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How Did Kumazawa Become The Model Samurai?

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Kumazawa Banzan was the famous political philosopher from whom the source, “The Model Samurai”, was written. Kumazawa Banzan was actually a low ranking samurai with the status of ronin, meaning that he had no allegiance to a specific feudal lord nor any support from one. After five years of service employed by the Lord of Okayama, Kumazawa pursued an intensive program of training in the military arts to achieve his goal of becoming the model samurai. The source, The Model Samurai, explains why he wanted to become that samuai. Kumazawa had noticed when he was young a lack of agility in heavier set people and thought a heavy man would not be able to become a first class samurai. In order to maintain his physical stability, actions such as sleeping with a girdle on, not eating rice, not drinking wine, and abstaining from sexual intercourse …show more content…

This tells me that along with all the drastic training, he also did research and read about how to become more fit and also that he wrote about becoming a samurai. It also shows me that these samurai weren’t just a bunch of brutes training to become strong and gain agility. They were intelligent people who not only wanted to be physically ready, but mentally and intellectually as well. All of this in consideration shows me that not many would be able to make it as a samurai. This source is written in first person, where Kumazawa talks about his preparation to become a fit samurai. One strength that this source provided was the fact that it was written about a samurai, by that samurai. This makes it easier to believe that all of this wasn’t fictional because Kumazawa is writing about what he did, not what someone else did. A weakness about this source is definitely the lack of incorporation of others in the text. He has so much to talk about his experiences in isolation, but what about any interactions with other people throughout his

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