What Ronin Samurai Hid Under the Basket

The shogunate knowingly accepted a forged decree so that masterless samurai could hide under straw baskets and play the flute. This video follows the komusō from the wandering boro beggar-monks mentioned in Tsurezuregusa to the straw-mat monks who took in rōnin after Japan's civil wars. It explains how the Tokugawa regime turned them into a registered sect, how the Keichō Okite Gaki was forged around 1680 and backdated to 1614, and why the spy legend has no confirmed case behind it. We also cover the komusō outfit, Kurosawa Kinko's honkyoku repertoire, the invented Zen lineage of the 1795 Kyotaku denki, and the 1871 Meiji ban that silenced the shakuhachi for four years. Finally, we look at how the music survived as secular practice and is still played today. 00:00 The Men Under the Basket 01:44 Beggar-Monks and a Bamboo Flute 02:55 Rōnin Join the Straw-Mat Monks 05:16 The Forged 1614 Decree 07:04 Dressing as a Komusō 08:40 Rice Dealers and a Fake Zen Lineage 10:34 Privileges Revoked, Flute Banned 12:32 Myth vs. the Living Tradition Music: "Snowdrop" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Music: "Decline" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Music: "Unpromised" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ #Komuso #JapaneseHistory #Samurai #Shakuhachi #EdoPeriod