy who deleted his comment.
Hey! Great video! I found this very helpful as I am currently developing Bushido style pvp mmo. I've subscribed, and later down the road when we get to beta, I might contact you to see if you might come point out some of my more obvious mistakes, if that is something you wouldn't be opposed to.
I appreciate you calling out Simon's moral superiority complex, as well as his blatant lies and those of omission. I've seen his content before and enjoyed SOME of it but damn this dude really takes liberties. I assume it's for shock factor and maybe he doesn't even believe the crap he spews. Overall you did well and continue to do so. I know I'm late for this party but ya
You kind of contradict one of your own points when you bring up that the Samurais stopped killing dogs because of pressure from monks and they realized how wrong it was, meaning it was bad for their karma. Breeding a domesticated animal to put it in a closed area and chase it down with a horse and bow to kill it, is not nearly the same thing as hunting a wild animal that destroys livestock and farms.
Private hunt was spread worldwide till 1700/1800. Every noble had a private area where he could hunt his captivated animals, they could be domesticated or wild animals caged and released for the hunt 🤔
Thank you so much for making this video.
I love most of your videos but here you seem to criticize a video that focuses on the worst aspects of an ancient class.... for only pointing out the worst aspects of an ancient class. Slightly befuddling.
Edited to be fair the number one point on their list didn't actually relate to samurai so that criticism is more fair.
worst aspects that are.not only cherrypicked but mixes in fact to fiction.
I agree, and it is simply Whataboutism to defend a cultural practice by saying others did it too
I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s racist to condemn the Samurai code of conduct. Samurais were a small subset of Japan. I’m sure there were lots of peasants who hated the Samurai for their culture of dehumanization and disregard for life, the romanticization of which led to atrocities in WWII. Similarly it’s not racist to condemn European feudal serfdom for its exploitative practices which ultimately led to New World slavery.
I think we can all agree these practices are best not romanticzed and left in the past. Our values today are different not because morality changed like fashion but because we humans have worked hard to become more enlightened.
I'm loving your videos the more I'm watching them. I've been subscribed for a while, but thinking about donating. It's that good!
Meta my dude I really like your weapons videos. Learned lots ever since For Honor dropped. on a unrelated deal I'm going to look into getting you a haircut. It's time brah
I am an Indian and absolutely love your Channel from now because Simon had changed my opinion about Samurai for bad now you have fixed it...now I hate Simon...the lies these people spew over the internet...Simon's words were hurting me...thank u Metatron.
❤❤❤❤Japan and Samurai ❤❤❤
ua-cam.com/video/OeqA8vaS9-8/v-deo.html
Extremely good and mostly facts covered about topic... Good research dude..... 🤗
I love how you debunked this shameful display of the Samurai. All these things he find so shocking is done all over the world at some point in history..
While I like the information you provided in this video, calling the man racist and homophobic was completely unnecessary. What most people forget is that these things are based on the person's intent, is it based on the person/group race or sexual preference. In this case, I don't feel it was.
He wasn't targeting them based on their race or sexual preference but because from his perspective,
a) this happened in this place with this culture (race doesn't equal culture)
b) a mentor is taking advantage of his position of power over a minor to have a sexual relationship
Mind you this is all being looked at with a modern-day lense with modern standards (something I don't agree with).
Thanks for clarifying these points.
Interesting that he chose Pearl Harbor as the example of atrocities committed during WWII on Japan‘s part, not China.
Maybe because it's the most prominent one, the one that everybody and their mother know about lol not everybody knows what happened in China but everyone knows what you mean when you talk about pearl harbour
Lusor Jango Fett HFH obviously there is an alternative explanation, I‘m just pointing out that it‘s very suspicious given japanese mentality basically throughout all of history.
He actually answered this question in a comment. He chose Peral Harbor because its what people know about. Bringing up Nanjing, and having to explain it, would have made the video longer. And probably would have changed the whole tone.
#1 sounds like a good idea depending on the crime.
Excellent video! You are a true student of history.
I'm surprised you didn't mentioned the invasion of China when you talked about bad things the Japanese did in World War II.
Japan had been occupying parts of China bevor the 2.WW even started. Look up the first und second Sino-Japanese War.
They occupied Manchuria, but they invaded the rest of China later.
yea I know that seems like any easy one
+Miracle Yang World War 2 started when Japan invaded china... They just call it the sino japanese war to describe the theatre, just like the german-polish war, was also part of WW2.
+Frinkles Kai Nope. It started when Germany invaded Poland,
15:00 I think you're just being flat out dishonest here. Homosexual relationships between Samurai teacher and student (wakashūdo) were explicitly supposed to be between an adolescent boy (wakashū) and an adult man (nenja), and any sexual conduct between the two was supposed to end as soon as the boy reached adulthood. Indeed, adult men were not supposed to have sex with each other (of course that happened, but that was against the norms).
Wakashūdo was explicitly about sex between a young boy and an adult man (a man in a position of authority no less), and by today's standards it's abhorrent, it would definitely be considered statutory rape today, and pointing this out has nothing to do with ridiculing homosexuals
No shot this moron just threw some wild accusation at a five year old video with no evidence 🤣🤣🤣
Although I do not agree 100%, your critique of the Horrifying Facts about Samurai video, your summary is pretty accurate. Thank you for clarifying many misconceptions that the Top 10 presents for the sake of click bait.
4:31
Wait, you don't? Is that frowned upon or something?
15:31
IT'S THE CURRENT YEAR GUYS
Love your One Piece shirt.
Also good video.
I like how they used anime pics lmao