Warrior Monks of Feudal Japan--They Did Not Always Practice Peace.

Before the Tokugawa clan finally unified Japan around 1600 C.E., warfare was a constant reality of Japanese life. Even the Shinto Buddhist monks of Japan were not exempt from the endless battles. From the end of the 10th century to the beginning of the 17th century, the temples of Japan outfitted armies of warrior monks, ready to bring their religion out of the cloister and into the field of battle.

The armed monks of Japan fought other religious rivals and joined the armies of various Daimyo warlords. Populist warrior monks also set up camp in feudal Japan: the Lotus Sect and the Ikko-ikki became the bane of many a warlord. The age of the warrior monks seemed to only end when the powerful Daimyo, Oda Nobunaga, sieged and burned multiple warrior monk temples and strongholds.

Read more about the fascinating warrior monks  of Japan here at warhistoryonline.com.

Could The Dark Souls Games Be Based On Ancient Religions?

 

The Dark Souls franchise has a unique concept that stands apart from the generic shooters, racers and open-world video games that over-saturate the market. Dark Souls puts the player in a crumbling world--a world with a whole lot of lore and backstory. The game, however, does not spoon-feed the lore to the player of the game; they take quite the opposite approach. The result of scavenging and combining all the tid-bits of story is a satisfying and well thought out body of lore.

The game tells of a universe born out of grayness. An Age of Fire was begun and an Age of Darkness was destined to come next. The leaders of the Age of Fire, however, were too attached to their era to let it pass, so they linked the souls of the Age of Dark to the kindling flame of the Age of Fire, creating an eternal Age of Fire. Unfortunately, this linking of opposites had unwanted consequences--unending cycles of curses, decay and rebirth.

While the game may sound very unique, these concepts have been contemplated before. Buddhism parallels much of the game's themes of suffering and rebirth. The game's complex lore is also reminiscent of ancient Christian Gnosticism--creation from grayness and humans being creatures of light and dark can be found in ancient Gnostic texts. 

Read more about how the Dark Souls games parallel Buddhism and Gnosticism here at historybuff.com.