reinierd_at_... wrote:
>
> > Bruce suggested that Heortlings surround Humakti with taboos, to
> > avoid accidently offending them. I think these are basically over
> > politeness. For example, always stepping away from a Humakti to
> avoid accidently jostling him, or hiding children away in case they
> say or> do something foolish.
>
> Interesting. It is said (I have no idea whether it was actually true
> and at some level who cares?) that in feudal Japan it was a mortal
> impropriety to jostle a samurai's swords. If you were a peasant, it
> was grounds for him to cut you down. Seems like a similar image.
>
> Thanks!
> Reinier
>
Yes, this is true after the Tokugawa shogunate was established. I don't recall the exact name of the law but it was "Kill and Go Away" in which anyone of the samurai caste could kill a peasant if they were 'sufficiently provoked' -- the sufficiently varried from samurai to samurai.
It was to teach 'respect' and keep the heimen in their place. During the wars, too many of them had risen into the nobility and all that...
Jeff
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