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Last week I introduced you to Japan’s Rothschilds. 

What if I told you the story of The Last Samurai originated in the same place?

Well,

It kind of did. 

I swear. 

I was as shocked as you to find this out when I did. However, I was probably more shocked to find it out when I did.

I had been living in The Shonai Region for at least eight years by then. I still hadn’t put two and two together, but that’s probably because there was a two, and then there was a 16.

There wasn’t really two twos to start off with.

That’s the thing with Japan. 

There’s just so much history and culture going on, even in this tiny, tiny area of Yamagata, the size of Tokyo’s 23 wards, that some lifechangingly significant things get completely overlooked. 

Like the fact this the Shonai region was one of the final bastions of Shogun control during the Boshin War, the war that started Japan on its imperialist-driven march into the 20th century (we all know how that ended). 

But what’s the connection with The Last Samurai?

And silk?

Funny you should ask.

I had just been asked to translate yet another Japan heritage website, but this time the title was much more intriguing: Samurai Yukari no Silk, ‘Samurai with an affinity to silk’.

Rolls off the tongue doesn’t it.

I know, let’s just cut out the affinity part, and make it:

Samurai Silk!

Wait, what!? Samurai Silk is about as farfetched a connection as a tropical yellow fruit and the world’s largest metropolis.

Or maybe not. Who really knows? 

With all their prestige, the samurai could have been sporting some of the fanciest Twill or Chiffon silk scarves this side of the Mogami. The Samurai could have even been the reason why they call it The (Samurai) Silk Road in the first place.

A Yamabushi can dream. 

Sorry to burst your bubble.

Long story not so long, the Shonai region is home to The Sakai Clan, a clan in Tsuruoka City just south of Sakata where the Honma Family resides. Well, the Sakai Clan were staunch supporters of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the de facto rulers of Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1868).

The Tokugawa Shogunate were famous for their isolationist policy, blocking all but very few outsiders from entering Japan. 

Until they couldn’t.

Commodore Matthew C. Perry and Kurofune, the Black Ships, in other words. 

The last years of the Edo Period AKA the end of Shogun rule AKA the end of the Samurai is a period between 1853 to 1867 known as the Bakumatsu. This is loosely the period of time The Last Samurai is based on. 

Well, the Shogun’s rule, as well as the Samurai, all ended in 1868 with the Boshin War when the Imperial Japanese Government forcibly brought control of the country back. 

With guns.

And swords.

But it’s not what you’d expect.

In fact, it was the opposite. 

The Samurai also had guns!

And good ones at that!

Or at least, in Shonai they did. 

That same Honma Family, Japan’s Rothschilds from earlier, used their massive wealth to buy modern weaponry so powerful this tiny region was able to hold off against the Imperial Army.

This tiny region the size of Tokyo’s 23 Wards.

Holding off against an entire country’s army.

I’m not sure you can fathom what this means. It’s basically Asterix and Obelix holding out against the romans, with the help of a ‘magic potion’ mind you.

Except it was real. 

Unfortunately, however, The Shonai Clan were indeed surrounded 360°, and had no choice but to surrender in the end.

Yet instead of giving up land to the conquerers, the real Last Samurai, Saigo Takamori, managed to convince the Imperial Government to instead accept a massive donation. In exchange for their leniency, and to help Japan’s efforts of modernisation, it was decided that the remaining samurai would turn their efforts to establishing Japan’s northernmost silk industry. 

The Samurai, begrudgingly mind you, put down their swords, picked up hoes, and began cultivating the land to the south of Tsuruoka.

Then they planted mulberry trees for the silk worms to do their thing and produce a silk industry.

A silk industry that survives to this day!

Samurai Silk at that

In The Last Samurai, Captain Algren AKA Tom Cruise is taken to a remote village cut off by snow during the winter. Surrounded 270° by mountains, and with The Sea of Japan, the Shonai region fits this description to a T. 

Samurai leader Katsumoto is based loosely on Saigo Takamori, and although there were fierce battles in Shonai, like in Sekigawa near Maya-san, and near the Mogami river at Kiyokawa near Tsuchiyu-yama, the basis for the battle in the last samurai is undoubtedly Satsuma Rebellion of 1877.

However, Saigo Takamori’s influence on this region is evident all around. So much so, he even has his own shrine, Nanshu Jinja, right across the road from where this lowly yamabushi works.

That’s the thing with Japan, you never know what stories you’ll uncover! And next time, we’ll be uncovering a story a lot closer to home, as if you could get any closer!

This article from the Kiwi Yamabushi newsletter got more than 1,000 reads, so I decided to put it here for everyone. Get articles just like this in your inbox by signing up here. Paid subscribers get priority access and access to the full archive of over 100 articles.