benevolence is a feminine trait. Benevolence included the traits love, affection for others, sympathy and nobility of feelings. The instructors emphasized counter-balancing rectitude and stern justice. It was taught that politeness is a poor virtue if a person does it for fear of offending someone’s good taste. Simple acts such a walking, bowing, standing, table manners, and serving tea were developed into ceremonies. A bushi never told a lie. A lie was seen as cowardly and thus, it was dishonorable. Honesty was very important to a samurai. It was an extension of the samurai’s courage and strength. Any smear of the Samurai’s honor was seen as a ren-shi-shin (a sense of shame). According to an old samurai legend “Dishonor is like a scar on a tree, which with time, instead of effacing, only enlarges.” To avoid over-reacting to small insults, the bushi chided each other for being too short-tempered. Patience and forgiveness formed an essential part of the meaning of honor.Samurai were paid in koku, which is the measure of rice needed to feed a man for a year. Samurai were judged on the wealth of their fief. Samurai that had an income of 10,000 or more koku were considered as Daimyo (lord). Those that earned incomes between 100 and 9,500 koku were considered to be a Hatamoto (leader). Those that earned less than 100 koku are classed as Go-kenin (followers). Daimyos were the leaders that led the Go-kenin into battles and made sure that the samurai had the proper equipment. A samurai was equipped to deal with any military situation. The samurai carried a katana (sword) and a wakazashi (ceremonial dagger). The spears were the basic shock weapons. There are two types of Japanese spears, the naginata and the yari. The naginatas consisted of a long curved blade set upon a pole. They were the typical spears of the samurai and foot soldiers. The yari is a pole of varying length that is equipp...
